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Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

nytimes.com

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Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#41

Post by mikec3010 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #14

>>> The crow explosion has created a moral quandary for Japan, a nation that prides itself on nonviolence and harmony with nature, because culling programs are the only truly effective method of population control. No. Culling something like city crows is insanely difficult without resorting to poisons, a very dangerous option in a city. Crows are a problem all over the planet. Get some hawks, or whatever species of…

I'm in San Diego and I regularly watch crows fight hawks in midair, which defiantly ignore them.

Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#42

Post by jmartrican »

nwatson wrote: post #19

Dealing with these crows seems like it would be a good computer-vision/ML/AI/data/drone/"weapons" problem. Killing baby crows in the nest in Tokyo a la [1] would necessarily remain human work, but open-air operations could be done with drones. Would there be a non-lethal approach to harassing crows that would drive them away? If a program chooses the lethal approach, what weapons and disposal methods? How much would…

Good idea. Though, I suspect the crows would beat the drones. I think it would be an arms-race of sorts. Crows constantly adapting to the drones changing tactics. I would love to see this play out.

Here in the States we have Coyotes. The governments of this country have tried in vain over a century to kill off the coyotes but their intelligence and other traits have kept their numbers growing.

Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#43

Post by jmartrican »

flatfilefan wrote: post #3
lawlessone wrote: post #2

2008, still very interesting.

I always wonder why aren’t there “ten years gone” follow up articles. Like what has happened with crows in Japan since 2008? Media should do more of that as a matter of routine.

That's the main reason I went to the comments, to see if anyone here had an update.

Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#44

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

baud147258 wrote: post #13

> Mr. Ishihara angrily ordered the city into action after a crow buzzed his head while he was playing golf, city officials said. So the mayor only acted when he was personaly bothered by the issue, apparently.

Golf is a frustrating game. I can easily see ordering the murder of all birds in Tokyo if a Crow messed up my birdie.

Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#45

Post by deciplex »

wodenokoto wrote: post #15

A good start would be to use trash cans. At night people put out bags of trash on the street to be picked up in the morning.

Newer buildings have a "trash room" of course, but mountains of garbage in the street in busier areas are still the norm in some places, on collection days.

Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#48

Post by phyzome »

nwatson wrote: post #27
KineticLensman wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd suggest that non-lethal intimidation wouldn't necessarily work on crows. Crows routinely mob other threat birds (e.g. buzzards, in my experience) and even a single crow will chase a buzzard off. Firing bullets or similar from a drone might not be a good idea in a crowded urban environment (damage to people and / or property). Drones deploying nets to catch them (or at least make them fall out of the sky)? Perhaps…

Lasers. Might incapacitate, kill, or blind crows, would need to avoid collateral damage. Maybe with remote human intervention on the kill switch, one person per bank of 50 drones. Nathan Myhrvold supposedly displayed a mosquito-killing laser photonic fence some years ago [1]. A laser to deal with crows would need to be much more powerful. [1] https://www.fastcompany.com/3059127/what-happened-to-the-mos...

No, we're not going to go around maiming animals just to satisfy your thirst for drones and lasers.

Clean kill or nothing.

Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#49

Post by sandworm101 »

mikec3010 wrote: post #41
sandworm101 wrote: post #14

>>> The crow explosion has created a moral quandary for Japan, a nation that prides itself on nonviolence and harmony with nature, because culling programs are the only truly effective method of population control. No. Culling something like city crows is insanely difficult without resorting to poisons, a very dangerous option in a city. Crows are a problem all over the planet. Get some hawks, or whatever species of…

I'm in San Diego and I regularly watch crows fight hawks in midair, which defiantly ignore them.

Hawks dive on prey from altitude, at speeds higher than anything can achieve in level flight. They dive with their wings partially retracted. It's hard to see. The attack is over in a second or two. So if you see crows fighting back then the hawk is moving slowly, probably working its way back to altitude and unable to respond.

Re: Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)

#50

Post by joveian »

stinos wrote: post #8
flatfilefan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder why aren’t there “ten years gone” follow up articles. Like what has happened with crows in Japan since 2008? Media should do more of that as a matter of routine.

Agreed so much. Can't even count the number of times I thought 'what would have happened to ... after all these years?'. From time to time I do see for example documentaries going back to places years after a disaster (Fukushima, BP Gulf, ...) but that's from actively looking for them. Hardly ever this pops up in the news. Well, it's maybe not literally 'news' but if I see the amount of rather trivial events which do…

Wikipedia can sometimes be good for this. But I agree, if they report about something they should report on what happens later.
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