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Baroque Bloke
Picture of Pipe Smoker
posted
Several days a week I take an early morning walk to Whole Foods to get provisions for lunch and supper. (That store is much improved after Amazon bought it.)

There’s a certain stretch along the way that’s inhabited by a particular crow that recognizes me because I bring kibble for it – dry cat food.

If I’ve forgotten to bring the kibble, that crow will alight right in front of me at least a dozen times in hopes that I’ll finally produce its treat. I do feel bad on those occasions.

I’ve read of crows that bring little presents to their human buddies – a piece of shiny foil or a pretty pebble.

Crows are smart birds. Decades ago I did a lot of bicycling. I saw many birds in the road that’d been hit by cars. But never a crow, despite the fact that they spent much time in the road eating various roadkill.



Serious about crackers
 
Posts: 8844 | Location: San Diego | Registered: July 26, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
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We've a bunch of crows in the trees during the summertime. I've been thinking of learning how to attract their attention to see if I can befriend one.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 25999 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lost
Picture of kkina
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Crows are indeed incredibly intelligent and even altruistic. There's a famous story about an 8-year old girl who befriended a flock of crows by feeding them treats. One day her photographer mother realized she had forgotten her lenscap while out taking pictures. The cap was subsequently found in the family's own birdbath. They reviewed some bird-cam footage to see how it got there. It showed one of the crows not only returning the cap, but actually washing it off first.



ACCU-STRUT FOR MINI-14
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Posts: 16260 | Location: SF Bay Area | Registered: December 11, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Maybe I was wrong. I thought they were just targets!
I will say I don’t hunt geese because they mate for life and have heard of several instances where one was killed or wounded and the mate wouldn’t leave its side. Just my personal take…


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Posts: 1118 | Location: Vermont | Registered: March 24, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Baroque Bloke
Picture of Pipe Smoker
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quote:
Originally posted by TBH:
Maybe I was wrong. I thought they were just targets!
I will say I don’t hunt geese because they mate for life and have heard of several instances where one was killed or wounded and the mate wouldn’t leave its side. Just my personal take…

Yes, I think you were wrong. Several years ago I was out walking and noticed a crow with an injured (drooping) wing beneath a shrub. I was wondering what help I could give it when another crow, its mate, I think, flew up with some food for the injured crow.

I was sorry that I had no food to contribute. I walked to a grocery store, bought something suitable, and returned. But by then neither crow was to be seen. I left the food there anyway, hoping they’d find it.

BTW, it was that incident that induced me to take some animal food along on all of my walks. Dry cat food is a good choice – easily stored with nutrition suitable for many creatures.



Serious about crackers
 
Posts: 8844 | Location: San Diego | Registered: July 26, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Peace through
superior firepower
Picture of parabellum
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At first glance, I though the subject line was "I have a cow friend" and I was intrigued, though wary.

You can't trust them bovines worth a damn.
 
Posts: 107241 | Registered: January 20, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Baroque Bloke
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^^^^^^^
Smile



Serious about crackers
 
Posts: 8844 | Location: San Diego | Registered: July 26, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Only the strong survive
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I had a pet crow when I was about 15. He had a pen about 3x4x6 feet where he stayed at night. His wing was clipped at first and was let out during the day.

He would see me walking home from school 200 feet away and start making a fess. I had him for three years and then he disappeared.

I also had a young mockingbird I found in the yard in 1988. I feed him raisins and after time passed, he would fly out to the mailbox when I came home from work.

I would enter the garage and he would follow and land on the Radial Arm saw. I would bring him some raisins and he was happy.


41
 
Posts: 11828 | Location: Herndon, VA | Registered: June 11, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Evil Asian Member
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I feed some crows (and some squirrels) peanuts outside of my house every day.

One time, I pulled out of my driveway and drove down the street. I passed a crow on the grassy divider strip outside my house. My window was down, so I shouted at the crow, "Hey you!"

The crow took off and matched my speed. He flew offside my window at about three feet away for about half a mile. I had never seen that before. Since then, a crow has done that about four different times. I don't know if it's the same crow or not.
 
Posts: 5580 | Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA | Registered: April 11, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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There’s several good documentaries about crows they are dang smart and can learn faces as well.
 
