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How did you manage to get started? The crows close to me are so skittish that if I try to throw a peanut at them they just fly off and never come back. I've onl

by geewee 4y ago

How did you manage to get started? The crows close to me are so skittish that if I try to throw a peanut at them they just fly off and never come back. I've only managed to not have that happen once.

hairofadog 4y ago
Hmm, if you’re literally throwing it at them, yeah, they don’t like that. You just kinda have to throw it where they can see it, then walk away, and they’ll come running over to scoop them up. Do that for a week or two and they’ll start looking for you. Also, cashews are their favorite (based on watching them pick the cashews out of trail mix and then come back for the other stuff later). They don’t let me get close to them, but sometimes they do fly up from behind and tap me on the back of the head to get my attention. Also, unlike the guy up the street, I only throw out a few at a time so they have to sort of follow me to get anything. My ultimate goal is to be able to point at someone and have the crows attack them like in Bioshock. It’ll be my thing for when society collapses. So far, however, I think our relationship is much more “let’s get some peanuts off this sucker” than “I’ll loyally follow this peanut person into battle”.
- prox 4y ago
  I few times I made a pointing “forwards” gesture and then went ahead to where I pointed, although they probably knew my route already. But halfway there ;)
- colechristensen 4y ago
  Crows really like Cheetos.
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    Which is why humanity is preserving Cheetos for future corvid civilizations to discover 10,000 years from now: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 We may wipe ourselves out through war and climate destruction, but the crows will survive and evolve, and CAWrchaeologists will discover our final gift to corvidkind and - hopefully - remember us fondly.
- lioeters 4y ago
  > point at someone and have the crows attack I imagine this would be a conceptual leap for their intelligence, to understand the meaning of "pointing" and to make a connection to the target, what's being pointed at. But then again, I suppose hunting dogs have achieved it - they know what to attack - so it might be possible for smart crows too. Now that I think about it, there are cultures where people train hawks for practical hunting purposes. So taming crows may not be too far-fetched, though it might take a few generations..
prox 4y ago
Just place a few fav seeds where they can see it clearly, soon they will figure it out. Once they start recognizing you (which is very fast, few times tops) they will come. Don’t look or make sudden motions when they are near enough. They don’t like that. In time some might become more interested in you, depending on mood, and will come closer to you.
carapace 4y ago
Crows are companions-to-hunters (wolves and humans mostly.) They interpret your behavior through that "lens". If you set out food and then watch them that means (in crow) that you are a hunter, and a lousy one, and you're trying to hunt them. Toss out some food and "forget" it and they'll think you're such a successful hunter that you don't even need to every scrap. Someone worth knowing. In the old days, crows would go on the hunt with us and fly over hidden game in the bush dipping a wing in a certain way to let you know where it is, then you share the meat with them. They still remember even if most of us have forgotten. ;)
- voidz 4y ago
  I love this. Can you earn their trust, as in, become pals with them? Or is this more of a human desire. It's probably mostly food based priorities to them.
  - nomel 4y ago
    I had a pair of crows that I was somewhat close to. I could get within a couple feet of them, before they would back away. It definitely seemed food based. But, observing how they interact with their (lifelong?) companion, I don’t think I’m able to perceive crow emotions.
  - Wistar 4y ago
    I have tried, and over a fairly long period of coaxing with popcorn, and they remain extremely wary. Only once, out of a group of 15-20 crows, did I earn the trust of a single crow enough that he, or she, would come within 10 feet of me to pickup kernels I had strewn on the ground. The rest stayed far away.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - carapace 4y ago
    > Can you earn their trust, as in, become pals with them? It's a very human question. All living things are friends (except sometimes at mealtime) because we are all part of one singular organism. The separateness and individuality of multicellular organisms is a perceptual illusion. (This sound metaphysical, and perhaps it is, but it's very literal: all cells use the same chemical language, the same bio-molecular machinery of thought. Cf. Michael Levin's lab's work. Also "wood-wide web", etc. The way I sometimes put it is "We are Solaris". but that only makes sense if you've read the book or seen the movies...) Anyway, all animals already trust each other. When you can understand how that's true and share that trust then you can "talk" with animals. Like Dr. Doolittle or some fairy tale princess, they will come up and hang out with you. > It's probably mostly food based priorities to them. Yeah, but that's the same for everybody? Don't you and your friends spend a lot of time discussing food? Cooking and eating together? "Com-pan-ions" are literally those who eat bread together: "com" is community, etc. and "pan" is bread. Live long and prosper.

