Making Friends With Crows (By Tina P.)
Crows were never my focus. In fact I hated crows and thought they were nasty creatures because I watch one on a rainy June day a few years back, tear a baby robin to pieces right in front of my eyes and I couldn’t save his sibling either.
I was mortified!
So that year I was on crow patrol, chasing them away for my neighborhood robins and other small song birds even understanding the high pitch siren call my bird friends made when the aerial threat came into view with 100 percent accuracy.
Then the following year in the spring (last year 2016), I was walking to work in an industrial area close to home and I just happened to see a crow flying into a tree right by the side walk in front of a busy street.
I looked closer and I saw it was on a nest. I wasn’t sure really what that meant.
Was it the crows nest or was it raiding a nest?
I had to get to work.
The next day again I looked at the nest as I was walking by and there the crow was sitting there.
So after that I realized it was the crows nest and started to observe it everyday because I just happened to be walking by there several times everyday.
After a while I wondered how long she’d be sitting there so I looked up some basic info on nesting crows. It was interesting.
I started bringing my binoculars and could see the little homely crow babies popping their heads out of the nest and the parents were flying back and forth feeding them. There were 4 babies.
I had been intermittently bringing the parents treats and I think because I walked by every day during the week and stopped and talked to the parent crows, they got somewhat used to me being around and didn’t do any of the classic dive bombing but I could see them staring down, head calked to one side and one eye on me haha.
They kept their distance but when I said Hellooooo and Look Look while pointing at the food they would come to where the food was.
I did this same process when the their 4 babies were fledglings and hopping all over the branches of their nesting tree, getting almost touching distance to the little tykes but I didn’t dare touch.
The parents caw caw caw’d at me if I stayed too long but they always seemed happy to see me initially because I might have a treat.
They knew when I was there now, they recognized my vehicle too.
I would drive around on weekends trying to find the family in their territory, and I always found them and they always treated me the same way.
I watched the babies grow and learn to fly and sadly I watched as 6 became 5 then 4 then 3 then 2……I didn’t know what happened to 3 of them last year, but one was killed on the road.
Then fall came and they left for the winter.
Come this spring in March, I was waiting for any crows to arrive to the territory. I didn’t know who survived last year; was it the two adults or was it 1 kid and 1 adult?
I was apprehensive. Winter can be cruel.
I know that the male has the territory and that he is predominantly monogamous so when I saw two crows sitting on the point of the office building from in my car, I was getting excited.
But it was what happened next that brought chills to me, happy chills.
When my vehicle started to pull into the parking lot of the building they were on, they came flying down landing on the ground in front of the vehicle.
It was as if they were saying hellooooo and we’re back and they were anticipating treats. Its like we started where we left off with the same relationship.
I put the treats down, they immediately went for them. They remembered me!
I was soo happy. I even saw them procreating and they did that right in front of my vehicle like it was a family affair.
So this year I also had the privilege of observing their nesting behavior and the 4 babies that hatched.
Sadly again, there is only 3 left now out of 6 but this time I did detective work and found out how each fledgling disappeared. 2 were killed by traffic on the road in front and 1 was killed in the parking lot. Sad!
They have only one child left and as of yesterday the 3 of them were roaming the territory.
They even let the little gaffer come down and take some food and water that I bring. That little gaffer comes the closest to me. I suspect its because he/she has known me from birth.
Its really really enjoyable watching these birds look after their young and teach them how to look for grubs in the grass and listen to their low chatter and really weird sounds that they make which is fascinating.
They have let me into their world and I love it.
That’s how I started with crows and my motto is: "Don’t judge unless you’ve lived in their world."
I understand that these very smart birds are just trying to live thus they resort to whatever means needed to survive.
Note from Brian: Thanks for sharing Tina! I love reading your transformation from hating crows to appreciating them :-)
If you'd like to share your own story - click here
I was mortified!
So that year I was on crow patrol, chasing them away for my neighborhood robins and other small song birds even understanding the high pitch siren call my bird friends made when the aerial threat came into view with 100 percent accuracy.
Then the following year in the spring (last year 2016), I was walking to work in an industrial area close to home and I just happened to see a crow flying into a tree right by the side walk in front of a busy street.
I looked closer and I saw it was on a nest. I wasn’t sure really what that meant.
Was it the crows nest or was it raiding a nest?
I had to get to work.
The next day again I looked at the nest as I was walking by and there the crow was sitting there.
So after that I realized it was the crows nest and started to observe it everyday because I just happened to be walking by there several times everyday.
After a while I wondered how long she’d be sitting there so I looked up some basic info on nesting crows. It was interesting.
I started bringing my binoculars and could see the little homely crow babies popping their heads out of the nest and the parents were flying back and forth feeding them. There were 4 babies.
I had been intermittently bringing the parents treats and I think because I walked by every day during the week and stopped and talked to the parent crows, they got somewhat used to me being around and didn’t do any of the classic dive bombing but I could see them staring down, head calked to one side and one eye on me haha.
They kept their distance but when I said Hellooooo and Look Look while pointing at the food they would come to where the food was.
I did this same process when the their 4 babies were fledglings and hopping all over the branches of their nesting tree, getting almost touching distance to the little tykes but I didn’t dare touch.
The parents caw caw caw’d at me if I stayed too long but they always seemed happy to see me initially because I might have a treat.
They knew when I was there now, they recognized my vehicle too.
I would drive around on weekends trying to find the family in their territory, and I always found them and they always treated me the same way.
I watched the babies grow and learn to fly and sadly I watched as 6 became 5 then 4 then 3 then 2……I didn’t know what happened to 3 of them last year, but one was killed on the road.
Then fall came and they left for the winter.
Come this spring in March, I was waiting for any crows to arrive to the territory. I didn’t know who survived last year; was it the two adults or was it 1 kid and 1 adult?
I was apprehensive. Winter can be cruel.
I know that the male has the territory and that he is predominantly monogamous so when I saw two crows sitting on the point of the office building from in my car, I was getting excited.
But it was what happened next that brought chills to me, happy chills.
When my vehicle started to pull into the parking lot of the building they were on, they came flying down landing on the ground in front of the vehicle.
It was as if they were saying hellooooo and we’re back and they were anticipating treats. Its like we started where we left off with the same relationship.
I put the treats down, they immediately went for them. They remembered me!
I was soo happy. I even saw them procreating and they did that right in front of my vehicle like it was a family affair.
So this year I also had the privilege of observing their nesting behavior and the 4 babies that hatched.
Sadly again, there is only 3 left now out of 6 but this time I did detective work and found out how each fledgling disappeared. 2 were killed by traffic on the road in front and 1 was killed in the parking lot. Sad!
They have only one child left and as of yesterday the 3 of them were roaming the territory.
They even let the little gaffer come down and take some food and water that I bring. That little gaffer comes the closest to me. I suspect its because he/she has known me from birth.
Its really really enjoyable watching these birds look after their young and teach them how to look for grubs in the grass and listen to their low chatter and really weird sounds that they make which is fascinating.
They have let me into their world and I love it.
That’s how I started with crows and my motto is: "Don’t judge unless you’ve lived in their world."
I understand that these very smart birds are just trying to live thus they resort to whatever means needed to survive.
Note from Brian: Thanks for sharing Tina! I love reading your transformation from hating crows to appreciating them :-)
If you'd like to share your own story - click here