How to Befriend Crows? | Hacker News Reader

How to Befriend Crows?

worldbirds.com

123 pointssimonebrunozzi61 comments

I recall some time back something like this article was posted in HN and I conveyed a story about the time some crows were screeching like crazy in a tree outside my bedroom window waking me up early. I was so pissed I went outside and got some rocks to throw at them. But then I noticed there was a badger (or some cat like creature, it was early, and I was groggy) and it was climbing up the tree to try to get to the crow's babies.

I guess my inner mommy kicked in and I threw the rocks at the badger, and it fell out of the tree and ran off and the crows quieted down. It seemed to me like they were bowing or nodding their heads to me after I did that.

After that, whenever I went outside, I wave at my little neighbors. I posted that and someone on HN said it was a good thing I made that decision otherwise the crows would have hated me and might chase me outside. I thought that was a little kooky when I first read that, to be honest. But after seeing a lot of other article posts like this one, and the experience I had, I think there is something to this idea that crows are smarter than, well... smarter than I had previous considered.

This is a really nice little story. Thanks for sharing it.

Some people might argue that any type of "intervention" alters Nature's equilibrium. But I guess I would have done the same, if I were in your shoes.

That kind of argument seems to presuppose that humanity is distinct from nature. It's not unique in that, of course; lots of things people say presuppose that humanity is separate from nature, so in that sense, it's a perfectly ordinary argument to make. On the other hand, I personally think of humanity as a part of nature like any other, which makes those sorts of arguments seem odd to me.

This reminded me of my favorite Mary Oliver poem:

  Entering the Kingdom
  by Mary Oliver
  
  The crows see me.   
  They stretch their glossy necks      
  In the tallest branches    
  Of green trees. I am      
  Possibly dangerous, I am    
  Entering the kingdom.
  
  The dream of my life   
  Is to lie down by a slow river    
  And stare at the light in the trees–      
  To learn something by being nothing    
  A little while but the rich    
  Lens of attention.
  
  But the crows puff their feathers and cry   
  Between me and the sun,    
  And I should go now.      
  They know me for what I am.    
  No dreamer,      
  No eater of leaves.

This is great, thanks for sharing.

I am befriending two of our local Corvus Coronoides (Perplexus), this summer. I have a bird-bath outside my office window that I refresh every day, and I leave them some food - sweetcorn, a few cat biscuits, sometimes some fruit if we have any going soft.

It’s a welcome distraction from work, seeing them eat, drink and sometimes play.

They used to hang out in a group of 4, two adults and two juveniles, but the juveniles seem to have moved on. We put a cat toy (a ball with a bell in it) out for them a few weeks ago and watched them play with it, picking it up, dropping it and waddling after it.

They are quite used to my presence now and don’t retreat far when I’m putting the food out. Afterwards I always watch from inside with the window open and talk to them, sometimes they approach and respond back. They don’t seem to mind the cat watching either (there is a fly mesh, he can’t get to them!)

Very occasionally one will have a bath and today I got to see something I haven’t seen before - ‘sunbathing’ where they sit low to the ground and spread their wings and tail feathers, in the hottest part of the day, which apparently helps maintain feather condition and dislodge parasites.

So far it’s quite a rewarding relationship.

Submitted 10 days ago (216 comments) -

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34139048

Different OP. That was a Mastodon conversation on the topic, this is a full article.

This article reads like they ran that thread through ChatGPT.

Hey, that's a possibility. I am dead sure that lots of folks are figuring out how to leverage ChatGPT to do their work for them.

This submission was exactly inspired by that previous one.

What if you want to end a crow relationship?

We have a murder of 50+ that roam our neighborhood. 3 of them hang out in my backyard and love to eat our fruit trees and hang out in the pool. I’m happy to share the pool, not so much the fruit. Especially our precious Asian pears!

These are big suckers and strut around the yard with more swagger than Salt Bae at the World Cup.

My biggest complaint is their trash day escapades. I got to spend ten minutes in the rain cleaning up after them yesterday.

The crows and the squirrels get a lot of my mindshare. I don’t know, maybe that’s some sort of gift.

Purhase a trash can with a sturdy lid. Problem solved.

Get a bunch of nets for your fruit trees. Not pretty, but problem solved.

Good until the post-holiday trash overflow I just dealt with.

Second/larger trash can?

Bring the trash yourself to a trash collection station, if your municipality/country has those? (Mine does; it's a blessing.)

Stop being so practical! I’m trying to complain about crows!

This task is simple an has three steps: 1) Drive to the shop 2) Buy a shotgun 3) Shoot the birds

When you don't life in the US or another third world country, maybee you need step 0: 0) Get a hunters license

It's illegal to shoot crows in North America.

https://www.audubon.org/news/the-migratory-bird-treaty-act-e...

Crows tend to also be game animals, so states manage the populations and set bag limits, seasons, etc. In my state it is definitely legal, and one doesn't even need HIP registration.

Which state is that? Crows are not ducks or turkeys

Every US state, except Hawaii, have a crow season with state controls.

I would like to believe that, but I'm not seeing anything about it in the hunting regulations for my state:

https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents/wildlife/laws-regs-lice...

Could you point me to something on a government site I'm missing? Only info I've seen is on SEO spam sites with content likely generated by an algorithm

Search that PDF for “crow”

It’s in there, under Small Game and Furbearer HUNTING

>(I) It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt or take crows at any time except on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from June 3, 2022 through March 5, 2023 and from June 2, 2023 through March 3, 2024, one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.

https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-1501:31...

I'm not kidding. Every state but Hawaii has a crow season.

