#befriending crows

I started by working on befriending crows, and expanded by including a feeding station for other birds. Here’s a massive dump of bird pictures and videos I’ve captured that I enjoy. Maybe other birders will too. Maybe not. I dunno. I just think these are neat.

I've been befriending a murder of crows in my neighborhood the past few weeks. They haven't touched the large feeder of corn & peanuts I put out for them, but they still come & sit in the nearby trees & call for me to come outside.

(No sound because my daughter was laughing & talking over all of the majestic cawing as they made their exit, satisfied with having seen us. I just missed the entire murder in flight by maybe 30 seconds as a bunch had flown away already. After this, 3-4 of them circled back & did some laps overhead of us & then flew off - of course I hit the wrong button on my camera for that!)

Today, one keeps coming back & calling for me so our backyard security camera picks up the sound to get my attention to come outside just so we can play mimicry back & forth. He caws 4 times & I caw back 4 times. I caw 3 times & he caws back 3. Back & forth.

What's that you're thinking?

Did I purchase a security camera for our backyard specifically so I could watch for my crows, but rationalized it to my husband as a security feature?

I plea the fifth.

Moving on...

One particular crow is currently in the farmer's field behind our backyard, looking for scraps of corn from the harvest weeks ago while doing this. He'll come & fly overhead of me, happily cawing in greeting at times.

(Taken a couple of weeks ago: It might be hard to tell, but all of those black dots are maybe a third of the murder I've seen sitting in the adjacent yard's trees (the leaves have all fallen off of ours, so they're choosing the ones still with leaves).

Absolutely blind to the feeder I made for him & his buddies even though I've shown him & his murder crew multiple times. Three bluejays & a pair of squirrels are getting fat on their ignored bounty...

(The blue jays and squirrels LOVE the feeder. My crows just fly overhead and caw at me in greeting and go out to scavenge food for the day... I thought food was how you befriended crows? They haven't eaten mine!)

I'm 90% sure it's the same one but, the past couple of mornings, one has been sort of standing sentry at the very, very tip top of a tree until I come outside & check the feeder and clean up any empty shells. He'll caw a few times in greeting and fly closer to the yard before going and find the rest of his family group.

And, when I say, "very, very tip top", I mean like somehow balancing on a twig the diameter of a leaf stem, all while bobbing around haphazardly as they get blown- never flapping their wings to steady themselves! It makes sense to see regular birds do this, but crows are bigger! I don't think physics has any sway over them...

(This is the only pic I've managed that's somewhat close to what I was describing. He's at least on a thicker little twig here. Imagine him sitting on the tip of where the leaf to his left is for the typical placement.)

Given how I've read that crows will have a member stand watch while the others eat, I'm kind of wondering if he's making sure that I "eat" (get to the feeder and back) in the morning safely now. The murder already chased off a couple small groups of blackbirds who dared to sit in their trees while I was outside the other day.

I'm an only child with no living parents & who's estranged from the rest of my family, so I've told my daughter that since the murder appears to be adopting me, she can consider them her aunts, uncles, & cousins from my side of the family now. One seems to like to sit in a tree nearby while she's waiting for the bus at the bus stop each morning. She's carrying peanuts to try and feed it.

Basically, I'm just loving my new crow family! (even if I've been interrupted 5x while writing this by a certain someone wanting me to come outside, who's just started cawing yet again!)

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Midori Niji, along with her sister Kiiro and her brothers Kuro and Shiro, made their way to Central Park to enjoy the festive holiday atmosphere. Despite the late date, the weather remained unseasonably warm in the forties.

Midori wore her white AS by DF leather jacket over a green cashmere sweater along with blue jeans and white Prada Monolith boots, topped off with a green felt "Santa" hat with white trim for a touch of whimsy to contrast with her bright red hair. Kiiro sported a darling ensemble of Merino wool and corduroy under a long L'Agence Kolina wool coat with a pair of Fendi riding boots, all in synergistic tones of gold and brown to go with her blonde hair. Kuro and Shiro had simply thrown on Henley shirts, jeans, and running shoes, and put their leather jackets on, not paying attention to the labels.

Along the way, the quadruplets had stopped to buy snacks: unsalted peanuts in the shell for the ladies and white-chocolate-covered hazelnuts for the gentlemen. Munching nuts all the while, Midori and Kiiro discussed their last semesters at their respective schools while Kuro and Shiro argued over the best strategies for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Soon, the group passed through the Lehman Gates into the park, the bronze birds carved into the gates regarding the visitors silently. As Midori shelled a peanut for herself, she heard a guttural "CAW" from her right side. A crow had alighted on the ground nearby and eyed the bag of peanuts greedily.

