16 ms·

How to Befriend Crows

800 points by karmanyaahm 4y ago

ankraft 4y ago
Two crows. Rick and Two Crows.
- jcpst 4y ago
  I’ll take it over a Morty any day.
starkd 4y ago
First read this as "how to befriend cows". So, inevitably surprised on visiting the site!
- parentheseus 4y ago
  Advice/Accounts on how to befriend crows has been submitted here in the past, but there hasn't been anything regarding cows, unfortunately. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Befriend%20crows%20&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
  - 082349872349872 4y ago
    IMX cows (they are all domestic, locally) treat anyone with thumbs as a potential source of food. They like licking hands and under-the-chin or cheek scritches; move slowly and talk, and if they're skeptical try crouching to make yourself smaller. (but don't make mothers suspect you're after their calves!) Anyone know about bison?
    - Cupertino95014 4y ago
      Unless they're domestic bison, it's probably illegal to approach them. And unwise.
  - IntrepidWorm 4y ago
    Oddly enough, cows seem to enjoy big band and jazz. https://youtu.be/lXKDu6cdXLI https://youtu.be/lXKDu6cdXLI Now that's some cultured dairy!
    - tanseydavid 4y ago
      Cows seem to be mesmerized by almost any sort of music.
- geocrasher 4y ago
  Oh man, cows are awesome. They're smart, lovable, and even playful. And when they reach a certain age, they're even edible. What's not to love?
  - 082349872349872 4y ago
    For milk cattle, depending upon gender, that age may be sooner rather than later. cf milanesa/schnitzel/chicken fried steak. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_schnitzel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_schnitzel
  - deleted 4y ago
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  - baeaz 4y ago
    I was under the impression that, like chicken, cows became less edible as time passed?
    - Cupertino95014 4y ago
      I don't think his comment meant "edibility rises linearly with age." I think it meant "it reaches a peak" and implicitly "and then declines from there."
      - geocrasher 4y ago
        Exactly.
      - Lio 4y ago
        There's only one way to get to the bottom of this... we're going to have to have eat a lot of crows. No arguments now, this is science damn it!
        Cupertino95014 4y ago
        He said "cows" not "crows." Although you can open up a new branch of Science.
- cultofmetatron 4y ago
  ME TOO!!
denton-scratch 4y ago
I've seen this title about three times, and each time I've read it as "How to Befriend Cows". Cows are fine and all that, but I like to eat them.
Jackson12 4y ago
Crow Tech Slaps
modzu 4y ago
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- brigandish 4y ago
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  - mynameisvlad 4y ago
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        brigandish 4y ago
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- dgacmu 4y ago
  Sometimes it's about the journey. The original post is full of exceptional photos of crows and fun anecdotes that go way beyond the simple answer to the thread title.
  - modzu 4y ago
    agree, the photos are really good and seem to capture a piece of their individual personalities. i just got a bit of a chuckle at the title, because you can befriend any animal with this one simple trick ;)
allenbrunson 4y ago
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!
- superkuh 4y ago
  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/109571409346371116 -> https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom.rss https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom.rss My browser displays RSS natively well enough. It just can't display mastadon pages even with JS on because it's old. The api interface through https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116 https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116 is handy but it doesn't seem to give the full post.
  - jonas-w 4y ago
    If you mean all the comments with "full post" just add /context after tha api url like so: https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116/context https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116/c...
  - deleted 4y ago
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- justinhj 4y ago
  I would much prefer a Twitter link. I can more easily share it with people and it’s a much more pleasant user experience.
  - ggm 4y ago
    I don't understand this: I clicked on the link and saw the thread in my browser. What's the barrier? It's no different to sharing a link to a forum or mailing list archive really
wpietri 4y ago
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 never sure why. This period lasted months. Eventually they would come down when I threw a peanut and approach it warily. If it was closer than 15 or 20 feet to me, I'd have to back away to give them enough room. Then I could throw another peanut near (but not at!) them and they'd walk over to get it. After many more months of this (six, I'd guess) they were somewhat less wary of me and would hang out on our back fence sometimes. So we worked out a ritual. I would place a piece of food on the fence rail and back away; they'd hop over and get it. As he suggested, I would talk with them as I did it. I'm sure the words didn't matter, but I suspect the tone did, and it helped me focus on being soothing with voice, body language, and behavior. Toward the end of my time there we got so that one of them would take high-value food, like a chicken bone with bits of meat left on it, straight out of my hand. That one, who we called George, would happily sit pretty close to me after eating. Out of arm's reach, of course; they were still a bit wary. But it would settle down and chill out. Truly a magical experience to just hang out with a big, smart bird like that. You looking at one another, both trying to figure out exactly what the other's deal is. And me, at least, knowing, that I'd never fully know.
- prox 4y ago
  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.
  - lisper 4y ago
    Yes, of course. Your tone has to convey not only, "I am not a predator" but also "I do not perceive you as a threat, and so the purpose of my vocalization is not to scare you away because I perceive you as a threat, and if you come close I am likely to try to harm you in order to defend myself." In nature, the Bayesian prior on an entity that is not a member of your species, or even your tribe, seeking an interaction with you that will ultimately be to your benefit is very, very low.
geocrasher 4y ago
When I tried to befriend the neighborhood crows, my wife took pity on me and got me a cat as a gift.
blippage 4y ago
I've been trying to befriend crows, but it's a slow process. When I go for a walk I usually take a rich tea biscuit with me. I put it on a post where a crow sometimes rests. At first, it was more-or-less luck as to who and when a crow found it. But they began to catch on, and I'm pretty sure at least one was waiting for me. They were either on the post, or nearby. They fly off when you approach, of course. But they get the idea, and I know they're watching. I try to step back, but they need quite a large distance before they'll try to take the biscuit. Crows seem to know that humans are always up to something. The probably know that it's always plans within plans when it comes to those damn hairless apes. Is he really being generous, or is he running some inscrutable psyop? The problem is that I haven't been consistent the last few days, so the crows lose interest. A few days ago, mind, there was a crow sitting on the fence a few feet from the house. He flew off as I left the house, but he didn't seem particularly alarmed. He flew up to the top of a conifer quite a few yards away. But I knew he was watching. So I put a biscuit on a post and went for a walk. When I came back the biscuit was gone. I guess what I like about crows is that they're really smart, so you're always left wondering as to how much they've cottoned on to and how much of it is just blind coincidence.
- arbitrage 4y ago
  It's an order of magnitude easier to befriend crows in the city, as opposed to the country. The more rural you are located, the more time it will take you to befriend a crow. The first one is the hardest. They'll start bringing friends, eventually. They like they rituals and consistency -- you've already discovered this. They also lose interest if you don't keep it up regularly. Don't look straight at crows, they don't like it at all. When they're ready to be your friend, they'll put themselves into your field of vision. I was able to communicate vocally with crows and get them to respond before they were comfortable being face-to-face friends with me.
  - raffraffraff 4y ago
    I've noticed the face-to-face thing too. My mother had been feeding birds for a while. The local crows quickly realized that she's a soft-touch, so they sit on the garden fence outside her window. If she sees them, she throws something to them. It started with one female bird who eventually brought her young. She would take treats and feed them to her annoyingly loud offspring before eventually having something for herself. My mother got a kick out of this. The matriarch would eventually come to her window and tap on it. But if my mother looked at her directly she'd fly back to the fence. But she could open the window "nonchalantly" and throw treats without scaring her off as long as she didn't look straight at her. Other crows have noticed this. She now has a dozen or so hanging around. The original bird sits looking into her bedroom window in the morning waiting for her to get out of bed, and then flies around to the kitchen to tap on it. You see, there's competition now.
082349872349872 4y ago
With other wildlife, changing silhouette can make a big difference in approach bubbles. Being in a kayak or on a horse allows much closer approach before flight. Does anyone know if the same goes for corvids?
tasty_freeze 4y ago
My wife set up a bird feeder on our floor to ceiling glass windows in our living room -- it is a plexiglass module with suction cups. It was nice seeing the birds, but it was really entertaining watching the squirrels trying to get the food. At first she tried to thwart the them, but in no time started recognizing the squirrels as individuals and noticing their personality and behavioral differences, and gave them names. After that, she stopped buying birdseed and began stocking the feeder with various nuts, and setting up some ramps and jumping obstacles, but not to any crazy level, just something to watch. They recognized her as the person that fills the feeder with nuts. Once she tried hand feeding them it took only a couple weeks for the first brave one, then other squirrels didn't want to be left out and came up to her too. When the feeder goes empty, they'll stand on it and peer into the living room to see if she is around. Once they make eye contact, they hop down and run to the door to get fed. My wife has some chronic health issues that mostly keep her housebound, except for doctor appointments. The squirrels have been a godsend -- even on her worst days, the squirrels make her smile and bring her joy at random times throughout the day.