Posts: 4736 | Location: Florida Panhandle  | Registered: November 23, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I have not yet begun
to procrastinate
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I can’t remember the last time I saw a crow.
Ravens however are all over my neighborhood. I’m going to have to start carrying some kibble on the dog walks! Smile


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Posts: 3771 | Location: Central AZ | Registered: October 26, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
member
Picture of henryaz
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quote:
Originally posted by KMitch200:
I can’t remember the last time I saw a crow.
Ravens however are all over my neighborhood

Same here. Moving to AZ from MD 20 years ago, I was used to only crows. Out here, all we have is ravens (crows "caw", ravens "croak"). There are other differences as well, mainly size, but it takes some more knowledge to differentiate.



When in doubt, mumble
 
Posts: 10778 | Location: South Congress AZ | Registered: May 27, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
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quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
At first glance, I though the subject line was "I have a cow friend" and I was intrigued, though wary.

You can't trust them bovines worth a damn.


You got THAT right, Bubba!

My Dad raised beef critters when I was a kid. Part of my morning routine for several years was feeding and watering them, which required getting right in amongst them.

In all that time I only ran into one that was intentionally aggressive, but something that big and that stupid can hurt you without meaning to. I've been stepped on, head-butted, smacked with crap-encrusted tails, shit on and squeezed until I swore my ribs were gonna let go.

Then there's the endless fun of cleaning up after them in a "loafing shed" that was too small to get a tractor and loader into. That meant pitching it into a spreader one fork-full at at time.

I effin' HATE cowz...




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15178 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I don't feed wild animals, causes them to become dependent on humans for food instead of naturally. Crows are more than just scavengers, I've seen them ambush sparrows and robins and make a meal of them.
 
Posts: 1617 | Location: USA | Registered: December 11, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Eye on the
Silver Lining
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They are SO cool. Until they get into a habit you don’t like Smile
I had one as a child. Smart as smart gets. I remember when I was older and looking at the possibility of a parrot as a pet, I’d asked a pet store owner if parrots were as smart as crows..she wasn’t sure.


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Posts: 5279 | Registered: October 24, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
half-genius,
half-wit
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Not a crow, but a raven story. My great-uncle Ted shared his home in rural North Wales with a lady raven - for well over twenty years. She lived in the stone-built coach house twenty yards away and spent her days doing whatever it is that ravens do - quothing? - and sitting around on the veranda rail, waiting for company - Ted had never got married. Back when we lived in North Wales she'd remember me, walk over and flap up and onto my shoulder, often sitting there with her beak on top of my head for a couple of hours or more. She was not exactly affectionate, just long-suffering, but she clearly had some kind of relationship with Ted, who called her his 'lady in black'.

Ted had a house-cleaner who came in a couple of times a week. and on this occasion, she told my mom, Ted was waiting for her, distraught as she got off her bicycle that morning ready to her chores. She's flown away! he said, last night, she just took off, and hasn't come back!

She'd left, apparently for good.

The next day, just out of curiosity the cleaner went up to the old house and found Ted dead in his armchair.

Spooky as heck.
 
Posts: 11305 | Location: UK, OR, ONT | Registered: July 10, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Raptorman
Picture of Mars_Attacks
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I have a small murder family that I feed every day. The sentry was one of the young that was too young to be afraid of me and learned that I would do them no harm. He now caws at the kitchen window for me to bring them peanuts and leftovers when they see my car in the carport.

Occasionally they will bring me a crow treasure as payment.



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Posts: 34073 | Location: North, GA | Registered: October 09, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
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Had a Blue Jay some years ago that would come visit me daily on the patio. I fed him Cheerios. God’s creatures… Smile Smile



"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
 
Posts: 11048 | Location: NW Houston | Registered: April 04, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Staring back
from the abyss
Picture of Gustofer
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You folks who like crows have never had the pleasure of living underneath a flock of 20,000 of them. Everything covered in crow shit and the 24 hour a day squawking of 20,000 crows will put you in the psych ward. I hate them things with a passion.


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Posts: 19975 | Location: Montana | Registered: November 01, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Happily Retired
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When I was around 10 years old I found a crow in the ditch with a damaged wing. I naturally took it home and my mother determined the wing was not broken but torn up pretty bad so she wrapped it up with a gauze bandage to keep it immobile. We made a bed for it in the laundry room with food and water. That guy would eat anything, I swear. Hard boiled eggs, cat food, fruit, you name it and it would eat it.

We had it all summer and then one day he was outside on the lawn, looked around as if to say good bye and took off. I would see him on a fence post by the house occasionally after that and then he was gone for good. We had a name for him but danged if I can remember what it was.



.....never marry a woman who is mean to your waitress.
 
Posts: 5024 | Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO. | Registered: September 05, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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