To feed the crows?

[BettyWhittaker]

Anyone know anything about 🐦‍⬛?

Last year I fell down a rabbit hole regarding crows - funnily enough it happened after reading a thread on here about their behaviour and intelligence.

I decided to start an experiment to determine how long it would take a group of crows to remember my face and start to trust me. So I started feeding a group of crows on the park behind my house. At first, only one crow would hang around but it stayed far away and would only come down for the food when I was safely away from it. Before long another crow turned up. So for months I was feeding two crows who kept their distance but seemed to recognise me. Eventually these two crows started waiting for me at the entrance to the park and if they weren’t there when I turned up - they showed up shortly afterwards. They were now getting a little closer too.

Fast forward to yesterday … 4 crows showed up 😂 I fed them all and they appeared to be following me at a distance.

Today - 4 crows all sat around waiting when I approached the park. As soon as I got in there they all flew closer and started positioning themselves on the ground around me - staring directly at me - watching my hands and getting quite close to me. I carried on walking and kept hearing funny little noises behind me and when I turned around - there they were - following closely behind. I fed them again and carried on walking only to see crows shooting past me and landing in front of me - staring at me. A little unnerved now I fed them again and carried on walking … this behaviour continued until suddenly it was like I’d crossed an invisible barrier that they all stayed behind as I walked away.

Fascinating - they even seem to have memorised my route as once they stopped following they all met up in an area where I need to walk past on my way out.

Am I doing anything wrong here? Are locals likely to complain? Will they start bothering other people and will they suddenly turn on me and attack me for my bird food? 😂

Crows are amazing! I’d love to befriend some

Corvids are very intelligent birds .. you should start giving them some puzzle feeders to work out. I can’t see why anyone would complain

I adore crows! Corvids are the most intelligent creatures, keep going. You may end up with your own flock.

If you have been feeding the crows and then stop they may resent it when you pass that way with nothing to give them. I would be careful of manipulating them.

Nope perfecly reasonable.
I love Corvids and would love to make friends with one.
Hasnt happened yet tho :(

Love this.

I also read that thread last year and became fascinated, I even put a few crow facts on my online dating profile. Some people sent messages about that, and now I've been dating a guy from that app for a year. I'm not sure if he specifically became interested due to the crow facts but it can't have hurt.

Really love this ,this is you now committed now though .How exciting. Please keep updating

I feed the crows in my back garden.

I purposely started doing this when I moved in because I wanted them " on my side". I found them rather intimidating when I moved here, especially when they had young ones which they protect vigorously. They chase cats out of the garden. But they see me as their friend.

A man from the neighbouring street who walks his dog past my house throws them nuts. And the pair of crows will follow him down the street until he has given them their treat.

They are so clever. And absolutely fascinating.

Oh, I love this 😊
Crows are fab, good on you, op.

I want to feed the crows but they like large spaces (and no other small birds feeding in that space), i researched best ways to make it happen of chatGPT and it gave some good tips.

I love youre doing this at the park. I went to the beach over Christmas time, and there were crows who managed to recognise me within a day! They also started to follow me, but I was feeding them meat, offcuts of sausage and other bits, raw dried dog treats, liver etc.

Watching this thread! well done you! Ive not managed to have one land at my house yet, 😒

This is excellent, OP. I'm a fan of crows. I feed local ones (sometimes peanuts, or just because they eat up the food the hedgehogs have left) but they are still quite wary of me. (I suspect they know who I am though.) I often feel as if I'm being watched.

Very similar situation here after reading that thread!
I walk my dogs around a park with a big lake, most people like to feed the swans and ducks, after that thread I decided to start feeding the crows instead.

I initially fed them when I’d got about halfway round the lake but after a few weeks they’d started waiting for me at earlier points. Now it’s a few minutes after I’ve gotten out of my car. They’re either recognising me or my dogs, and they’re not as timid near the dogs now, I know it’s the same crows because two of them have distinctive damaged feathers.

Our crows hate us and I don't really know why. They tend to scream at us from the trees if we are in the garden, we have had minor encounters with baby crows on the ground, they seem to leave the nest before they can fly competently, but we always keep our distance from them. They are extremely protective of the chicks!

What do you feed them on they are scavengers and mainly meat eaters I thought, other birds eggs and chicks in the spring.

I find it hard to recognise them, so they are probably doing better than me, although there is one (of a pair) who has a disability (a damaged claw) so I recognise the pair together. We also have at least one with some white feathers, so that one is easy to spot.

There is a guy in USA who has trained a crow to attack people wearing MAGA hats.

It's best not to interfere with nature in this way. It interferes with their natural way of living & surviving.

The birds don't belong to you, they are not your 'friends'

Yes corvids are highly trainable but that doesn't make it the right thing to do.

The crows know me and the dogs too. I only feed them (some dog biscuits) when I'm walking one and not the other for reasons, so they even recognise the dogs, despite dogs looking very similar.

@BadgernTheGarden as a small child, I watched a hen trying to protect her chicks from a crow. She had the chicks under her wings and the crow lunged to the left, then to the right until, one by one the chicks dropped and were taken. Other crows waited close at hand. I was mesmerised and horrified.

I am also fascinated by the birds. My father pointed out a mother crow showing her young how to flick over sticks and clumps of grass to get insects. They learn from each other. They used to use the scarecrows around the farm as perches.

My brother feeds a crow called 'Charlie'. He calls out to Charlie in the morning and Charlie 'caws' back. Charlie's favourite food is dried cat food. The farm cats hate him, and his murder of friends.

Haha, that's genius. I love crows and other corvids. There's a rookery in the trees opposite my house, been there for at least 50 years I think. Any time the local buzzard gets too close, the crows come out and give it a good hiding.

My M (very religious) feeds the birds in her garden but stopped because the crows and pigeons were also using the feeders ("those nasty big birds"). I told her that God made and loves crows and pigeons too. It did not go down well.

They also do a cracking job of cleaning up roadkill - lots of pheasants and game birds around here, the roads would be awash without the foxes, crows and raptors. Most efficient. Give them a carrion reward for fixing potholes and they'd save the highways department a fortune.

I ADORE crows! 🐦‍⬛ I love Balham station as there are loads there in the trees out yonder and one or 2 always seem to be monitoring things on the fence by the platform. Incredible creatures. I painted a picture of one which hangs on my wall.

Amazing!

Oh I want to do this too! Will it work with the ones in my garden?

Ah I have a cat actually, probably shouldn't.

Absolutely reasonable.

We feed the jackdaws in our garden. They have particular times of day that they arrive. In the spring, they bring their multiple (noisy) children. Such clever birds.

I’m with you on this. You MUST feed the crows. 🐦‍⬛