- geocrasher 4y ago
  This is just wonderful. I'm so glad that your wife has something to keep her going on her bad days. My wife passed away at 46 years old, and the years leading up to her death were very hard. I learned that sometimes it's the smallest things that really bring joy- not things. Interacting with nature whether by observation or active participation is a wonderful thing.
  - austinjp 4y ago
    A comment like this shouldn't go without a reply. Saying "sorry for your loss" always seems inadequate, so here's a brief recollection instead. A few months ago, in one of the covid lock downs when social distancing was a thing, I was walking in a park. About 200 metres away I noticed a woman walking a small dog, possibly a puppy. The woman had stopped to watch the dog, something was going on. Then i realised the dog was playing with a magpie. The magpie would hop up to the dog then flap off when the dog bounded over. Then the magpie lay on its back and let the dog sniff it before kicking its legs and flapping its wings, making the dog bounce in delight. The woman crouched nearby watching. I've no idea if any of them noticed me. It went on for at least 5 minutes before i had to leave. A wonderfully surreal, poignant moment during the pandemic. Seems like aeons ago now.
dilap 4y ago
Does it work with grackles? I'd really love to befriend a grackle or two.
- erikig 4y ago
  I didn’t know what grackles were, so I did a quick Google search and encountered my avian nemeses! These bastards are such a nuisance that they’ve made me fear birds. During their nesting season they’ll repeatedly dive bomb innocent walkers-by and threaten to peck at their ears. Any tips to appease these fascists of the sky would be appreciated.
- zxcvbn4038 4y ago
  You probably don’t want to befriend grackles - they are absolutely magnificent to look at but they crap twice their weight every hour, they chirp to each other around the clock, and if you are feeding them they will bring dozens or hundreds of their closest friends to the party, and they won’t leave.
cainxinth 4y ago
> It's probably not good for them, but they adore cheetos. I can relate
- zxcvbn4038 4y ago
  If seagulls are in your area, put some Cheetos on your dash board, press record, know the location of the nearest carwash.
- _cenw 4y ago
  If you want a healthy snack for crows that they adore, my local murders (~100 crows) go absolutely nuts for cashews. We put them at the bottom of our peanut can, because as soon as we get the cashews out they will outright refuse peanuts and forego any sort of social etiquette and sometimes even try to steal from each other, so we only start feeding them cashews when most of the murder is sated.
status200 4y ago
I play bamboo flute and started playing the same song after feeding a crow that would come by my house, now I can just play the song and I will hear the crow respond from far away and then quickly fly over.
phillc73 4y ago
My Mum did this with magpies in Australia. She lives alone in a small rural town and started feeding these two magpies, that seemed to like her garden, with small pieces of meat. Over the course of a couple of years, the magpie pair even brought their chicks along for a free feed. At one point there were six or seven regular breakfast guests. One of the original magpies would practically eat our of my mother's hand, the other wasn't quite so bold. Sadly, they stopped coming at one point. My mum heard from a neighbour that a large number of local birds, including magpies, had been poisoned. I guess that's what happened to them.
- Lio 4y ago
  That's pretty cool. Aussie magpies have a ferocious reputation[1] so kudos to your Mum. We have lots of magpies where I live and I've always wanted to make friends with them but they're both timid and obviously pretty smart so very hard to get near here. 1. https://gplama.com/2022/09/01/the-worst-magpies-ive-ever-encountered-double-attacks/ https://gplama.com/2022/09/01/the-worst-magpies-ive-ever-enc...
  - femto 4y ago
    The technique I have used for the magpies in my backyard is: leave them alone. Eventually they learn that you are not a threat and quite happily continue their everyday business even if you're nearby, without turning into a demanding pest.
- kaines 4y ago
  Similar to me, my experience has been that you barely have to feed them for them to become comfortable being around you. I had a couple at my last house, and they'd stand ~1 metre away whilst I dug furiously with shovels, picks. I remember one time one landed next to me and snatched half a sandwich from my hand and took off. They get a bad rep as they swoop, however, they're fascinating and beautiful animals; from their social structures of forming lifelong relationships or forming gangs[1], to their ability to mimic[1]. [1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-12-11/magies-ten-things-you-didnt-know/9245780 https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-12-11/magies-ten-th...
- 4y ago
Reason077 4y ago
I first read the headline as “how to befriend cows”, and that seemed a lot more interesting! I’m no friend of crows (specifically, magpies), having been attacked by them in the past. They’re also considered a non-native, invasive species in my country.
PreInternet01 4y ago
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'. They will happily sit in front of oncoming traffic forever, then take evasive action that is, like, the opposite of the optimal strategy...
- jimmaswell 4y ago
  Waiting until the last second and zigzagging out of the way works on animal predators, just not manmade machines
- arcturus17 4y ago
  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!
  - giardini 4y ago
    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.
cc101 4y ago
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 been replaced.
- pugworthy 4y ago
  The Stellers are a lot more shy than the scrub jays. Handfulls of peanuts in our front yard now and then leads to quite the show, with Stellers, Scrubs, and Crows all gathering around. Plus a gray squirrel or two.
- tpoindex 4y ago
  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.
mulmen 4y ago
Why though? There are dozens of crows in my neighborhood. If I befriend crows will they come to expect food from me? What about the pigeons and seagulls? Will they come to resent me? My policy on neighborhood birds has always been neutrality.
- drakonka 4y ago
  Neutrality might be a smart choice in a suburban neighborhood unless you like the idea of guard crows: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/ki6fnd/oregon_i_accidentally_created_an_army_of_crow/ https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/ki6fnd/oregon_...
- philwelch 4y ago
  You can eventually train crows to bring you stuff. I’ve read stories of crows being trained to deliver money or cigarettes. My favorite was a guy who used to hang out with crows on his balcony when he smoked, and he had to move when he quit smoking because the crows would just bring him packs of cigarettes.
- Cupertino95014 4y ago
  If you were an administrator in a large, elite university, you'd see this as a golden opportunity to establish the Committee on Corvid Policy.
0xmarcin 4y ago
I grow up in a small village in eastern europe. It is amazing that you can befriend most of the animals. Chickens are too primitive for that, but cows turned out to be quite intelligent. You can do it the same as with crows, but you should start with a younger animal. You may bring a young cow something to eat and after some time it will recognize you. And they really love to be hand carded (this thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carding). Also remember that cows are quite dangerous (as most of the huge farm animals).
- voakbasda 4y ago
  Cows can indeed be dangerous. We raise a few dairy cows here; they know us and eat out of our hands. When one of our 1000lb girls was in heat, she tried to mount my wife, and it was sheer luck that she escaped with only a sore leg.
- moistly 4y ago
  There are plenty of videos of chickens and children getting along famously. The chicken running to greet the school bus, enjoying a cuddle, playing chase, enjoying being petted. Heck, there are videos of lizards and fish enjoying being petted. Most every animal seems to enjoy being touched gently.
11235813213455 4y ago
All strategies here are about food, I don't think feeding any kind of wild animals is good
- Tepix 4y ago
  We wouldn't have non-wild animals if noone had started feeding them.
  - voakbasda 4y ago
    In many places it is now outright illegal to feed wildlife. Humanity’s period of whole species domestication has passed.
  - astrange 4y ago
    IIRC dogs may have domesticated themselves by coming to visit us to eat our poop, not our hand feeding.
    - Cupertino95014 4y ago
      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.
      - astrange 4y ago
        Hunter gatherers eat the whole animal. Who’s throwing out skin and feet? https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/202008/did-eating-human-poop-play-role-in-the-evolution-dogs https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/20200...
        Cupertino95014 4y ago
        thanks. New name for a restaurant for dogs: The Coprophagia Cafe
keeptrying 4y ago
I live in the Oakland hills so our living room is at the height where birds fly. Over the last 5 years I've realized that there are a pair of crows which essentially own the airspace above our house and in front of it. Each time a hawk or owl or crane flies into this airspace, it will be hounded by these 2 crows. And it happens pretty often. (One of the crows only has 1 leg - that's why I know its the same 2 each time. We've named him Blackbeard.) I imagine there is so much of nature we just blindly miss.
- Nomentatus 4y ago
  I've seen a woodpecker (I think it was) and a crow combine to challenge a falcon, in Edmonton repeatedly; although not in the air. The competition was for tree tops in the ravine and lasted a while with the smaller birds zooming up to harrass the sitting falcon then diving down to lower perches the falcon had trouble getting at. Eventually the falcon had enough and left.
senthilnayagam 4y ago
from India, my wife feeds squirrels, crows and pigeon on kitchen window, they recognise her and wait for her to put food.my wife only feeds them freshly cooked food or raw rice and they have varied taste. they kind of avoid me as I am stranger to them.
eyelidlessness 4y ago
