We have a nesting pair in the trees right next to us. I'm a live and let live kind - except for yellow jacket hives - so I leave them be.

Last couple weeks, they've been going tapioca whenever I dare to walk in my yard. That and eating all the fruit my wife is growing.

I typically leave them be, but getting uppity as I dare to walk my own property is over the line.

I was under assault by them a few days back, so I walked over to the hose, set the nozzle to JET and unleashed it in their general direction.

No birds were moistened in the exercise since they are indeed intelligent and had an idea of what was happening before it happened.

They flew off a 1/2 block, groused for a while for self respect reasons no doubt and now... we live in harmony.

Sometimes you've got to establish a baseline.

Live in my trees, eat my fruit but don't pee in my Wheaties.

to OP I say be glad they are just crows and not buzzards, which roosted in a big dead pine right next to my parents' house (across the property line.) There would be 15-20 in this tree at times and I even had to climb onto the roof one day to remove a dead one (not sure how it met it's demise.) Some days you could smell them from 100' away when you stepped out the door. We used a flare/cap gun to scare them off until they finally got the message.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I have to buy them their own pizza now.

Potential YouTube gold!

I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two!

Here's a morning peanut feeding.

When I lived in the Buckeye state, I had a nesting pair in a tree near the house. It did not take much time at all for them to figure out I fed peanuts to the squirrels and chipmunks every day. When I came out of the garage with the peanuts, they both would fly down and then walk along behind me until I loaded the feeder. Smart birds! And the whole walk with me to the feeder thing was weird. They never dive bombed me but they were very vocal if they thought I was too close to the nest. They also fearlessly took on any stray cats that happened by.

I can indeed say they are crows. I am hoping that they calmed down while we have been gone and the swooping will stop. Their nest is in a bunch of trees between four houses. When I was getting the mail and being swooped on the neighbor said the crows often come in their garage and peck at the snacks they have out for the kids. I tried to save one an injured one last year. Left out some food and water but think a cat got him.

Some of these guys do not remember Heckle and Jeckle. They were actually magpies but members of the crow family. The cartoons used to be pretty funny.

Well at least you don't have a duck guarding your front door. My wife called me a few weeks ago an said there was a duck at our door and what should she do? I figured just leave it be and assumed it had a nest nearby. My son and I put up the hurricane shutters on the front windows and the duck jumped out at us. We found the nest. It’s only three feet from our front door hidden in a planter box full of sago palms. The nest has about 7 eggs. The worst part is our dog “knows” the duck is out there and barks and growls at it.

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Originally posted by David Lee:
Auburn just west of Syracuse gets hammered with crow. Even the falcons brought in just get tired and sit to watch.

Yep. When I lived in Skaneateles it was legal to shoot them in Auburn. Not sure if it still is. They used to have crow killing contests over there.

We’re very high this year with predators/scavengers. That includes two red fox families, a hawk nest(sharp shinned or Coopers) then the ground critters & coyotes a bit further out.

I normally let things be, haven’t seen a turkey chick yet this year, a fair amount of hens around. I get rid of possums & skunks if given the opportunity. There is a crow family or two around, can tell by the baby squawks.

I don’t really have a problem curbing predator numbers at times.

I live next to the Gulf by the Ashtabula River.
Once a year the crows congregate in the trees above my house. I'm talking hundreds of crows.
They have never physically bothered any of us but it is quite intimidating to step outside in the morning and be deafened by all the chatter.
They tent to leave after a few days. No harm, no foul