"Hmm," Midori mused, "crows like peanuts...." She crouched down to face the bird. "Hello!"

"HELLO," the bird repeated to her, eliciting chuckles from the siblings.

Kuro piped up, "Yeah, they can mimic human speech. It really helps them when begging for food!"

"All right," Midori held out a peanut between the thumb and index finger of her right hand as an offering to the corvid. "I suppose you've earned this." What little ambient light there was glinted off of the green stone set into the silver bezel of her ring, distracting the crow from the treat.

A full-throated "MINE!" burst from the bird's beak as it lunged forward to grab Midori's ring and give it a pull.

"WAAAAAAUGH! No, no, crow!" Midori fell backward onto the pavement, getting salt and dirt onto the seat of her jeans. She pulled her hand back and tossed the peanut to the would-be thief. "This ring stays with me!"

Shiro looked at the ring. "Isn't that the one a fan sent you that made Pin-chan freak out a bit?"

"Yeah," Midori replied. "She swore it was magical. She thought that if I said 'punch-key,' it would POOF me to another world or something."

The crow cracked through the peanut shell and began to eat.

Shiro laughed. "Well, you said it and nothing happened. What's a 'punch-key,' anyway?"

Midori adjusted her ring and looked to see if the beak had broken her skin. "Jiji said it's those big Polish doughnuts."

Kiiro interrupted, "'Pączki.' The word is pronounced 'pączki.'"

"Yeah, that's what I said," Midori retorted.

The crow belted out a loud "CAW." Two more crows flew in and landed in front of Midori.

"Ohhh, I see how it is," Midori scolded the crows jokingly. "You're trying to fleece me, aren't you! Well, here you go!" She tossed a peanut to each of the newcomers, who stared at her ring instead of the treats.

"They like shinies," Kuro suggested.

"Huh. OK, OK," Midori rummaged through her jacket pocket where she had put the change from buying nuts earlier and pulled out some coins. "Well, they're discontinuing pennies soon, so...here you go!" She tossed a new, shiny penny to each of the crows. The first crow snatched one up and flew off. "You're welcome," Midori shouted.

The other crows retrieved their coins, then set their attention to the peanuts on the ground. Midori stood up and brushed the dirt off of her jeans. "Well, this was sure an interesting—"

Suddenly, the first crow returned, carrying a small object in its beak. It landed in front of Midori once more, cawing mutedly around the object.

"Wha...?" Midori crouched down again and the crow approached her, nodding its head up and down. She held out her hand and the crow dropped a green glass bead onto her palm. "Uh...thank you?"

The crow croaked, "YEAH," then turned and flew away, the other two crows following closely behind.

Midori stood up and stared at the birds. "Wha-what just happened?"

Shiro quipped, "Clearly, we were all witnesses to a murder...."

so ive been trying to befriend a crow for YEARS (i think i started trying in like, 2020-2021ish) (ig thats not really that ling but still) but i can never find any close enough to me where i would be able to visit them routinely

i came back from school today and there were ATLEAST 4 in a bush right by my house

i put out a pile of oatmeal, and they watched me do this

they havent taken any yet, but i iust put it out

- Get some unsalted walnuts, go out every day in the afternoon and gently throw a few nuts near them (not at them). If you are patient, they will very quickly learn that you are the human with nuts and they will tell their buddies.

- Try to wear the same coat or whatever in the beginning, so they will recognise you easier.

- Don't overfeed and only use unsalted, raw nuts. Peanuts in the shell is good too.

- Sitting down/squatting is good to seem less intimidating and try not to make too much eye contact in the beginning when they are approaching the nuts.

- You can show them where you live by gradually moving closer to your home while consistently sharing snacks. If you have a terrace, you can eventually go there and throw nuts from there. You can leave out some nuts on a tray for them, and they will quickly figure out that that's where to find you (and nuts)

- Be patient with some of the more caucious ones. They might need to learn that you aren't a threat before they take your offering.

- Some crows will take what they can get, so throwing nuts in multiple directions, will allow the more caucious ones to get a chance to get some.

- Make a little bag of nuts part of your inventory whenever you're outside. Your new buddies will most likely approach you and expect some nuts, and it sucks to disappoint the little guys. Sometimes they will literally yell at you 🤷‍♀️