I haven’t made a point to befriend crows, but I’ve very much made a point to establish mutual trust and respect. When I moved my pup from Saint Paul (which had surprisingly few if any crows) back to my long time home of Seattle (which, I’ve only since learned, if famous for its crows), I had to teach pup not to chase crows. She actually has learned the difference between crows (and Steller’s jays) and other birds. And the crows definitely know us. And recognized us when we moved to another neighborhood. They know we give them a wide berth if they’re doing their thing on the ground whenever we can, crossing the road or splitting the middle wherever possible. And they calmly move aside when they see that we can’t. Sometimes one will see us and (I think) find a perch to announce our approach to the others. At first this seemed like a warning, but now it feels more like a friendly heads up. I don’t regularly give them food, but I did sometimes leave little stuff for them at a designated place outside my last house. It was an accident the first time, I had left a little cup of salsa out on top of my yard/food waste bin and forgotten it was there until I saw a crow fly off with it. After that, any deliberate offering left there was swept up within minutes. I’d like to make better friends with them, but most of my encounters are with pup in tow. While she definitely understands they’re different than other birds, she still needs fairly strict control to keep her behaved while we pass by. So friendly respect at a distance feels more appropriate.
osrec 4y ago
Interesting. Also, Mastodon threads seem to be much easier to follow that Twitter... Twitter feels like a confusing mess of replies in any order. I could be wrong, but this felt much more ordered, and therefore made more sense to me. Edit: also faster.
loudthing 4y ago
"How to befriend crows", also known as "how to get away with a murder".
- tanseydavid 4y ago
  Well-played!
fencepost 4y ago
And if you want to do the opposite, consider wearing a very realistic Trump mask while you throw rocks at seagulls outside Mar-A-Lago.
visitect 4y ago
My wife and I have successfully befriended the crows that inhabit my neighborhood. When we first moved into our home a few years ago, I would leave various nuts - and sometimes bits of unfinished bacon - on the back fence when I would see them perched on the neighbor's (tall) home. I would make a clicking noise with my tongue and call out to them in a friendly voice. Then I would retreat to the house and watch from the windows. It didn't take very long at all for them to learn this routine. After a few weeks, as soon as I would "click" one would swoop down from the high perch and land on a nearby post and wait for me to leave the treats. Another would keep watch. Now it feels like we are old friends. If they happen to be around when we pop out of the house, one will vocalize and come near. Others show up soon after. My wife chats with them and leaves various snacks. They really love peanut butter sandwiches! I kid my wife about how much she spoils the crows with the peanut butter, but she just laughs about her "extra shiny" crows.
- boppo1 4y ago
  Isn't bread terrible for birds?
theteapot 4y ago
TL;DR Give them food. Shocker.
- 867-5309 4y ago
  can vouch for this approach
jimmaswell 4y ago
A raven flies over my house every day. It would be interesting to try attracting it. It's never been interested in my feeder though.
macrolime 4y ago
Once when I visiting a friend I heard someone saying hello, hello outside the window. I looked out and couldn't see anyone. Then I saw this crow standing there and it said hello again. Turns out one of my friends neighbors used to feed the crows and taught one of them to say hello like a parrot.
blurbleblurble 4y ago
People are upvoting this after watching "It's a Wonderful Life" yesterday I see
joe__f 4y ago
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 think helped him calm down from the shock, and then he jumped down and sat for a bit when he was ready. I stayed and watched him for a while, but I could tell he'd had enough after a bit so I just left him. I didn't see him fly away but I don't think his things were broken and he wasn't there the next morning. I guess he probably only had one working eye, I don't know how well birds manage with only one eye. Maybe he didn't make it but I hope he did, and I'm sure he would've been stuck shocked and panicking in the road until he got flattened without my help. It was cool.
- seunosewa 4y ago
  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.
  - wan_ala 4y ago
    Excuse my ignorance, but what type of animal would eat a crow?
    - tacotime 4y ago
      A raccoon can definitely kill and eat (part of) a chicken so I’d imagine a crow could be on the menu. Or a coyote. Or a possum or bear. There are vids of deer eating birds and other animals.
    - joe__f 4y ago
      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-Titchwell.jpg https://cdn.birdwatchingdaily.com/2017/06/European-Blackbird...
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jmann99999 4y ago
Interacting with birds has been so wonderful for my family. We live in the mountains in North America. We were tearing down and replacing our deck when the builders came upon a nest with multiple eggs (finch eggs). Thankfully the builders asked us what to do. Our family decided to do some quick research, build a birdhouse within 10 meters of the previous nest, and put the eggs inside. We were able to watch as the mother bird found her eggs and cared for them through their hatching. Years later, so many of them come back every Spring. It makes us smile and wonder what would have happened if we wouldn't have moved those eggs a decade ago. I'd like to attribute how friendly the birds seem to be to some sort of anthropomorphism, but that is probably not the case. Regardless, even the "most basic" birds are wonderful.
shrimpx 4y ago
My neighbor befriended a crow, and was recently asking around about how to unbefriend the crow, who has become a nuisance stealing every object it could carry from their back porch.
- jimnotgym 4y ago
  Run at it clapping, try to grab it...or take a shot at it. I think the crow will soon cotton on
Waterluvian 4y ago
There’s two blue jays that live in the forest my house is in. A squirrel was once giving them a hard time. They were on the fence squawking away as the squirrel kept rushing them then retreating. I let one of my cats out who executed the perfect hunt on the squirrel that had no clue my cat was there. After ten mins of proud trotting and wanting inside, I convinced my cat to drop the squirrel, which ran off. I want to say this was the beginning of a jay/cat alliance but nothing came of it. The jays are around all summer though which is nice.
futuretaint 4y ago
i fed a few blocks of crows for 4 years. mostly dry cat food. each block had a unique family group and they swoop down in succession, hop over and i'd stand there and watch them eat for a bit. I also saw a crow funeral once and I stopped a crow dive bombing run (on other pedestrians).
sacnoradhq 4y ago
Corvids must be Irish. ;) They have long memories and do exhibit cooperative behaviors with other species. I've watched quasi-documentaries first-hand accounts about this phenom on YT. They're also quite socially/situationally adept. A crow snuck into my mechanic's garage and stole a bag of sunflower seeds on top of a rolling toolbox about 30 ft / 10 m into the building without being seen. They then proceeded to take their loot back to their murder and had a sunflower seed party in the alley.
dhosek 4y ago
When I was in first grade, in the wake of a particularly big year of cicadas, the area around my school and home was overwhelmed with large numbers of crows and ravens. In fall, the numbers were so high that they became somewhat aggressive and on multiple occasions came to the windows of the school and pecked at them, which was, unsurprisingly, an event that could disrupt classroom activity for at least half an hour at a time.
jalada 4y ago
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 them for a few months and was woken up by this every morning without fail. Honestly, it was pretty distressing. I love birds and feed them in our garden (so do my parents!), but I wouldn't want to encourage crows to follow me around after that. I'm always in two minds about this tendency for humans to...humanise...animal behaviour.
- vintermann 4y ago
  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).
shmerl 4y ago
Is there a way to make them come to a feeder? They seem to avoid one with peanuts despite everyone saying they love peanuts.
newshorts 4y ago
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 the rehab center verified I had not injured the chick during capture they let me return it where I found it. Let me just say the parents were not happy with me when I let that chick out of the box they started divebombing me. I had my own baby about a month later and as I was carrying my kid in from the parking lot I got dive Bombed by a crow. I’ve always thought it was one of the parents retaliating. From that point on every time they saw me they would start barking at me
- jrochkind1 4y ago
  You are almost certainly actually right, the crows knew you and were pissed. It can get very bad, the crows whose child you stole can somehow tell all the other crows who you are too, even city-wide, and they can get very aggressive. You have gotten off easy so far. Crows are incredible. And yeah, you can definitely make friends with them too. This Harper's article has some amazing stories of people making enemies, and also really touching stores of friendship. > From then on, each time Adam or Dani walked onto their back deck, a crow would call out and the murder would reappear as if summoned, squawking so loudly that it was impossible to carry on a conversation. Sometimes the crows would dive-bomb them or attack Mona when she went out to pee. When Adam took the dog for a walk, the crows swooped low and followed them. He tried walking Mona in other neighborhoods, but the crows terrorized him there too. Adam and Dani felt under siege. They worried for Lina’s safety. “The crows are like the Mafia,” Dani told me a few weeks into their ordeal. They’d stopped going outside, she said, unless it was absolutely necessary. And because of the pandemic, they couldn’t really go anywhere else. > The day Dani rescued Mona from the crows, a neighbor thought he’d spotted a fledgling in Mona’s mouth before the murder first descended. Dani and Adam weren’t so sure—they had never seen Mona attack a bird before. But it nevertheless occurred to them that they might be on some kind of crow hit list. Through online research, Adam learned that crows have an uncanny ability to recognize humans, assign them moral qualities, and pass this information on to other crows, even to future generations. Desperate, Adam took to Reddit. If you’re at war with the crows, post after post advised, your best option is to move. —https://harpers.org/archive/2021/04/the-crow-whisperer-animal-communicators/ https://harpers.org/archive/2021/04/the-crow-whisperer-anima... They enlist a crow expert to help them apologize and make peace with the crows, and it does eventually work. Hope you don't ever need that advice!
