I witnessed something curiously terrible today about nature

[JustShoot]

I have shot hundreds of Crow . they need to be thinned down sometimes and are sometimes an urban plague . Biggest invasive plague are the Starlings, and those Asian Doves .

Shooting Crow, does not mean I have no respect for them . I have had . hand fed from hatch lings, pet Crow, along with bluejays . Crows, they are pretty ROWDY for a pet. Bluejays are pretty rowdy also for trying to keep as a house pet . Jays, crows, ravens. and they are all in the Vulture family . The Vulture look in a Raven is really pronounced in it's face, with it's beak and facial hair/feathers . They All are scavengers/opportunists and pretty smart to find meals , eat anything from MickyD's to cannibalize other birds baby hatch lings, and Puke puddle in a parking lot .

Crows favorite thing in the world to eat is canned Underwood, Deviled Ham, they can smell that stuff a mile away and come in flocks to fight over it. Funny to poke a few small holes in the lid . Crow will gather and fight to poke their long tongues in/out the holes to eat it.
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[Alexx1401]

We have a pair of scrub jays that have ben with us going on four years too. One day one of them was brave enough to come in the open garage door when we were siting out there, for peanuts laid on the table. After a couple days wifey got the jay to take a peanut from her hand. This will be the third year for that. She doesn't come to hand now as it's nesting season, but the rest of the year she will land on the deck and rap on something to get Wifey's attention for a peanut. Or I can go out a "Click" and if their not busy, one or both will come flying in for a peanut. That "click' calls the crows too. Just the other day on the deck the crow was getting a peanut. There has been competition from the jays on the deck. this time the crow got the peanut off the post just before the jay. The crow, being much bigger, has been intimidating the jay away. Not this time! That jay held it's ground and came back and attacked the crow, and she took off! It was something to see.

I enjoy the hell out of the birds. They're a heck of a lot better than the rude un-neighborly slobs I have living around me.

I had a neighbor for years who used to feed Jay's at a window. He would open the window and the Jays would take turns landing on the sill and taking a peanut from his hand. It was great fun watching him do it.

 

[pharmseller]

I have 20 or so Steller's jays show up every morning around 6 am. I throw 4 handfuls of unsalted peanuts in the shell on the deck for them. They'd LOUD. They also get any leftovers I think they'll eat. I'm amazed by the variety of food they'll eat.

 

[CamoDeafie]

 

[ilikegunspdx]

We used to have a wide variety of birds visiting our yard/trees: flickers, woodpeckers, robins, evening grosbeaks, house finches, wrens, blue jays, brown-headed cowbirds, hummingbirds, etc. Then, about four years ago the crows moved in and nearly all the birds disappeared from our back yard. Still have hummingbirds, and the occasional robin and blue jay, but that's it. Not unusual to have several squawking crows on the lawn or in the fir trees. Haven't seen the crows go after the resident squirrels or rabbits, but I suspect the neighbors' cats are their main menace.

Time to get an airgun with suppressor.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Crows take out full nests here a lot. They arrive on the day the birds are ready to leave the nest and take all the babies in seconds. Happened several times in our yard when kiddo was watching nest daily to see birds first flight. Kill all of them you possibly can I say to help solve the massive overpopulation problem. Businesses have been fighting them and city has spent tens of thousands on professional hawk trainers to drive the crows off (all it does is move them to a new spot). They are a menace.

 

[Flopsweat]

Crows take out full nests here a lot. They arrive on the day the birds are ready to leave the nest and take all the babies in seconds. Happened several times in our yard when kiddo was watching nest daily to see birds first flight. Kill all of them you possibly can I say to help solve the massive overpopulation problem. Businesses have been fighting them and city has spent tens of thousands on professional hawk trainers to drive the crows off (all it does is move them to a new spot). They are a menace.

Three Crow Recipes

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Three Crow Recipes

I've noticed something about dead crows. Nothing will eat them. Not sure why. There are so many scavenger animals out there and every dead crow I see stays almost exactly as is (except for maggots I guess). I saw one on the side of the road near here and it was still virtually the same some 6 months later.

I had a Cooper's hawk take a dead starling out of my yard so even starlings get eaten up pretty fast. Maybe the reason crows don't get eaten is something to do with their blood cagulation. I've noticed crow blood turns to goo in almost no time and haven't seen that with other animals. Just observations. Maybe the other animals know crows carry west Nile virus (Kidding!).

 

[Certaindeaf]

Crows are darn smart.

They'll be in the road, see oncoming traffic, and simply scoot over to the shoulder side of the fog line. It's like they understand lane markings.

I've hit about every kind of bird while I was riding a motorbike except for a crow.

 

[Flopsweat]

I've noticed something about dead crows. Nothing will eat them. Not sure why. There are so many scavenger animals out there and every dead crow I see stays almost exactly as is (except for maggots I guess). I saw one on the side of the road near here and it was still virtually the same some 6 months later.

