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How to Befriend Crows

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Re: How to Befriend Crows

#191

Post by KineticLensman »

082349872349872 wrote: post #28
prox wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My amateur theory is that talking makes you less likely to be a predator. You basically say “here I am”, Predators tend to be quiet and sneak up on their prey. I think the tone does indeed help somewhat in my experience.

I have an amateur theory that strange wildlife, unlike strange people, are made much more comfortable by avoiding eye contact. Parent comment would explain this observation: predators gaze upon their prey. (flipping the arrows around, I've seen the advice to dance tango, not so much with "snappiness" as is popularly supposed, but in a predatory manner: slow stalking, interspersed with rapid pounces)

(I volunteer at a Raptor conservancy). Totally. Making eye contact with a big predator generally means either ‘I want to eat you’ or ‘I want to make love to you’. But you also have to maintain situational awareness, to avoid getting a clout on the head from some big talons

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#192

Post by astrange »

Cupertino95014 wrote: post #116
astrange wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC dogs may have domesticated themselves by coming to visit us to eat our poop, not our hand feeding.

I realize that all this is conjectural, but: Why is that more likely than just "eating the bones, skin, feet, and other animal parts the humans didn't eat" ? Either is more likely than "hand feeding" since that takes a pretty tamed animal.

Hunter gatherers eat the whole animal. Who’s throwing out skin and feet?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/20200...

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#193

Post by philsnow »

arcturus17 wrote: post #123
PreInternet01 wrote: post #32

Just from my experience as a cyclist in Amsterdam, crows are amazingly intelligent. They actually participate in traffic, and know the difference between bicycles, motor vehicles and light rail (they will get out of the way just-in-time for the first two, and happily ignore the latter if they're outside the profile of the train set). Pigeons, on the other hand, are the species that gave birth to the term 'bird brain'…

Pigeons may be dumb as bricks but I’ve never seen one hit by a car. When I’m driving I think I’m going to hit them but they always bail. Credit where credit is due!

Obligatory Seinfeld bit (George doesn't slow down for some pigeons, they don't evade, he runs them over and his girlfriend thinks he's a butcher because of it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPCZtrac-Ss

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#194

Post by vintermann »

I've tried to befriend the local winter-flock of crows. But mostly, it's the magpies that's adopted me. Crows are like, can this be true? Is the human leaving the food there for me? Or would I be stealing it? Meanwhile the magpie has already gone, human has food, YAY! and grabbed it all in seconds (they have a surprising capacity in that crop of theirs).

The magpies certainly recognize me now, and do a kind of friendly swoop in front of me to make sure I see them. Sometimes the crows sweep in and grab the treat, to sharp protest from the magpie. And in the summer half of the year, the crows too sometimes get bullied away by a seagull.

I have a feeling the magpies definitively don't like it if I deliberately feed any of the bigger birds. But even the seagulls (which are rather aggressive when they have chicks) have gotten noticeably nicer to me when they've understood there's a chance at an unsalted peanut from time to time.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#195

Post by vintermann »

jalada wrote: post #124

Cute. My parents' house has, for a few years now, been plagued by crows attacking the windows in the early hours of the morning, dive-bombing them, standing outside them screaming, pecking them, etc. If they're not attacking the house they're on the roof or in nearby trees screaming. The closest to a solution has been to cover every window with outside blinds to at least stop them smashing into them. I stayed with th…

I can understand that. But I figure, I live near a huge shopping mall and a golf course, built on what used to be the finest farmland for miles around. The winter flock of crows, probably many thousands strong, still come here every winter.

They're now competing with the endangered seagulls, which used to roost in large colonies on the coast, but due to predation from introduced species (mink), plastic pollution in the ocean and commercial fishing, have now decided it's better to live on the flat roofs of our malls and apartment blocks.

We're messing so much with their lives already. A little kindness on an individual level doesn't seem like it would make things worse. I try not to humanize them too much, let them be birds, let them be wild (in particular I don't try to tempt them to overcome their natural wariness at humans).

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#196

Post by joe__f »

wan_ala wrote: post #102
seunosewa wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel bad to have to say that he may have been snacked on by a predator. If he could fly, he would probably have flown while you were there.

Excuse my ignorance, but what type of animal would eat a crow?

It wasn't a crow it was a blackbird [1], they're smaller and definitely lower down the food chain. If a fox came by while he was still on the ground it might have eaten him, they don't normally come out in the daytime though

[1] https://cdn.birdwatchingdaily.com/2017/06/European-Blackbird...

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#197

Post by joe__f »

yamrzou wrote: post #142
joe__f wrote: post #82

I saved a blackbird's life once. He was flying low across the road near my house and I saw him get hit by a car. So I went over to stand in the road and make sure the other cars coming drove around him, and I picked him up. One of his eyes was bloody where he'd been hit, and he was stunned and very distressed. I kind of just knew what to do, I held him in my hands by the side of the road for a few minutes which I thi…

I was expecting the end of the story to be that you suddenly met him after after a long time and that he recognized you :(

Awh yeah, I see quite a lot of blackbirds and I always look out for one with a broken eye. I haven't met him yet, it was back in the summer some time

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#198

Post by joe__f »

radlad wrote: post #169
joe__f wrote: post #82

I saved a blackbird's life once. He was flying low across the road near my house and I saw him get hit by a car. So I went over to stand in the road and make sure the other cars coming drove around him, and I picked him up. One of his eyes was bloody where he'd been hit, and he was stunned and very distressed. I kind of just knew what to do, I held him in my hands by the side of the road for a few minutes which I thi…

I once came upon ducks that had been hit in the road. All were dead, but one. It was a similar scene: blood from its eyes, total shock, and it seemed blind. We kept it overnight and took it to an animal rescue in the morning. They kept us updated and let us know a week or two later that it'd fully recovered and had been released. Made us very happy to hear.

Yeah I did think about taking him to an animal rescue centre, in the end he seemed like he didn't want me around any more so I just left him to it, hard to tell I guess

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#199

Post by joe__f »

pierrec wrote: post #109
joe__f wrote: post #82

I saved a blackbird's life once. He was flying low across the road near my house and I saw him get hit by a car. So I went over to stand in the road and make sure the other cars coming drove around him, and I picked him up. One of his eyes was bloody where he'd been hit, and he was stunned and very distressed. I kind of just knew what to do, I held him in my hands by the side of the road for a few minutes which I thi…

So I've done a lot of volunteering at a bird refuge (LPO Ile Grande). Birds hit by traffic get something similar to shock and will sometimes recover and fly again just by resting for some time, which can range from seconds to days. Unless they have broken bones, in which case they're toast. So I'd say it's possible that your bird survived. More likely it didn't, but there is hope.

Thanks that's nice to know, I like to think he did make it :) He was lying sprawled out on the road and he seemed to fold in his wings ok after I picked him up, so I guessed they weren't broken

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#200

Post by _448 »

My Mom does this wherever she lives. She feeds as well as puts bowls of water for birds and animals. And if there are regular visitors then she talks to them. The trick is to be as natural as possible and consciously avoid threatening tone or body language.

Having watched this since my childhood I too had once befriended, in my case Cows and Sheeps from the nearby fields, while on my daily walks few years ago. I use to sing songs and they use to gather around me. It was so amazing to watch. Afterwards even if I did not sing they use to gather around just after seeing me. The sad part was some of these animals were raised for slaughter and I thought making them believe in humans was not the right thing to do. It use to be a dilemma for me whenever I saw them on whether I should engage with them.

Having communication with animals and seeing them respond back is one of the most amazing experiences. Most pet owners will understand this.

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