infradig 4y ago
Is it legal to feed wild animals in other countries?
memling 4y ago
Relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/bestoflegaladvice/comments/ki9gb1/i_accidentally_created_an_army_of_crow_body/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bestoflegaladvice/comments/ki9gb1/i...
acyou 4y ago
Don't feed the wildlife!! Better to let crows be crows. They are wild animals and not domesticated, nor is there a great reason that they should be domesticated in any way. They along with the seagulls and starlings are already clearing out the rest of the other native species of birds, do they really need more help? Moreover, isn't it incredibly self centric to do this sort of bird feeding thing without any regard for the long term consequences?
- ggm 4y ago
  Bird scientists differ on the relative risk and benefits of feeding. Darryl Jones who is emeritus Griffith uni I think, has written on this in the Australian urban context: they don't get dependent, it is marginal benefit, they rear bigger clutches, pick food wisely. Not "never feed" https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Feeding_the_Birds_at_Your_Table.html?id=a5qxDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Feeding_the_Birds_at... Darryl on research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Darryl-Jones-2217044764 https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Darryl...
  - acyou 4y ago
    He's selling his book: "Feeding the Birds at Your Table is designed to provide detailed, comprehensive advice and suggestions for people wishing to feed wild birds in Australia from their own backyards and balconies." Seems like he has a vested interest in selling copies of his book. Australians of all people should know better than to claim to understand the ramifications of human intervention on complex natural systems. See: introduction of cane toads to Australia. Backyard wildlife feeding is extremely intrusive in all cases, it should be and is blanket banned in many places. People with feeders also have a vested interest in convincing themselves that it's OK. "I'm making friends with the bird", yes you are, it's a profoundly toxic relationship. If you can claim to understand the full and long-range ramifications of your intervention in a natural system, who thinks they are so smart?
    - ggm 4y ago
      Yes, he is. But he is also legitimately researching bird ecology in the inner city, and knows what he's talking about.
smusamashah 4y ago
There is a saying in my region told by our elders. If crows are cawing it means there are guests outside. It won't make sense in urban areas much but it does in rural. Since they are intelligent and good at recognizing faces, there cawing can mean there is someone unknown outside.
kposehn 4y ago
I’ve got ~55 ravens near my home that know me very well and always come around for treats (unsalted unroasted cashews). Over the last few seasons I’ve gotten to see a number of fledglings getting trained, gotten to know their various personalities and been fortunate to learn a great deal about them. They’re amazingly intelligent and very gregarious once they trust you. A particularly brave one will even perch just out of reach and snatch cashews out of the air. Others will hover over me in the breeze asking for treats and catch them as well. They definitely train you too - they know where I live. If they don’t get fed for a while, they’ll croak their frustrations down my chimney at me. Amazing birds and I feel very fortunate to have formed some bond with them.
jamal-kumar 4y ago
Anyone ever seen a talking crow? Corvids are a lot like parrots in this regard, they're just incredibly uncanny mimics [1] [2] [3] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5Vm_YO_MY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5Vm_YO_MY [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9epnUBQHXI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9epnUBQHXI [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfsnHVaScjg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfsnHVaScjg
zestyping 4y ago
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 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 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!
- hackernewds 4y ago
  That is incredible adorable and impressive. Next they can open jars and bring home coins from the tip jars in exchange for treats :)
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dssagar93 4y ago
My entire family has befriended crows. I live on the 3rd floor. When the crow comes in, we feed them with hands directly. He takes the food right from our hand and eats it slowly. This worked out simply because we started feeding them daily. Initially they used to just run away but we kept giving food and slowly they started trusting us.
jerrygoyal 4y ago
came here to expect something counterintuitive but it's just "feed them regularly".
ericlnu 4y ago
amazing <3
maxnoe 4y ago
On La Palma, there is a pair of ravens living up in the mountain near the observatory. They are incredibly smart and very tame. They will happily land on your shoulder while you try to eat your lunch and pick away into your lunch box. They will do loopings above groups of tourists, land, beg for food, and when they receive food, do some more fly-bys and loopings. They bury food in the ground and I bet they find all of it later. I am pretty sure they recognize people, as they came straight for me and my wife when we were hiking and not to the other people around...
vintermann 4y ago
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.
_448 4y ago
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.
BLKNSLVR 4y ago
There was a juvenile magpie on the balcony handrail outside the large office kitchen / lunchroom space. I went out and left the corner of a cheese biscuit on the balcony floor just to see what it would do. It didn't show any interest until I went back inside, and it spent a couple of minutes looking at the biscuit, looking at the door. I then had to go back to my desk, not knowing the end result. A couple of hours later we had our monthly all-hands meeting in the kitchen / lunch room space. For the full hour of the meeting, there was a juvenile magpie standing on the balcony floor, at the door, looking inside and warbling. I'm assuming it liked the country cheese sample.
residualmind 4y ago
I always loved the crows in the city and tried to be friendly to them, even sometimes feeding them - one time I had up to 30 crows patiently sitting around me, each one waiting for me to throw them their little piece of cheese which they would catch from the air. So I always was under the impression that my neighborhood crows tolerated or maybe even liked me. This changed when I got a dog and moved to a different part of the city. The dog loves scaring away birds by running up to them, which the crows weren't happy about obviously. I tried to prevent the dog scaring crows (pigeons were O.K.) but she managed to scare them a few times anyways. The crows didn't like this. Up to a point where whenever the dog and me encountered crows, the birds would warn and call others, swarming around us in a threatening, scary way. But after months of me carefully keeping the dog from scaring the crows, pulling her back on the leash and letting her know the crows are our friends, the crows are friendly again. Even when we walk closely by crows, they don't mind. I'm 100% convinced the crows have learned that the dog is under my control and I keep her from charging at them. No more warning caws and ganging up on us. Such amazing birds.
paulette449 4y ago
While this thread is about crows, I can't recommend Bernd Heinrich's books, many of which feature his relationship with ravens, highly enough. A Year in the Maine Woods [1] is a classic. Mind of the Raven [2] and Ravens in Winter [3] may be of interest to anyone following this thread and since I am speaking about ravens in a thread about crows, an Audubon article "How to Tell a Raven from a Crow" [4] may also be of interest. [1] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77166.A_Year_in_the_Maine_Woods https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77166.A_Year_in_the_Main... [2] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254704.Mind_of_the_Raven https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254704.Mind_of_the_Raven [3] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122665.Ravens_in_Winter https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122665.Ravens_in_Winter [4] - https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow
lovehashbrowns 4y ago
I had lunch with a crow once in downtown Austin at one of those outside eating tables. I sat down with some pizza and saw the crow standing by, likely waiting for me to finish and throw away whatever I didn't eat. I figured it'd be easier if we ate together, so I picked out a piece of bread and left it on the table an arm's length away from me, and it hopped on top of the table and ate the piece. Then I would take a bite of the pizza and tear off a piece for my crow pal for it to eat, and it went that way for about 30 minutes. Easily one of the most rewarding experiences for me as a lifelong city slicker. The lil birb could tell we were sharing a meal and I wasn't a threat. I'd love to do that again! Peanuts sounds good. I s'ppose I can try picking a consistent walking route and taking peanuts with me to try and make another crow pal, maybe a longer friendship this time.
Dazzler5648 4y ago
Dang. I love how cute this "hack" seems, but at the same time I hate to see anyone advocating feeding wild animals. It not only violates Leave No Trace, but it also violates other people's enjoyment of the crows as wild animals, and violates the animals' right to stay wild. Stomachs never lie. As someone who lives in an extremely remote and wild part of the USA, it blows my mind to check in on social media and feeds like this where people have co-opted wild animals "poor lives" as something laid open to some sort of weird new manifest destiny. They animals are not here for our enjoyment or entertainment. They're not here to be used. Sure, feed the crows Cheetos etc. if you're cruel, but don't suggest to the Internet that other people do this, because it's just not right. I definitely wasn't expecting the author to be a biologist. Where I live, fed wild animals are dead wild animals. Because you don't know when that animal who is now used to being fed is gonna break into the neighbors' houses or simply beg at the door, and get trapped or shot or poisoned or all three. It happens. Dang.

