To be scared that I’m still marked by the crows?

[ChoccyOrangeYum]

A couple of years ago I walked the dog on a local field. I know nothing about birds but I was later told it was their breeding season.

Anyway we must have got too close to their nests as they suddenly started flying around irrationally, making a hell of a racket screaming etc and then started dive bombing the dog. The dog thought this was fun so started chasing the crows. All hell broke loose basically and we were suddenly surrounded by crows going mental. We made a quick exit!!

I left it a few days then took the dog back on the field but after speaking to locals about the crows I stayed away from the back of the field (where they’re breeding) and kept dog in lead. As soon as we stepped on the field the noise started up again and the crows appeared and started dive bombing again! There was someone else on the field with a dog who the crows were totally ignoring!

We left and after a bit of research I found that crows remember faces and don’t forgive easily 😬 so we didn’t go back on.

A whole year later we went back on assuming the old crows won’t be there anymore but we were on there 5 minutes before it all started again. These birds are not bothering anyone else on the field, just me!!

Anyway my neighbour has suggested we go for a walk in the field tomorrow morning but I’m shit scared of the birds. Will they still go for me if I don’t have the dog?! Will they ever move on from the incident 2 years ago or am I banned from the field for life?!

Trying to figure out how a crow passes on information about a human face to its offspring. That's my mind blown. I know they were brainy but that takes the biscuit (or the cheese cube).

Hope you make it back safely OP.

Is it bad that all I can think about is Moira Rose?!

How long should we leave it before we start calling the hospitals? 🐦‍⬛

Can someone more knowledgeable on crows please answer this.. fascinating!

My bet is OP's on a mental health ward somewhere, shaking and just repeating over and over 'the crows....'.

Seriously OP, hope they gave you a kinder reception this time!

Wouldn’t this be cannibalism? 🤔

I rescued a baby crow years ago and had him in an aviary in my garden and hand fed him for months. As he got bigger I’d leave the aviary door open and one day he flew off and never came back. But since then various crows sit on my house roof and the neighbours roof and shout at me. I don’t know if they like me for looking after the crow or are cross because they think I had a crow prisoner. They don’t attack me but don’t bring me presents either. They never come down in the garden so not sure leaving cheese down would help.

@CatkinToadflax crows are fine with eggs, unless a crow eats a crow egg and then they are ostracised, put on trial and pecked to death (that is what actually happens - not a humorous quip).

Yeah they don't forget lol. I've been feeding crows since the first lockdown and they still remember me even when I haven't seen them for months due to route changes. Definitely make amends with food! They like pasta.

They are cannibals anyway - they'll eat another dead bird no problem. Don't know if crows raid nests but magpies certainly do - a really horrible thing to witness.

I’d wondered if it was more a dna 🧬 encoding rather than kind of crow fable. It’s incredible how quickly that happens - and as far as I understand it’s why animals are intuitively scared of some things like fire etc. I don’t know which makes OP feel better : to be the baddie in crow fairy tale and fable, or actually encoded as a hazard in their dna.

Four hours, I was attacked and eaten by the crows...

My cat killed a magpie several years ago. They still go mental and mob her until she comes back indoors.
The younger ones learn from the behaviour of the older birds.
It's not cannibalism for one bird species to eat another - it's no different from big fish eating a little fish, or a mammal eating another mammal.

I am a bit worried about the OP...

Bloody hell! There should be a crow equivalent of Jeremy Kyle for them to go on to properly slag off their relatives before sending them daaahn!

The more I'm hearing about crows, the more I'm contemplating permanently wearing an Ikea pasta bowl on my head under a wooly hat 😨
Loads of them live in the trees outside the back of my house. I always considered the squirrels that make clicking/screamy chimp noises when you go near them the biggest threat, but I'm having a rethink.
Dear OP, please come and tell us you're alright 😱

My chickens happily eat their own (unfertilised) eggs especially during Molt when they need extra protein to help with the growing of new feathers!

Lunch time and no news. Is she alright or at A&E?

What do we know about that neighbour..? Could he be in cahoots with the crows? 😧

Please don’t use that emoji with the eyes plucked out …

Are you mad? We don’t want to lose someone else!

Reminds me of a pic I took years ago.

@Calliopespa Good point! 😂
Where is she? This is getting spooky now...

My sister was attacked by crows once- I laughed at the time but it must have been pretty scary. A mother crow was teaching her young crows to fly and didn't take too kindly to our presence! I'm shocked that crows recognise particular people!!!