I've read some fun research on the intelligence of crows, including Gavin Hunt's work on tool use among New Caledonian Crows, and John Marzluff's study of human facial recognition by crows. And...
I've read some fun research on the intelligence of crows, including Gavin Hunt's work on tool use among New Caledonian Crows, and John Marzluff's study of human facial recognition by crows. And there is a lot more by other researchers. It's pretty common knowledge now that crows can be really smart.
Although I can't find references now, I've also seen non-academic cases of people befriending crows, whether by accident or intentionally cultivating a relationship by regularly leaving food out for them. In some cases, the crows will even reciprocate gifts by bringing back shiny objects for the human.
So I've wondered for a while how easy it would be to actually befriend a crow. We have a lot of crows where I live so I guess I'm in a decent place to try it out. Have any of you tried this before? Or do you know anyone who has? What were the experiences?
Do you have any suggestions? (Aside from the obvious warnings about interacting with wildlife.)
You can check out /r/crowbro and there are a lot of stories from users of befriending groups of crows. The pin in that subreddit has some good info from an ecologist about how to feed crows with...
You can check out /r/crowbro and there are a lot of stories from users of befriending groups of crows. The pin in that subreddit has some good info from an ecologist about how to feed crows with some sources about what's safe/healthy and what kinds of food they like.
Dog bacon training treats got them eating out of my hand. They try and trade unshelled peanuts other people give them for them. I had to stop for a minute because they kept bringing all their...
Dog bacon training treats got them eating out of my hand. They try and trade unshelled peanuts other people give them for them. I had to stop for a minute because they kept bringing all their friends until there was a crowd of like 20 of them. Now it's back down to 3 main ones and the 1 eats out of my hand.
Wanted to share something related with crows. I think this is right thread. Since about three years a crow comes everyday on our window and screams kawwn kawwn for 10-15 minutes, leaves after...
Wanted to share something related with crows. I think this is right thread.
Since about three years a crow comes everyday on our window and screams kawwn kawwn for 10-15 minutes, leaves after that. And then comes next day at noon again. Don't know what's up with that. At first it was annoying but now I just take that as a queue for taking break from work.
I understand this is an old thread, but I live on a fairly big property in rural Canada and we've been trying to befriend crows. They seem to like routine. They are indeed very shy: if squirrels...
I understand this is an old thread, but I live on a fairly big property in rural Canada and we've been trying to befriend crows.
They seem to like routine.
They are indeed very shy: if squirrels and jays are eating the food we leave out they don't come
They always wait till we're quite far away
I found a pair of sunglasses lens in the feeding area: not sure if they were gifts.... We tried to leave craft gems for them but no takers. What gifts would they like? The experiment continues.
A German lady who's already been through the process has a channel about her friend Krari the Crow - I enjoy these videos because there seems to be no other purpose to the channel than sharing...
A German lady who's already been through the process has a channel about her friend Krari the Crow - I enjoy these videos because there seems to be no other purpose to the channel than sharing information about crows and one friend in particular.
I've read some fun research on the intelligence of crows, including Gavin Hunt's work on tool use among New Caledonian Crows, and John Marzluff's study of human facial recognition by crows. And there is a lot more by other researchers. It's pretty common knowledge now that crows can be really smart.
Although I can't find references now, I've also seen non-academic cases of people befriending crows, whether by accident or intentionally cultivating a relationship by regularly leaving food out for them. In some cases, the crows will even reciprocate gifts by bringing back shiny objects for the human.
So I've wondered for a while how easy it would be to actually befriend a crow. We have a lot of crows where I live so I guess I'm in a decent place to try it out. Have any of you tried this before? Or do you know anyone who has? What were the experiences?
Do you have any suggestions? (Aside from the obvious warnings about interacting with wildlife.)
You can check out /r/crowbro and there are a lot of stories from users of befriending groups of crows. The pin in that subreddit has some good info from an ecologist about how to feed crows with some sources about what's safe/healthy and what kinds of food they like.
This is great! I have a love/hate relationship with Reddit, but the good subs I've found are priceless. Thanks.
The healthiest way to use Reddit is to go there when you are looking for specific information. Doomscrolling is what gets ya.
Dog bacon training treats got them eating out of my hand. They try and trade unshelled peanuts other people give them for them. I had to stop for a minute because they kept bringing all their friends until there was a crowd of like 20 of them. Now it's back down to 3 main ones and the 1 eats out of my hand.
WOW! okay that's something I gotta try. If it's more expensive than bacon maybe i'll just give them raw pork belly bits (no nitrates)....
Wanted to share something related with crows. I think this is right thread.
Since about three years a crow comes everyday on our window and screams kawwn kawwn for 10-15 minutes, leaves after that. And then comes next day at noon again. Don't know what's up with that. At first it was annoying but now I just take that as a queue for taking break from work.
I understand this is an old thread, but I live on a fairly big property in rural Canada and we've been trying to befriend crows.
They seem to like routine.
They are indeed very shy: if squirrels and jays are eating the food we leave out they don't come
They always wait till we're quite far away
I found a pair of sunglasses lens in the feeding area: not sure if they were gifts.... We tried to leave craft gems for them but no takers. What gifts would they like? The experiment continues.
A German lady who's already been through the process has a channel about her friend Krari the Crow - I enjoy these videos because there seems to be no other purpose to the channel than sharing information about crows and one friend in particular.
How to befriend a crow