800 points by karmanyaahm 4y ago

ankraft 4y ago

Two crows. Rick and Two Crows.

jcpst 4y ago
I’ll take it over a Morty any day.

starkd 4y ago

First read this as "how to befriend cows". So, inevitably surprised on visiting the site!

parentheseus 4y ago
Advice/Accounts on how to befriend crows has been submitted here in the past, but there hasn't been anything regarding cows, unfortunately. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Befriend%20crows%20&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  IMX cows (they are all domestic, locally) treat anyone with thumbs as a potential source of food. They like licking hands and under-the-chin or cheek scritches; move slowly and talk, and if they're skeptical try crouching to make yourself smaller. (but don't make mothers suspect you're after their calves!) Anyone know about bison?
  - Cupertino95014 4y ago
    Unless they're domestic bison, it's probably illegal to approach them. And unwise.
- IntrepidWorm 4y ago
  Oddly enough, cows seem to enjoy big band and jazz. https://youtu.be/lXKDu6cdXLI https://youtu.be/lXKDu6cdXLI Now that's some cultured dairy!
  - tanseydavid 4y ago
    Cows seem to be mesmerized by almost any sort of music.
geocrasher 4y ago
Oh man, cows are awesome. They're smart, lovable, and even playful. And when they reach a certain age, they're even edible. What's not to love?
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  For milk cattle, depending upon gender, that age may be sooner rather than later. cf milanesa/schnitzel/chicken fried steak. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_schnitzel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_schnitzel
- deleted 4y ago
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- baeaz 4y ago
  I was under the impression that, like chicken, cows became less edible as time passed?
  - Cupertino95014 4y ago
    I don't think his comment meant "edibility rises linearly with age." I think it meant "it reaches a peak" and implicitly "and then declines from there."
    - geocrasher 4y ago
      Exactly.
    - Lio 4y ago
      There's only one way to get to the bottom of this... we're going to have to have eat a lot of crows. No arguments now, this is science damn it!
      - Cupertino95014 4y ago
        He said "cows" not "crows." Although you can open up a new branch of Science.
cultofmetatron 4y ago
ME TOO!!

denton-scratch 4y ago

I've seen this title about three times, and each time I've read it as "How to Befriend Cows". Cows are fine and all that, but I like to eat them.

Jackson12 4y ago

Crow Tech Slaps

modzu 4y ago

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brigandish 4y ago
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- mynameisvlad 4y ago
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dgacmu 4y ago
Sometimes it's about the journey. The original post is full of exceptional photos of crows and fun anecdotes that go way beyond the simple answer to the thread title.
- modzu 4y ago
  agree, the photos are really good and seem to capture a piece of their individual personalities. i just got a bit of a chuckle at the title, because you can befriend any animal with this one simple trick ;)

allenbrunson 4y ago

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!

superkuh 4y ago
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/109571409346371116 -> https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom.rss https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom.rss My browser displays RSS natively well enough. It just can't display mastadon pages even with JS on because it's old. The api interface through https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116 https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116 is handy but it doesn't seem to give the full post.
- jonas-w 4y ago
  If you mean all the comments with "full post" just add /context after tha api url like so: https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116/context https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116/c...
- deleted 4y ago
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justinhj 4y ago
I would much prefer a Twitter link. I can more easily share it with people and it’s a much more pleasant user experience.
- ggm 4y ago
  I don't understand this: I clicked on the link and saw the thread in my browser. What's the barrier? It's no different to sharing a link to a forum or mailing list archive really

wpietri 4y ago

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 never sure why. This period lasted months. Eventually they would come down when I threw a peanut and approach it warily. If it was closer than 15 or 20 feet to me, I'd have to back away to give them enough room. Then I could throw another peanut near (but not at!) them and they'd walk over to get it. After many more months of this (six, I'd guess) they were somewhat less wary of me and would hang out on our back fence sometimes. So we worked out a ritual. I would place a piece of food on the fence rail and back away; they'd hop over and get it. As he suggested, I would talk with them as I did it. I'm sure the words didn't matter, but I suspect the tone did, and it helped me focus on being soothing with voice, body language, and behavior. Toward the end of my time there we got so that one of them would take high-value food, like a chicken bone with bits of meat left on it, straight out of my hand. That one, who we called George, would happily sit pretty close to me after eating. Out of arm's reach, of course; they were still a bit wary. But it would settle down and chill out. Truly a magical experience to just hang out with a big, smart bird like that. You looking at one another, both trying to figure out exactly what the other's deal is. And me, at least, knowing, that I'd never fully know.

prox 4y ago
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.
- lisper 4y ago
  Yes, of course. Your tone has to convey not only, "I am not a predator" but also "I do not perceive you as a threat, and so the purpose of my vocalization is not to scare you away because I perceive you as a threat, and if you come close I am likely to try to harm you in order to defend myself." In nature, the Bayesian prior on an entity that is not a member of your species, or even your tribe, seeking an interaction with you that will ultimately be to your benefit is very, very low.

geocrasher 4y ago

When I tried to befriend the neighborhood crows, my wife took pity on me and got me a cat as a gift.

blippage 4y ago

I've been trying to befriend crows, but it's a slow process. When I go for a walk I usually take a rich tea biscuit with me. I put it on a post where a crow sometimes rests. At first, it was more-or-less luck as to who and when a crow found it. But they began to catch on, and I'm pretty sure at least one was waiting for me. They were either on the post, or nearby. They fly off when you approach, of course. But they get the idea, and I know they're watching. I try to step back, but they need quite a large distance before they'll try to take the biscuit. Crows seem to know that humans are always up to something. The probably know that it's always plans within plans when it comes to those damn hairless apes. Is he really being generous, or is he running some inscrutable psyop? The problem is that I haven't been consistent the last few days, so the crows lose interest. A few days ago, mind, there was a crow sitting on the fence a few feet from the house. He flew off as I left the house, but he didn't seem particularly alarmed. He flew up to the top of a conifer quite a few yards away. But I knew he was watching. So I put a biscuit on a post and went for a walk. When I came back the biscuit was gone. I guess what I like about crows is that they're really smart, so you're always left wondering as to how much they've cottoned on to and how much of it is just blind coincidence.

arbitrage 4y ago
It's an order of magnitude easier to befriend crows in the city, as opposed to the country. The more rural you are located, the more time it will take you to befriend a crow. The first one is the hardest. They'll start bringing friends, eventually. They like they rituals and consistency -- you've already discovered this. They also lose interest if you don't keep it up regularly. Don't look straight at crows, they don't like it at all. When they're ready to be your friend, they'll put themselves into your field of vision. I was able to communicate vocally with crows and get them to respond before they were comfortable being face-to-face friends with me.
- raffraffraff 4y ago
  I've noticed the face-to-face thing too. My mother had been feeding birds for a while. The local crows quickly realized that she's a soft-touch, so they sit on the garden fence outside her window. If she sees them, she throws something to them. It started with one female bird who eventually brought her young. She would take treats and feed them to her annoyingly loud offspring before eventually having something for herself. My mother got a kick out of this. The matriarch would eventually come to her window and tap on it. But if my mother looked at her directly she'd fly back to the fence. But she could open the window "nonchalantly" and throw treats without scaring her off as long as she didn't look straight at her. Other crows have noticed this. She now has a dozen or so hanging around. The original bird sits looking into her bedroom window in the morning waiting for her to get out of bed, and then flies around to the kitchen to tap on it. You see, there's competition now.

