The Beauty of Crows

RadishRose said:
If there's water near, crows will often wash their food.
They know to place nuts in the street for passing traffic to crack the shells.
They understand water displacement.....
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When we lived in The San Fernando Valley, the crows used to drop walnuts from really high up to break them open on the street. We would sit on the porch, sipping coffee and listening to the crows dropping nuts.
Imogene said:
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This was Crow-Man. He was here from about 2013 until winter of 2024. He loved and watched over my Tennessee Walker with metabolic issues. When Joker passed, Crow-Man visited his grave for three days.

I had hoped I would be able to lay him to rest with Joker, but it wasn’t to be.

Two pair have appeared since his passing, but they keep their distance.
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Holy wow! That's incredible and so special. You had a connection, or your horse definitely did. It's like a blessing isn't it, when a crow likes you.


Antoli said:
I used to feed crows chopped liver, leaving it on top of a large, flat fence post. Then one day I discovered a shiny piece of chromed metal with a red reflector on it placed on their feeding post. Apparently, it was a gift from the crows. I hope they have forgiven me for moving away.
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I read a book about crows several years ago:

Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans
Marzluff, John,

where it talked about that, how crows will leave gifts for people who are feeding them. Or maybe just people they like. :)


Lilac said:
We have a murder of crows that hang around our woods, especially in fall & winter. Sometimes they will drop in & eat the corn we put out in the deer feeders.

A little over a week ago, we got a road kill & brought the deer home to clean. We left it in a pasture along the edge of the woods in front of the house for what ever critter wanted food. The early morning on the first day the crows were having breakfast. We seen them until it was cleaned up.
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A few days ago a little squirrel died and was left lying in the grass of the medical center across the street from our house. After two days, when I was taking Lucius out for his first walk, I noticed a crow picking at the squirrel carcass. And I said something like, "Hello there. Finally. Took you guys long enough; that thing's been there for two days." He did not looked impressed.

Next day though, which was yesterday, the entire squirrel was gone. I'm assuming some other predator's carried it off. Nature's clean up crew.
 

@Medusa , yes, the crow loved the one horse very much. And he knew as did other wildlife this farm is a safe haven. I am pretty sure once I started feeding him. It was because he managed to let me know he’d appreciate some food lol lol.

I knew it was the same crow because he was huge, his caw was much deeper than the others, and as he aged, he had a white patch of hair on the back of his neck. I’m still looking for the picture that shows that, but I can’t find it. I have over 1000 pictures on this iPad and I can’t find that one. hopefully when my eyeballs feel like it, I can look on my cell phone and see if it’s on there.
 
For a good portion of my life I've had cherry orchards on my various properties. IMHO crows are nasty pesky gluttons. They aren't as smart as many claim, I've, killed hundreds of them.
 

Imogene said:
@Medusa , yes, the crow loved the one horse very much. And he knew as did other wildlife this farm is a safe haven. I am pretty sure once I started feeding him. It was because he managed to let me know he’d appreciate some food lol lol.

I knew it was the same crow because he was huge, his caw was much deeper than the others, and as he aged, he had a white patch of hair on the back of his neck. I’m still looking for the picture that shows that, but I can’t find it. I have over 1000 pictures on this iPad and I can’t find that one. hopefully when my eyeballs feel like it, I can look on my cell phone and see if it’s on there.
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I would love to see it if you do find it. :)
 
Of course having a couple of fearless and magnificent roosters goes a long way towards defending against birds of prey. They are true warriors when a threat arises. Although they might have been intimidating to the ravens? God bless my precious Mr. Handsome seen in my avatar ❤️

I have tried leaving seeds and scraps to befriend ravens. But we have an amazing diversity of birds and everything is gobbled up immediately. Some of the local birds have become quite tame and when feeding our last remaining chicken (Trixie is going on 11 years old) they know we always make extra.
 
Medusa said:
If you look at a crow, they will look back at you. I mean really look at you. They're awesome.
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I've never had a crow, but I've owned several doves over the years. There's a difference in their visual fields. I knew that part, but wasn't sure why, so I just looked it up, and found this:

Crows have binocular vision, with eyes positioned more forward, which helps them judge distances and see what's directly in front. They are known to watch people and learn when to interpret direct eye contact as a potential threat.

Doves have monocular vision, with eyes positioned more on the sides of their heads, giving them wide peripheral vision but less depth perception directly ahead. To see something in front of them more clearly, they turn their head to the side, to use one eye at a time (monocular vision) for a clearer view.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
I've never had a crow, but I've owned several doves over the years. There's a difference in their visual fields. I knew that part, but wasn't sure why, so I just looked it up, and found this:

Crows have binocular vision, with eyes positioned more forward, which helps them judge distances and see what's directly in front. They are known to watch people and learn when to interpret direct eye contact as a potential threat.

Doves have monocular vision, with eyes positioned more on the sides of their heads, giving them wide peripheral vision but less depth perception directly ahead. To see something in front of them more clearly, they turn their head to the side, to use one eye at a time (monocular vision) for a clearer view.
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Well, that's cool. And it would make sense because predators have binocular vision. :)
 
Don't try to convince farmers that crows are lovely. I have a buddy who for many years has been invited by farmers and other land owners to come to their location and shoot crows. He actually keeps a journal showing when, where and how many have been killed. In some cases property owners pay him for this as a service, but with or without pay he is well known and the man to call. Now why don't we talk about starlings. Ever seen what they can do to the intakes of a jet engine trying to fly? If you obect to them being shot then just get the natural predator that feeds on them and let nature balance things out.
 
Rider77 said:
Don't try to convince farmers that crows are lovely. I have a buddy who for many years has been invited by farmers and other land owners to come to their location and shoot crows. He actually keeps a journal showing when, where and how many have been killed. In some cases property owners pay him for this as a service, but with or without pay he is well known and the man to call. Now why don't we talk about starlings. Ever seen what they can do to the intakes of a jet engine trying to fly? If you obect to them being shot then just get the natural predator that feeds on them and let nature balance things out.
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If an objective, non-human observer were tasked with identifying the planet’s greatest pest species, humans would win by a landslide. No other species destroys habitats globally, exterminates competitors deliberately, alters the climate, poisons land and oceans, and then labels the surviving animals “pests” for adapting to the damage. Crows and starlings didn’t create monoculture farming, airports, jet engines, or ecological collapse, humans did. From a detached, cosmic perspective, the most ecologically destructive and invasive species on Earth is not a bird. It’s us.
 
jhummel73 said:
We have watched the Ravens tease our pets, cats and dogs alike. They (ravens) love to taunt them. Amusing to watch.These are the only crow like birds we have here.
I try to mimic their various sounds but they aren't amused with me.
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Ravens are very similar to crows, both being in the family of corvids. Ravens are generally larger, have a deeper call and prefer more country area. Sorry if you already knew all that. ;)
 
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