A family of corvids built their nest right by my door. I’ve enjoyed seeing their nest grow, and I think the babies are now full fledglings.
Up until now, we’ve each been going out separate ways. Aside from leaving them some sticks to use, I haven’t interacted with them directly.
Today I either closed the door too hard, or they got spooked by the garbage truck passing by. A crow dive bombed me twice, hitting me the first time and whooshing by me the second time. It didn’t hurt, but I’m offended that they don’t remember me.
I know crows can hold a vendetta and remember faces. Any tips on how to get back in their good graces?
edit: I looked into giving them food, but it’s against the bylaws in my city
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bird-feeding-vancouver-bylaw
A Vancouver resident who admittedly loves feeding the crows in his neighbourhood is now facing a major fine.
According to Reddit user DubUbasswitmyheadman, they’ve been feeding birds while walking their dog.
However, they claim that feeding the wildlife irritated enough people to prompt one neighbour to contact their landlord to collect their email and phone number.
DubUbasswitmyheadman now claims they are facing a $4,000 fine for feeding wildlife.
Shiney things, soft bits of fabric maybe? Also don’t see why you couldn’t forget some diced cheese or something gut friendly across species that you were enjoying on the step when you have to duck inside to make a phone call?
Fuck the bylaws!
Caw! Cawk! Cock!
Calling @CorvusCornix@piefed.social who so definitely a person and not a crow in disguise
Hmmm… seeing as food is the number one way to our- er, I mean, a Crow’s heart… you might be in trouble! But worry not, I’ll put in a good word with my brothers… I mean my local neighborhood Crows because I am definitely a human living in a house around other humans!
Appreciate it 😎
Did you ever mend your relationship with your crow friends? It sucks that feeding them isn’t legal in your region (though that’s probably for the best from an ecological perspective).
We did! The local crows know that we will give them some water when we go out to tend to the garden
That’s good, glad to hear it! I also put in a good word for you which doubtless helped I’m sure!
I believe that is what won them over, thank you
Just don’t get caught feeding them lol, should be easy enough if you could do it from your backyard, and don’t overdo it because if all the crows in a 50 miles radius start nesting on your roof, people might start to notice.
This is going to sound witchy, but have first half experience it works lol.
Get a stone bowl, with a crow effigy on top in center. Ideally put it near the nest too.
Fill it with a few berries and chopped cashews, along with shiny pennies, a colorful feather, and 2 small crystals (the cheap tumbled kind like tiger’s eye, crackle quartz, and goldstone).
Below it have a sparkly shallow dish filled with water, and under it a narrowish glass filled with water (one is for bathing and the other for drinking).
Everyday, at the exact same time, refill the bowl with food and a single new crystal, colorful feather, or shiny penny, but do so while holding the offering above your head. Then refill the waters if needed.
You’ll be extremely close friends real fast.
Get a stone bowl, with a crow effigy on top in center.
I would be willing to bet that it works just fine without the crow effigy
It’s to help repel the other birds that aren’t crows a bit more, while the crows quickly figure out it’s not alive and a symbol for them.
Or so I’m told. Maybe I should start a Kickstarter to help fund a double blind experiment and see what crows prefer:
Effigy, No effigy, Effigy of a different bird
And then set up many of these little crow shrines around and see how they do
I know crows are can be smart, but aside from an exceptional one here and there, I sincerely doubt a bird is going to see an effigy of a bird, and recognize it as a picture of them.
But maybe a bird scientist will come in and prove me wrong, who knows
I’m no bird scientist either, but I do know Crows pass the mirror test, so it makes sense to me they could probably recognize other Crows
I’m certain they can recognize other crows. As in living birds.
Instructions unclear, angry murder
I once had a crow friend who would knock on my window if I was late coming out to give them their seeds. It was just the one crow that was bold enough to do this. Sometimes he’d do it way earlier than usual, and I am 100% confident that he wasn’t mistaken, just being a cheeky asshole and trying his luck. I miss that asshole bird.
You were late by crow time.
As the others said, food. Specifically unsalted cashews. I called our (Dutch) bird rescue center and they said that’s the healthiest “human” food to give them.
I have three crow friends (and sometimes their buddies) who light on my balcony railing and wait for me to come out. One will eat it there while I’m watching; the other two fly it across the street to their stashes. All three will just sit on the railing and watch me work sometimes.
Sometimes the magpies show up, but they are super, ultra cautious around The Human. I can tell they know me though when they fly through the street. They make the happy magpie sound they make to their mates when one of them steals a cashew intended for the crows instead of being silent.
I get that this is illegal, but you do not have to give them a lot or make it obvious . One or two a day. You may not see them, but they will see and remember you as Cashew Guy/Gal/Nonbinary Pal.
Also alas, Unidan, where did you go?
Not only are cashews healthy for them, they also go nuts for them (pun not intended, but I am delighted to have made an accidental pun). I forgot to mention “unsalted” in my comment, so I’m glad you mentioned it
Also alas, Unidan, where did you go?
Got banned for vote fraud. Less active after his fall from grace.
TIL there’s a Wikipedia article for Unidan
No clue how exactly, but maybe you could also give them “toys” or things that are fun for them. Or shiny things that jingle or something lol. Or maybe build them a raised stand where they can land and look with a roof against rain. Or maybe even a birdbath?
Apart from food, look at what crows themselves give as gifts, e.g.
You don’t. Crows are the evil masterminds of the bird world, as any expert in bird law will tell you.
Do you happen to enjoy boiling denim, foraging naked in the sewers, and playing nightcrawlers?
If you go outside with a sandwich and accidentally drop that sandwich, then loundly proclaim your disappointment in your clumsiness, then go back inside, and the crows come down for the remains of your sandwich … and if this becomes a reguar occurrence … you can’t be fined for being clumsy. Can you?
It depends on the judge
It’d probably still count as littering, which would be fineable, I imagine
Seconding the crow effigy idea (well, I didn’t do it with an effigy, I just left them a couple of shiny stuff).
For me, what I did was sit on my doorstep for a while, to get them used to the sight of me. And then I made sure they saw me leaving the shiny thing. I wasn’t forbidden from feeding them, so I also let them see me putting out some seeds.
Although feeding them is prohibited, the crow effigy idea person said to have a few cashews or similar in the little nesty thing, and I agree that this would be likely be necessary to draw them over at first.
If you’re okay with bending the rules a tad, if the sitting outside thing works and you’re able to not scare them away, then leaving behind just a cashew or two in your wake (if the crows are nearby) could help them to begin to associate you with good stuff.
Though if they’re dive bombing you, it might be challenging to come back from that
I was watering the garden and sheepishly decided to spray a crow (not my finest moment). It started dive bombing me regularly. So I gave it some banana and we were chill after that. It only took one offering. You could try giving it some soft material for it’s nest.
A crow dive bombed me twice, hitting me the first time and whooshing by me the second time. It didn’t hurt, but I’m offended that they don’t remember me
Dude, if they have a youngling and they attacked you/divebombed once, they were teaching the youngling to fly and wanted you to go away just in case.
If it continues, you can try to bribe them, if that doesn’t help you will have to chase them away. Preferably after the fledglings can fly.
I think you were right on the money. It was an isolated incident and I may have interrupted a flying lesson that day.
We have befriended them since that point. The summer is hot, and they know we will give them some water when we go out to tend to the garden