by geewee 4y ago

How did you manage to get started? The crows close to me are so skittish that if I try to throw a peanut at them they just fly off and never come back. I've only managed to not have that happen once.

hairofadog 4y ago

Hmm, if you’re literally throwing it at them, yeah, they don’t like that. You just kinda have to throw it where they can see it, then walk away, and they’ll come running over to scoop them up. Do that for a week or two and they’ll start looking for you. Also, cashews are their favorite (based on watching them pick the cashews out of trail mix and then come back for the other stuff later). They don’t let me get close to them, but sometimes they do fly up from behind and tap me on the back of the head to get my attention. Also, unlike the guy up the street, I only throw out a few at a time so they have to sort of follow me to get anything. My ultimate goal is to be able to point at someone and have the crows attack them like in Bioshock. It’ll be my thing for when society collapses. So far, however, I think our relationship is much more “let’s get some peanuts off this sucker” than “I’ll loyally follow this peanut person into battle”.

prox 4y ago
I few times I made a pointing “forwards” gesture and then went ahead to where I pointed, although they probably knew my route already. But halfway there ;)
colechristensen 4y ago
Crows really like Cheetos.
- yellowapple 4y ago
  Which is why humanity is preserving Cheetos for future corvid civilizations to discover 10,000 years from now: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33500525 We may wipe ourselves out through war and climate destruction, but the crows will survive and evolve, and CAWrchaeologists will discover our final gift to corvidkind and - hopefully - remember us fondly.
lioeters 4y ago
> point at someone and have the crows attack I imagine this would be a conceptual leap for their intelligence, to understand the meaning of "pointing" and to make a connection to the target, what's being pointed at. But then again, I suppose hunting dogs have achieved it - they know what to attack - so it might be possible for smart crows too. Now that I think about it, there are cultures where people train hawks for practical hunting purposes. So taming crows may not be too far-fetched, though it might take a few generations..

prox 4y ago

Just place a few fav seeds where they can see it clearly, soon they will figure it out. Once they start recognizing you (which is very fast, few times tops) they will come. Don’t look or make sudden motions when they are near enough. They don’t like that. In time some might become more interested in you, depending on mood, and will come closer to you.

carapace 4y ago

Crows are companions-to-hunters (wolves and humans mostly.) They interpret your behavior through that "lens". If you set out food and then watch them that means (in crow) that you are a hunter, and a lousy one, and you're trying to hunt them. Toss out some food and "forget" it and they'll think you're such a successful hunter that you don't even need to every scrap. Someone worth knowing. In the old days, crows would go on the hunt with us and fly over hidden game in the bush dipping a wing in a certain way to let you know where it is, then you share the meat with them. They still remember even if most of us have forgotten. ;)

voidz 4y ago
I love this. Can you earn their trust, as in, become pals with them? Or is this more of a human desire. It's probably mostly food based priorities to them.
- nomel 4y ago
  I had a pair of crows that I was somewhat close to. I could get within a couple feet of them, before they would back away. It definitely seemed food based. But, observing how they interact with their (lifelong?) companion, I don’t think I’m able to perceive crow emotions.
- Wistar 4y ago
  I have tried, and over a fairly long period of coaxing with popcorn, and they remain extremely wary. Only once, out of a group of 15-20 crows, did I earn the trust of a single crow enough that he, or she, would come within 10 feet of me to pickup kernels I had strewn on the ground. The rest stayed far away.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- carapace 4y ago
  > Can you earn their trust, as in, become pals with them? It's a very human question. All living things are friends (except sometimes at mealtime) because we are all part of one singular organism. The separateness and individuality of multicellular organisms is a perceptual illusion. (This sound metaphysical, and perhaps it is, but it's very literal: all cells use the same chemical language, the same bio-molecular machinery of thought. Cf. Michael Levin's lab's work. Also "wood-wide web", etc. The way I sometimes put it is "We are Solaris". but that only makes sense if you've read the book or seen the movies...) Anyway, all animals already trust each other. When you can understand how that's true and share that trust then you can "talk" with animals. Like Dr. Doolittle or some fairy tale princess, they will come up and hang out with you. > It's probably mostly food based priorities to them. Yeah, but that's the same for everybody? Don't you and your friends spend a lot of time discussing food? Cooking and eating together? "Com-pan-ions" are literally those who eat bread together: "com" is community, etc. and "pan" is bread. Live long and prosper.