082349872349872 4y ago

With other wildlife, changing silhouette can make a big difference in approach bubbles. Being in a kayak or on a horse allows much closer approach before flight. Does anyone know if the same goes for corvids?

tasty_freeze 4y ago

My wife set up a bird feeder on our floor to ceiling glass windows in our living room -- it is a plexiglass module with suction cups. It was nice seeing the birds, but it was really entertaining watching the squirrels trying to get the food. At first she tried to thwart the them, but in no time started recognizing the squirrels as individuals and noticing their personality and behavioral differences, and gave them names. After that, she stopped buying birdseed and began stocking the feeder with various nuts, and setting up some ramps and jumping obstacles, but not to any crazy level, just something to watch. They recognized her as the person that fills the feeder with nuts. Once she tried hand feeding them it took only a couple weeks for the first brave one, then other squirrels didn't want to be left out and came up to her too. When the feeder goes empty, they'll stand on it and peer into the living room to see if she is around. Once they make eye contact, they hop down and run to the door to get fed. My wife has some chronic health issues that mostly keep her housebound, except for doctor appointments. The squirrels have been a godsend -- even on her worst days, the squirrels make her smile and bring her joy at random times throughout the day.

geocrasher 4y ago
This is just wonderful. I'm so glad that your wife has something to keep her going on her bad days. My wife passed away at 46 years old, and the years leading up to her death were very hard. I learned that sometimes it's the smallest things that really bring joy- not things. Interacting with nature whether by observation or active participation is a wonderful thing.
- austinjp 4y ago
  A comment like this shouldn't go without a reply. Saying "sorry for your loss" always seems inadequate, so here's a brief recollection instead. A few months ago, in one of the covid lock downs when social distancing was a thing, I was walking in a park. About 200 metres away I noticed a woman walking a small dog, possibly a puppy. The woman had stopped to watch the dog, something was going on. Then i realised the dog was playing with a magpie. The magpie would hop up to the dog then flap off when the dog bounded over. Then the magpie lay on its back and let the dog sniff it before kicking its legs and flapping its wings, making the dog bounce in delight. The woman crouched nearby watching. I've no idea if any of them noticed me. It went on for at least 5 minutes before i had to leave. A wonderfully surreal, poignant moment during the pandemic. Seems like aeons ago now.

dilap 4y ago

Does it work with grackles? I'd really love to befriend a grackle or two.

erikig 4y ago
I didn’t know what grackles were, so I did a quick Google search and encountered my avian nemeses! These bastards are such a nuisance that they’ve made me fear birds. During their nesting season they’ll repeatedly dive bomb innocent walkers-by and threaten to peck at their ears. Any tips to appease these fascists of the sky would be appreciated.
zxcvbn4038 4y ago
You probably don’t want to befriend grackles - they are absolutely magnificent to look at but they crap twice their weight every hour, they chirp to each other around the clock, and if you are feeding them they will bring dozens or hundreds of their closest friends to the party, and they won’t leave.

cainxinth 4y ago

> It's probably not good for them, but they adore cheetos. I can relate

zxcvbn4038 4y ago
If seagulls are in your area, put some Cheetos on your dash board, press record, know the location of the nearest carwash.
_cenw 4y ago
If you want a healthy snack for crows that they adore, my local murders (~100 crows) go absolutely nuts for cashews. We put them at the bottom of our peanut can, because as soon as we get the cashews out they will outright refuse peanuts and forego any sort of social etiquette and sometimes even try to steal from each other, so we only start feeding them cashews when most of the murder is sated.

status200 4y ago

I play bamboo flute and started playing the same song after feeding a crow that would come by my house, now I can just play the song and I will hear the crow respond from far away and then quickly fly over.

phillc73 4y ago

My Mum did this with magpies in Australia. She lives alone in a small rural town and started feeding these two magpies, that seemed to like her garden, with small pieces of meat. Over the course of a couple of years, the magpie pair even brought their chicks along for a free feed. At one point there were six or seven regular breakfast guests. One of the original magpies would practically eat our of my mother's hand, the other wasn't quite so bold. Sadly, they stopped coming at one point. My mum heard from a neighbour that a large number of local birds, including magpies, had been poisoned. I guess that's what happened to them.

Lio 4y ago
That's pretty cool. Aussie magpies have a ferocious reputation[1] so kudos to your Mum. We have lots of magpies where I live and I've always wanted to make friends with them but they're both timid and obviously pretty smart so very hard to get near here. 1. https://gplama.com/2022/09/01/the-worst-magpies-ive-ever-encountered-double-attacks/ https://gplama.com/2022/09/01/the-worst-magpies-ive-ever-enc...
- femto 4y ago
  The technique I have used for the magpies in my backyard is: leave them alone. Eventually they learn that you are not a threat and quite happily continue their everyday business even if you're nearby, without turning into a demanding pest.
kaines 4y ago
Similar to me, my experience has been that you barely have to feed them for them to become comfortable being around you. I had a couple at my last house, and they'd stand ~1 metre away whilst I dug furiously with shovels, picks. I remember one time one landed next to me and snatched half a sandwich from my hand and took off. They get a bad rep as they swoop, however, they're fascinating and beautiful animals; from their social structures of forming lifelong relationships or forming gangs[1], to their ability to mimic[1]. [1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-12-11/magies-ten-things-you-didnt-know/9245780 https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-12-11/magies-ten-th...
4y ago

Reason077 4y ago

I first read the headline as “how to befriend cows”, and that seemed a lot more interesting! I’m no friend of crows (specifically, magpies), having been attacked by them in the past. They’re also considered a non-native, invasive species in my country.

PreInternet01 4y ago

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'. They will happily sit in front of oncoming traffic forever, then take evasive action that is, like, the opposite of the optimal strategy...

jimmaswell 4y ago
Waiting until the last second and zigzagging out of the way works on animal predators, just not manmade machines
arcturus17 4y ago
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!
- giardini 4y ago
  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.

cc101 4y ago

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 been replaced.

pugworthy 4y ago
The Stellers are a lot more shy than the scrub jays. Handfulls of peanuts in our front yard now and then leads to quite the show, with Stellers, Scrubs, and Crows all gathering around. Plus a gray squirrel or two.
tpoindex 4y ago
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.

mulmen 4y ago

Why though? There are dozens of crows in my neighborhood. If I befriend crows will they come to expect food from me? What about the pigeons and seagulls? Will they come to resent me? My policy on neighborhood birds has always been neutrality.

drakonka 4y ago
Neutrality might be a smart choice in a suburban neighborhood unless you like the idea of guard crows: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/ki6fnd/oregon_i_accidentally_created_an_army_of_crow/ https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/ki6fnd/oregon_...
philwelch 4y ago
You can eventually train crows to bring you stuff. I’ve read stories of crows being trained to deliver money or cigarettes. My favorite was a guy who used to hang out with crows on his balcony when he smoked, and he had to move when he quit smoking because the crows would just bring him packs of cigarettes.
Cupertino95014 4y ago
If you were an administrator in a large, elite university, you'd see this as a golden opportunity to establish the Committee on Corvid Policy.

0xmarcin 4y ago

I grow up in a small village in eastern europe. It is amazing that you can befriend most of the animals. Chickens are too primitive for that, but cows turned out to be quite intelligent. You can do it the same as with crows, but you should start with a younger animal. You may bring a young cow something to eat and after some time it will recognize you. And they really love to be hand carded (this thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carding). Also remember that cows are quite dangerous (as most of the huge farm animals).

voakbasda 4y ago
Cows can indeed be dangerous. We raise a few dairy cows here; they know us and eat out of our hands. When one of our 1000lb girls was in heat, she tried to mount my wife, and it was sheer luck that she escaped with only a sore leg.
moistly 4y ago
There are plenty of videos of chickens and children getting along famously. The chicken running to greet the school bus, enjoying a cuddle, playing chase, enjoying being petted. Heck, there are videos of lizards and fish enjoying being petted. Most every animal seems to enjoy being touched gently.

11235813213455 4y ago

All strategies here are about food, I don't think feeding any kind of wild animals is good

Tepix 4y ago
We wouldn't have non-wild animals if noone had started feeding them.
- voakbasda 4y ago
  In many places it is now outright illegal to feed wildlife. Humanity’s period of whole species domestication has passed.
- astrange 4y ago
  IIRC dogs may have domesticated themselves by coming to visit us to eat our poop, not our hand feeding.
  - Cupertino95014 4y ago
    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.
    - astrange 4y ago
      Hunter gatherers eat the whole animal. Who’s throwing out skin and feet? https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/202008/did-eating-human-poop-play-role-in-the-evolution-dogs https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/20200...
      - Cupertino95014 4y ago
        thanks. New name for a restaurant for dogs: The Coprophagia Cafe

keeptrying 4y ago

I live in the Oakland hills so our living room is at the height where birds fly. Over the last 5 years I've realized that there are a pair of crows which essentially own the airspace above our house and in front of it. Each time a hawk or owl or crane flies into this airspace, it will be hounded by these 2 crows. And it happens pretty often. (One of the crows only has 1 leg - that's why I know its the same 2 each time. We've named him Blackbeard.) I imagine there is so much of nature we just blindly miss.