No, they’re a regulated species, with hunting seasons in most states

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/50/20.133

Thanks for the info. I'm reading that as states other than Hawaii can permit it, but not all of them do.

There appears to be no hunting of crows in Ohio based on what I've found on their natural resource site. Though they could allow it if they wanted to do so.

Airgun would be sufficient for crows and squirrels, is safer to use in densely populated areas, and comes with less regulation everywhere. Still a good idea to check game regulations on your targets though.

try to get some good video of them

Discussion of a Mastadon thread on crows from a couple of weeks ago led to heaps of interesting comments¹. Far outside my wheelhouse, so I've no idea of the links between the authors and their lists.

¹ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34139048

A while ago I stumbled upon this channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d3dOam9Hg4

And now am completely in love with those wonderful birds.

They're also quite intelligent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gui3IswQ0DI

Wow :-)

Thanks for sharing this!

Only slightly disappointed this wasn't about how to befriend cows.

here you go, https://programmingisterrible.com/post/632368259807772672/ho...

That's what I read the title as, and was fairly confused to see two feathered friends in the opening image.

Exactly the same happened to me :D

Not quite crows, but a pair of ravens are featured in Daniel Suarez's book on drone swarms, "Kill Decision." Great read by a great author if you like technothrillers. Be aware; both crows and ravens will remember your face, as some researchers at college campuses have found years later, with crows that didn't so much always appreciate the experimentation.

But as with most creatures, be nice, and they're nice to you. They've even got a limited ability to mimic, which can get fun.

I don't need a crow - got an African Grey in our house - not my choice but the wife said it was either that or a new dog.

They are intelligent but rather annoying esp when they go into "let repeat all the words or new sounds I have learned the last couple of weeks" but I am rather glad they are so much smaller than their dinosaur ancestors.

my mom had one when i was growing up and it learned to mimic the squeaking our washing machine made when it was on. very annoying heh. It also learned to call our dogs by name and would get a kick out of them running to its cage. very annoying to the dogs too.

We shared an office during Covid.

One day I grabbed my phone thinking at I had a message as I heard the notification sound - well Mister Charlie as we call him started making the bubble sound.

I got Covid in 2021 and had a dry hacking cough or a few weeks - to this day when I am in the vicinty he starts coughing like me like he is dying.

Thought he actually got something stuck in his crop the first time it happened.

Did anyone wonder if this was written by an AI? 3 of the steps boil down to figuring out what your crows like to eat.

I feel like if the post repeats its premise or headline too many times within too close a margin, it instantly goes into my "written by an AI" box.

Yes, my thought was if humans write like this, AI has nothing to fear

Instead, I would be more interested in:

“How to Befriend Cows”

(the lovable ruminants)

[https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201008-is-cow-hugging-t...]

I will wait for "how to quickly befriend a grizzly in 30 seconds".

It’s the same as the answer to “how to outrun a grizzly?”. Have a friend with you that’s slower than you ;)

Idk if 30 seconds is quick enough. That might be long enough for the bear to decide you make a better tasty snack than potential BFF.

Leave food the bear likes outside - like berries, fat, your arms or legs - soon the bear will develop a close but short-lived bond with you!

I’m not sure what qualifies as “short-lived” in your world, but I do know a man who befriended a bear for about a year before his passing.

A friend’s father living on a large estate in North Florida befriended a young black bear who would routinely eat out of his hand and relax on his screened in porch with him. He was lightly hit once on the hand requiring a few stitches, but it was an otherwise successful bond.

Appears it is possible for the average joe in the right neck of the woods.

Our crow friends love walnuts and come by every morning after we walk the dog. Goji berries were a no go; they left them completely untouched.

Step 0: have crows actually dwell near you :(

I don't get it. Does HN have a weird crow-befriending fetish?

Crows are smart, and can use that against you. I have a bunch living near me, and have done some half-assed attempts at befriending them. Not because I want to be a goth Disney princess, but just so that we get along, and they don't mess with me. Also, crows chase away seagulls from the area, a big plus in by book.

They are just really neat birds! Try watching them sometime, they give the impression of listening to a guest speaker at a conference and it is really funny.

I agree, I think there isn't nearly enough variety. We need animal befriending posts for more species. How about cows? Or bears?

I have befriended a bluejay. Corvids are interesting and very unlike mammals which everyone is already familiar with.

My standard poodle and I befriended a doe in the woods next to a nearby lake.

She was pretty bold to begin with. My poodle was of course very excited the first time we met, but she was also well behaved, and when I asked her to sit down and quiet down, she did. I sat next to her and the doe calmed down and browsed foliage gradually nearer and nearer, coming to within about ten or fifteen yards before we moved on.

We encountered her many more times over the next several years. I was able to recognize her because she had a distinctive deformity in one ear. My poodle always got quite excited, but also always remembered that the thing to do was to settle down and be patient and allow the deer to approach.

I never touched her, though she did eventually take to coming close enough that I or my dog could have touched her if we wished. The poodle was not always able to contain her excitement enough to keep from spooking the doe. She would sometimes make a frustrated sound or wriggle enough to spook the doe, and she'd be off, but would approach us again on our next visit.

One year she had two fawns. I thought it interesting that although the doe approached us calmly even with fawns, the fawns fled and hid when they saw us. Very sensible of them.

My poodle passed away about a year ago and I haven't been back to those woods to visit since.

Seriously: what about seagulls?

- or even better: Scopoli's Shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea)? They make the the funniest sound :)

How many other animals will bring you shiny gifts if you bond with them?

There are very few species to befriend that are smart enough to use tools. It's entertaining watching smart animals.

DUP: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34139048

Nope. The title is almost the same, but it's a different article.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com