I had a Cooper's hawk take a dead starling out of my yard so even starlings get eaten up pretty fast. Maybe the reason crows don't get eaten is something to do with their blood cagulation. I've noticed crow blood turns to goo in almost no time and haven't seen that with other animals. Just observations. Maybe the other animals know crows carry west Nile virus (Kidding!).

Raptors and cats eat crows. Just as a guess, both raptors and cats tend to drag their kill off, so you may see less eaten carcasses lying about. Or more likely it's some other, totally unrelated reason.

Also people, and we tend to drag our kill off too.

 

[made in china]

I wonder if bird flu kills crows?

 

[Flopsweat]

I wonder if bird flu kills crows?

Probably not:

Avian Influenza in Birds

Learn more about avian influenza (bird flu) in birds

www.cdc.gov

Avian influenza refers to disease in birds caused by infection with avian (bird) influenza (flu) Type A viruses. Avian influenza A viruses have been isolated from more than 100 different species of wild birds around the world. These viruses occur naturally among wild aquatic birds worldwide and can infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species. Wild aquatic birds include waterbirds (waterfowl) such as ducks, geese, swans, gulls, and terns, and shorebirds, such as storks, plovers, and sandpipers. Wild aquatic birds, especially dabbling ducks, are considered reservoirs (hosts) for avian influenza A viruses. Wild aquatic birds can be infected with avian influenza A viruses in their intestines and respiratory tract, but some species, such as ducks, may not get sick. However, avian influenza A viruses are very contagious among birds, and some of these viruses can sicken and even kill certain domesticated bird species, including chickens, ducks and turkeys.

TL/DR: It mostly affects water birds and poultry.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I witnessed a big bird on TV turn entire generations of children into gibbering simps.

:shudder

 

[Alexx1401]

Raptors and cats eat crows. Just as a guess, both raptors and cats tend to drag their kill off, so you may see less eaten carcasses lying about. Or more likely it's some other, totally unrelated reason.

Also people, and we tend to drag our kill off too.

Watch Crows when they find an Owl during daylight. They go CRAZY. its because the Owls do dine on Crow. They will take young at night. When I was a teen I spent years hunting Crows. It was a challenge and VERY hard to get them as they are so smart. Then I read about how protective they are. Mail ordered a call that sounded just like them. Instructions said that if you bit down on the split mouth piece the sound would make the distress call of a young. First morning I tired it I set up under some trees where a huge flock would go by every morning. As they were passing I called, they would answer. I started with the distress call and it was amazing. The entire flock turned and came at the spot where I was. I finally ran out of shells. Crows would fly right into the gun over and over again. They were so protective of what they thought was a young bird in distress that they would watch others shot and still fly right at the spot I was in. Took all the fun out of the hunt so I stopped using the call.

 

[Dungannon]

Time to get an airgun with suppressor.

Got one. Gamo Swarm Maxxim in .22
Unfortunately, a high density development has gone in behind us, all two-story houses. I'd have to pull the window screens and drop the blinds to get off a shot without being seen.

 

[Flopsweat]

Got one. Gamo Swarm Maxxim in .22
Unfortunately, a high density development has gone in behind us, all two-story houses. I'd have to pull the window screens and drop the blinds to get off a shot without being seen.

Have you tried a plastic owl on the roof?

 

[Alexx1401]

Have you tried a plastic owl on the roof?

In my experience they work as well as the old "scarecrows" did. anyone who has seen the old scarecrows has probably seen birds, like Crows, using them as a perch to look over the field for food. The birds are too smart for them to work. I tried them to chase off the damn city pigeons at one place. I see them around town used for the same thing. Even the pigeons seem to soon loose any fear of them. The Crows never fell for it for even a day. Tried both an Owl and a Raptor. They were well made, looked nice. Did not fool the birds very long at all. Now if you had one that moved? Now that might do something. If the Crows acted like they do here when they see a live predator though it may not be what the owner is after. Here the damn critters make a HUGE amount of noise trying to harass the predator rather than avoiding it. So if they think the Owl is real they may swarm all around the house to try to run it off instead of avoiding it.

 

[Knobgoblin]

Crows are darn smart.

They'll be in the road, see oncoming traffic, and simply scoot over to the shoulder side of the fog line. It's like they understand lane markings.

They are good at barely getting out of the way , with minimal effort, with me doing highway speed.

Robins, on the other hand, fly from the safety of the shoulder right in front of my oncoming grill. Almost every time.

 

[Catfishmoon]

Speaking of crows, it seems that I notice more ravens in Eastern Washington than I do on the west-side of the state. Ravens appear not to congregate like crows and are more cautious near humans.

 

[Ay Dios Mio]

Just saw my first ravens ever...they're magnificent.