Nomentatus 4y ago
I've seen a woodpecker (I think it was) and a crow combine to challenge a falcon, in Edmonton repeatedly; although not in the air. The competition was for tree tops in the ravine and lasted a while with the smaller birds zooming up to harrass the sitting falcon then diving down to lower perches the falcon had trouble getting at. Eventually the falcon had enough and left.

senthilnayagam 4y ago

from India, my wife feeds squirrels, crows and pigeon on kitchen window, they recognise her and wait for her to put food.my wife only feeds them freshly cooked food or raw rice and they have varied taste. they kind of avoid me as I am stranger to them.

eyelidlessness 4y ago

I haven’t made a point to befriend crows, but I’ve very much made a point to establish mutual trust and respect. When I moved my pup from Saint Paul (which had surprisingly few if any crows) back to my long time home of Seattle (which, I’ve only since learned, if famous for its crows), I had to teach pup not to chase crows. She actually has learned the difference between crows (and Steller’s jays) and other birds. And the crows definitely know us. And recognized us when we moved to another neighborhood. They know we give them a wide berth if they’re doing their thing on the ground whenever we can, crossing the road or splitting the middle wherever possible. And they calmly move aside when they see that we can’t. Sometimes one will see us and (I think) find a perch to announce our approach to the others. At first this seemed like a warning, but now it feels more like a friendly heads up. I don’t regularly give them food, but I did sometimes leave little stuff for them at a designated place outside my last house. It was an accident the first time, I had left a little cup of salsa out on top of my yard/food waste bin and forgotten it was there until I saw a crow fly off with it. After that, any deliberate offering left there was swept up within minutes. I’d like to make better friends with them, but most of my encounters are with pup in tow. While she definitely understands they’re different than other birds, she still needs fairly strict control to keep her behaved while we pass by. So friendly respect at a distance feels more appropriate.

osrec 4y ago

Interesting. Also, Mastodon threads seem to be much easier to follow that Twitter... Twitter feels like a confusing mess of replies in any order. I could be wrong, but this felt much more ordered, and therefore made more sense to me. Edit: also faster.

loudthing 4y ago

"How to befriend crows", also known as "how to get away with a murder".

tanseydavid 4y ago
Well-played!

fencepost 4y ago

And if you want to do the opposite, consider wearing a very realistic Trump mask while you throw rocks at seagulls outside Mar-A-Lago.

visitect 4y ago

My wife and I have successfully befriended the crows that inhabit my neighborhood. When we first moved into our home a few years ago, I would leave various nuts - and sometimes bits of unfinished bacon - on the back fence when I would see them perched on the neighbor's (tall) home. I would make a clicking noise with my tongue and call out to them in a friendly voice. Then I would retreat to the house and watch from the windows. It didn't take very long at all for them to learn this routine. After a few weeks, as soon as I would "click" one would swoop down from the high perch and land on a nearby post and wait for me to leave the treats. Another would keep watch. Now it feels like we are old friends. If they happen to be around when we pop out of the house, one will vocalize and come near. Others show up soon after. My wife chats with them and leaves various snacks. They really love peanut butter sandwiches! I kid my wife about how much she spoils the crows with the peanut butter, but she just laughs about her "extra shiny" crows.

boppo1 4y ago
Isn't bread terrible for birds?

theteapot 4y ago

TL;DR Give them food. Shocker.

867-5309 4y ago
can vouch for this approach

jimmaswell 4y ago

A raven flies over my house every day. It would be interesting to try attracting it. It's never been interested in my feeder though.

macrolime 4y ago

Once when I visiting a friend I heard someone saying hello, hello outside the window. I looked out and couldn't see anyone. Then I saw this crow standing there and it said hello again. Turns out one of my friends neighbors used to feed the crows and taught one of them to say hello like a parrot.

blurbleblurble 4y ago

People are upvoting this after watching "It's a Wonderful Life" yesterday I see

joe__f 4y ago

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 think helped him calm down from the shock, and then he jumped down and sat for a bit when he was ready. I stayed and watched him for a while, but I could tell he'd had enough after a bit so I just left him. I didn't see him fly away but I don't think his things were broken and he wasn't there the next morning. I guess he probably only had one working eye, I don't know how well birds manage with only one eye. Maybe he didn't make it but I hope he did, and I'm sure he would've been stuck shocked and panicking in the road until he got flattened without my help. It was cool.

seunosewa 4y ago
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.
- wan_ala 4y ago
  Excuse my ignorance, but what type of animal would eat a crow?
  - tacotime 4y ago
    A raccoon can definitely kill and eat (part of) a chicken so I’d imagine a crow could be on the menu. Or a coyote. Or a possum or bear. There are vids of deer eating birds and other animals.
  - joe__f 4y ago
    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-Titchwell.jpg https://cdn.birdwatchingdaily.com/2017/06/European-Blackbird...

deleted 4y ago

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jmann99999 4y ago

Interacting with birds has been so wonderful for my family. We live in the mountains in North America. We were tearing down and replacing our deck when the builders came upon a nest with multiple eggs (finch eggs). Thankfully the builders asked us what to do. Our family decided to do some quick research, build a birdhouse within 10 meters of the previous nest, and put the eggs inside. We were able to watch as the mother bird found her eggs and cared for them through their hatching. Years later, so many of them come back every Spring. It makes us smile and wonder what would have happened if we wouldn't have moved those eggs a decade ago. I'd like to attribute how friendly the birds seem to be to some sort of anthropomorphism, but that is probably not the case. Regardless, even the "most basic" birds are wonderful.

shrimpx 4y ago

My neighbor befriended a crow, and was recently asking around about how to unbefriend the crow, who has become a nuisance stealing every object it could carry from their back porch.

jimnotgym 4y ago
Run at it clapping, try to grab it...or take a shot at it. I think the crow will soon cotton on

Waterluvian 4y ago

There’s two blue jays that live in the forest my house is in. A squirrel was once giving them a hard time. They were on the fence squawking away as the squirrel kept rushing them then retreating. I let one of my cats out who executed the perfect hunt on the squirrel that had no clue my cat was there. After ten mins of proud trotting and wanting inside, I convinced my cat to drop the squirrel, which ran off. I want to say this was the beginning of a jay/cat alliance but nothing came of it. The jays are around all summer though which is nice.

futuretaint 4y ago

i fed a few blocks of crows for 4 years. mostly dry cat food. each block had a unique family group and they swoop down in succession, hop over and i'd stand there and watch them eat for a bit. I also saw a crow funeral once and I stopped a crow dive bombing run (on other pedestrians).

sacnoradhq 4y ago

Corvids must be Irish. ;) They have long memories and do exhibit cooperative behaviors with other species. I've watched quasi-documentaries first-hand accounts about this phenom on YT. They're also quite socially/situationally adept. A crow snuck into my mechanic's garage and stole a bag of sunflower seeds on top of a rolling toolbox about 30 ft / 10 m into the building without being seen. They then proceeded to take their loot back to their murder and had a sunflower seed party in the alley.

dhosek 4y ago

When I was in first grade, in the wake of a particularly big year of cicadas, the area around my school and home was overwhelmed with large numbers of crows and ravens. In fall, the numbers were so high that they became somewhat aggressive and on multiple occasions came to the windows of the school and pecked at them, which was, unsurprisingly, an event that could disrupt classroom activity for at least half an hour at a time.

jalada 4y ago

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 them for a few months and was woken up by this every morning without fail. Honestly, it was pretty distressing. I love birds and feed them in our garden (so do my parents!), but I wouldn't want to encourage crows to follow me around after that. I'm always in two minds about this tendency for humans to...humanise...animal behaviour.

vintermann 4y ago
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).

shmerl 4y ago

Is there a way to make them come to a feeder? They seem to avoid one with peanuts despite everyone saying they love peanuts.

newshorts 4y ago

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 the rehab center verified I had not injured the chick during capture they let me return it where I found it. Let me just say the parents were not happy with me when I let that chick out of the box they started divebombing me. I had my own baby about a month later and as I was carrying my kid in from the parking lot I got dive Bombed by a crow. I’ve always thought it was one of the parents retaliating. From that point on every time they saw me they would start barking at me

jrochkind1 4y ago
You are almost certainly actually right, the crows knew you and were pissed. It can get very bad, the crows whose child you stole can somehow tell all the other crows who you are too, even city-wide, and they can get very aggressive. You have gotten off easy so far. Crows are incredible. And yeah, you can definitely make friends with them too. This Harper's article has some amazing stories of people making enemies, and also really touching stores of friendship. > From then on, each time Adam or Dani walked onto their back deck, a crow would call out and the murder would reappear as if summoned, squawking so loudly that it was impossible to carry on a conversation. Sometimes the crows would dive-bomb them or attack Mona when she went out to pee. When Adam took the dog for a walk, the crows swooped low and followed them. He tried walking Mona in other neighborhoods, but the crows terrorized him there too. Adam and Dani felt under siege. They worried for Lina’s safety. “The crows are like the Mafia,” Dani told me a few weeks into their ordeal. They’d stopped going outside, she said, unless it was absolutely necessary. And because of the pandemic, they couldn’t really go anywhere else. > The day Dani rescued Mona from the crows, a neighbor thought he’d spotted a fledgling in Mona’s mouth before the murder first descended. Dani and Adam weren’t so sure—they had never seen Mona attack a bird before. But it nevertheless occurred to them that they might be on some kind of crow hit list. Through online research, Adam learned that crows have an uncanny ability to recognize humans, assign them moral qualities, and pass this information on to other crows, even to future generations. Desperate, Adam took to Reddit. If you’re at war with the crows, post after post advised, your best option is to move. —https://harpers.org/archive/2021/04/the-crow-whisperer-animal-communicators/ https://harpers.org/archive/2021/04/the-crow-whisperer-anima... They enlist a crow expert to help them apologize and make peace with the crows, and it does eventually work. Hope you don't ever need that advice!

