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How to Befriend Crows

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Re: How to Befriend Crows

#161

Post by diffxx »

newshorts wrote: post #128

I can’t confirm “befriending” crows, but I can confirm that you can make them your enemy. A while back I had found what I thought was an injured bird. I captured it and brought it to a rehabilitation center for wild birds. Turns out I had just capture a baby crow that hadn’t learned to fly yet, which explains why there were two other crows (parents) barking at me from trees as I tried to capture their chick. After th…

Once I was walking atop a mountain that is heavily populated with ravens at certain times of year. I looked over and noticed one was doing some aerial acrobatics. To my astonishment, it was holding a fairly large rock that it was using as a counterweight that it could spin against. When it landed, it dropped the rock and I tried to find it. I'm not 100% sure I found the right rock, but I estimate that the rock was somewhere between a quarter and half a pound. As much as I appreciated the bird's dexterity, it was a bit scary to think of the damage it could do if motivated.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#162

Post by [deleted] »

wpietri wrote: post #5

I can vouch for this approach. I lived in the territory of a couple of ravens (close relatives of crows; just as smart and twice as large) and it took me maybe 18 months to build a close relationship. I started out just talking to them and throwing whole peanuts (roasted, unsalted) on the ground while I was doing it. They looked at me warily and did not come close. Later on, the peanuts would disappear, but I was nev…

[deleted]

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#163

Post by bothandeach »

wpietri wrote: post #5

I can vouch for this approach. I lived in the territory of a couple of ravens (close relatives of crows; just as smart and twice as large) and it took me maybe 18 months to build a close relationship. I started out just talking to them and throwing whole peanuts (roasted, unsalted) on the ground while I was doing it. They looked at me warily and did not come close. Later on, the peanuts would disappear, but I was nev…

Never know. And so interesting that they are dinosaurs, literally. They will probably win in the end with our own oh-so-clever Warming pushing us out. Dinos the winners.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#164

Post by zestyping »

This was my pandemic hobby as well. After I consistently offered peanuts for a couple weeks, a crow couple would visit my balcony daily. In the springtime, they had a fledgling, and the whole family would come over, which was adorable. I trained them to open containers, and then put out puzzles of increasing difficulty for them.

Here's a video of one of them solving a couple of puzzles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x0PwKHvW10

And here's one of them taking a bath, just because it's so cute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AgAIh43OUs

It's a highly entertaining hobby, and I'm excited to continue putting out more interesting and complex objects for them to interact with!

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#165

Post by unrealp »

h4x0rr wrote: post #112
wpietri wrote: post #5

I can vouch for this approach. I lived in the territory of a couple of ravens (close relatives of crows; just as smart and twice as large) and it took me maybe 18 months to build a close relationship. I started out just talking to them and throwing whole peanuts (roasted, unsalted) on the ground while I was doing it. They looked at me warily and did not come close. Later on, the peanuts would disappear, but I was nev…

I misread the entire thread as cows instead of crows. I was wondering how cows are supposed to hop on fence rails xD

You are not alone. I did the same for some unknown reason :D

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#166

Post by [deleted] »

superkuh wrote: post #72
allenbrunson wrote: post #4

i kind of love the fact that posting fediverse links on hacker news is coming to be almost as common as posting twitter links. and i already read this, because one of the mastodon accounts i follow boosted this into my timeline. all hail decentralized social media!

I just wish there were an html interface to read mastadon posts. Something like nitter.net is for twitter. Right now to read them I have to use the general RSS feed and then find the post. And the .rss feature is only available on some implementations of mastadon. https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom/109571409346371116 -> https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom.rss My browser displays RSS natively well enough. It just…

[deleted]

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#167

Post by giardini »

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!

One day I found, in the parking lot of HEB supermarket, a beautiful, lightweight circular pattern approximately a foot across that appeared to be fabricated. Closer inspection revealed it was a pigeon that had been run over repeatedly over many days.

Day and night the sun and cold air dry the pigeon mat. The smashed meat and connective tissue act as a protein glue to hold the mat together. Each vehicle presses, mixes, and spreads the mat into, on average, a very light colorful circular feather pattern (feathers tend to retain their structure more than bone, possibly b/c of their flexibility) that, once thin enough, wafts to and fro in the parking lot winds before settling gently to the ground.

I first thought to spray them with a waterproof coating and sell them as "Pigeon Frisbees" but alas, they were aerodynamically unsuitable (they rode the air like cattail seeds), and so, in the end I asked HEB parking lot employees to consider cleaning the remains of dead pigeons as a favor to their customers. The parking lots are more pleasant these days.

Plenty of pigeons are killed by cars, esp. females resting in empty parking spots, where they sometimes sleep.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#168

Post by tpoindex »

cc101 wrote: post #36

Steller Jays are also approachable. I'm a camp host. One started aggressively seeking food from campers. I took a close look at it and saw the one of the recent forest fires had damaged its feathers. It was desperate for food. I respected that bird. It did what it had to do to survive. I started feeding it. Next year when I returned to the campground, it showed up within an hour calling for food, and its feathers had…

I too have enticed/befriended a group of Steller's Jays at my weekend cabin. I've always put out seeds for casual bird watching and about two years ago started giving them peanuts as well. I make sure to give a distinctive whistle for that extra Pavlovian effect. Many are quite accustomed to me, will come within 5-8 feet to snatch a tossed peanut. Over the last year, they often greet me when I drive up with some calls, or usually come when I whistle if they're not around. The two resident black Abert's squirrels also come up for the peanuts, often by my feet.

They are also several ravens in the area, often staying at tree top level, 60-70 ft. I've never been able to get their attention. even with peanuts. I'm guessing they just don't see the action at ground level, too many trees, or feel safer higher up.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#169

Post by radlad »

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.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#170

Post by mcbits »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #61
082349872349872 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

This is definitely true for dogs/canids, eye contact is a signal of dominance and/or aggression. It’s common advice to soften your glance if you’re approaching an unfamiliar or potentially aggressive dog. It’s also helpful to make more direct eye contact when establishing you’re in charge when training them. I’ve also noticed with many birds that they prefer indirect attention. This includes not just eye contact, but…

The birds around here don't stick around long enough to let me earn their trust, but I can get pretty close to the deer, rabbits, and squirrels just by pointing the camera off to my side so I'm standing perpendicular and appear to be focused on stuff on the ground instead of them.
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