infradig 4y ago

Is it legal to feed wild animals in other countries?

memling 4y ago

Relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/bestoflegaladvice/comments/ki9gb1/i_accidentally_created_an_army_of_crow_body/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bestoflegaladvice/comments/ki9gb1/i...

acyou 4y ago

Don't feed the wildlife!! Better to let crows be crows. They are wild animals and not domesticated, nor is there a great reason that they should be domesticated in any way. They along with the seagulls and starlings are already clearing out the rest of the other native species of birds, do they really need more help? Moreover, isn't it incredibly self centric to do this sort of bird feeding thing without any regard for the long term consequences?

ggm 4y ago
Bird scientists differ on the relative risk and benefits of feeding. Darryl Jones who is emeritus Griffith uni I think, has written on this in the Australian urban context: they don't get dependent, it is marginal benefit, they rear bigger clutches, pick food wisely. Not "never feed" https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Feeding_the_Birds_at_Your_Table.html?id=a5qxDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Feeding_the_Birds_at... Darryl on research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Darryl-Jones-2217044764 https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Darryl...
- acyou 4y ago
  He's selling his book: "Feeding the Birds at Your Table is designed to provide detailed, comprehensive advice and suggestions for people wishing to feed wild birds in Australia from their own backyards and balconies." Seems like he has a vested interest in selling copies of his book. Australians of all people should know better than to claim to understand the ramifications of human intervention on complex natural systems. See: introduction of cane toads to Australia. Backyard wildlife feeding is extremely intrusive in all cases, it should be and is blanket banned in many places. People with feeders also have a vested interest in convincing themselves that it's OK. "I'm making friends with the bird", yes you are, it's a profoundly toxic relationship. If you can claim to understand the full and long-range ramifications of your intervention in a natural system, who thinks they are so smart?
  - ggm 4y ago
    Yes, he is. But he is also legitimately researching bird ecology in the inner city, and knows what he's talking about.

smusamashah 4y ago

There is a saying in my region told by our elders. If crows are cawing it means there are guests outside. It won't make sense in urban areas much but it does in rural. Since they are intelligent and good at recognizing faces, there cawing can mean there is someone unknown outside.

kposehn 4y ago

I’ve got ~55 ravens near my home that know me very well and always come around for treats (unsalted unroasted cashews). Over the last few seasons I’ve gotten to see a number of fledglings getting trained, gotten to know their various personalities and been fortunate to learn a great deal about them. They’re amazingly intelligent and very gregarious once they trust you. A particularly brave one will even perch just out of reach and snatch cashews out of the air. Others will hover over me in the breeze asking for treats and catch them as well. They definitely train you too - they know where I live. If they don’t get fed for a while, they’ll croak their frustrations down my chimney at me. Amazing birds and I feel very fortunate to have formed some bond with them.

jamal-kumar 4y ago

Anyone ever seen a talking crow? Corvids are a lot like parrots in this regard, they're just incredibly uncanny mimics [1] [2] [3] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5Vm_YO_MY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5Vm_YO_MY [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9epnUBQHXI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9epnUBQHXI [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfsnHVaScjg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfsnHVaScjg

zestyping 4y ago

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 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 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!

hackernewds 4y ago
That is incredible adorable and impressive. Next they can open jars and bring home coins from the tip jars in exchange for treats :)

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dssagar93 4y ago

My entire family has befriended crows. I live on the 3rd floor. When the crow comes in, we feed them with hands directly. He takes the food right from our hand and eats it slowly. This worked out simply because we started feeding them daily. Initially they used to just run away but we kept giving food and slowly they started trusting us.

jerrygoyal 4y ago

came here to expect something counterintuitive but it's just "feed them regularly".

ericlnu 4y ago

amazing <3

maxnoe 4y ago

On La Palma, there is a pair of ravens living up in the mountain near the observatory. They are incredibly smart and very tame. They will happily land on your shoulder while you try to eat your lunch and pick away into your lunch box. They will do loopings above groups of tourists, land, beg for food, and when they receive food, do some more fly-bys and loopings. They bury food in the ground and I bet they find all of it later. I am pretty sure they recognize people, as they came straight for me and my wife when we were hiking and not to the other people around...

vintermann 4y ago

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.

_448 4y ago

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.

BLKNSLVR 4y ago

There was a juvenile magpie on the balcony handrail outside the large office kitchen / lunchroom space. I went out and left the corner of a cheese biscuit on the balcony floor just to see what it would do. It didn't show any interest until I went back inside, and it spent a couple of minutes looking at the biscuit, looking at the door. I then had to go back to my desk, not knowing the end result. A couple of hours later we had our monthly all-hands meeting in the kitchen / lunch room space. For the full hour of the meeting, there was a juvenile magpie standing on the balcony floor, at the door, looking inside and warbling. I'm assuming it liked the country cheese sample.

residualmind 4y ago

I always loved the crows in the city and tried to be friendly to them, even sometimes feeding them - one time I had up to 30 crows patiently sitting around me, each one waiting for me to throw them their little piece of cheese which they would catch from the air. So I always was under the impression that my neighborhood crows tolerated or maybe even liked me. This changed when I got a dog and moved to a different part of the city. The dog loves scaring away birds by running up to them, which the crows weren't happy about obviously. I tried to prevent the dog scaring crows (pigeons were O.K.) but she managed to scare them a few times anyways. The crows didn't like this. Up to a point where whenever the dog and me encountered crows, the birds would warn and call others, swarming around us in a threatening, scary way. But after months of me carefully keeping the dog from scaring the crows, pulling her back on the leash and letting her know the crows are our friends, the crows are friendly again. Even when we walk closely by crows, they don't mind. I'm 100% convinced the crows have learned that the dog is under my control and I keep her from charging at them. No more warning caws and ganging up on us. Such amazing birds.

paulette449 4y ago

While this thread is about crows, I can't recommend Bernd Heinrich's books, many of which feature his relationship with ravens, highly enough. A Year in the Maine Woods [1] is a classic. Mind of the Raven [2] and Ravens in Winter [3] may be of interest to anyone following this thread and since I am speaking about ravens in a thread about crows, an Audubon article "How to Tell a Raven from a Crow" [4] may also be of interest. [1] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77166.A_Year_in_the_Maine_Woods https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77166.A_Year_in_the_Main... [2] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254704.Mind_of_the_Raven https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254704.Mind_of_the_Raven [3] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122665.Ravens_in_Winter https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122665.Ravens_in_Winter [4] - https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow

lovehashbrowns 4y ago

I had lunch with a crow once in downtown Austin at one of those outside eating tables. I sat down with some pizza and saw the crow standing by, likely waiting for me to finish and throw away whatever I didn't eat. I figured it'd be easier if we ate together, so I picked out a piece of bread and left it on the table an arm's length away from me, and it hopped on top of the table and ate the piece. Then I would take a bite of the pizza and tear off a piece for my crow pal for it to eat, and it went that way for about 30 minutes. Easily one of the most rewarding experiences for me as a lifelong city slicker. The lil birb could tell we were sharing a meal and I wasn't a threat. I'd love to do that again! Peanuts sounds good. I s'ppose I can try picking a consistent walking route and taking peanuts with me to try and make another crow pal, maybe a longer friendship this time.

Dazzler5648 4y ago

Dang. I love how cute this "hack" seems, but at the same time I hate to see anyone advocating feeding wild animals. It not only violates Leave No Trace, but it also violates other people's enjoyment of the crows as wild animals, and violates the animals' right to stay wild. Stomachs never lie. As someone who lives in an extremely remote and wild part of the USA, it blows my mind to check in on social media and feeds like this where people have co-opted wild animals "poor lives" as something laid open to some sort of weird new manifest destiny. They animals are not here for our enjoyment or entertainment. They're not here to be used. Sure, feed the crows Cheetos etc. if you're cruel, but don't suggest to the Internet that other people do this, because it's just not right. I definitely wasn't expecting the author to be a biologist. Where I live, fed wild animals are dead wild animals. Because you don't know when that animal who is now used to being fed is gonna break into the neighbors' houses or simply beg at the door, and get trapped or shot or poisoned or all three. It happens. Dang.