Living with Crows

Years ago, when we first moved into our neighbourhood, we had a problem. The problem was CROWS. They pecked at and destroyed our garbage bags that we put out by the road, strewed things from it all over the road and the lawn, made so-o much noise in the mornings so we couldn't sleep in, and basically we considered them a nuisance.

My husband even got a pellet gun and shot pellets into their tail ends. They didn't pierce the skin but they hurt, and the crows learned very quickly to stay away from our garbage. They recognized him too, and knew when he had the "sting-stick" with him. In time, he didn't even have to raise the gun to his shoulder.

Smart. (No pun intended.)

When our oldest daughter was in her early teens, suffering from ischemic migraines that left her bed-bound for days at a time, she heard a crow outside her window, cawing as though he was a 12-year-old boy whose voice was changing. She named him "Buck" - and looked forward to hearing his voice. In a couple of years, Buck had offspring and they learned how to caw like him. It became a joke in our family, as we called him "Buck-buck-ba-CAW" ... and slowly our attitude started to change regarding these creatures that we had always seen as pests. 

We noticed their family groups. We noticed how they mated for life and how,when widowed, they would be taken in by their relatives. We heard them feeding their young. We watched them and their social interactions. 

"Black Crow" provided free by
MapleAmber at www.pixabay.com

We found different ways to discourage them from destroying our garbage bags. We would spray Javex on the bags to mask the food smells inside - and the crows were smart enough to leave that stuff alone. Nope, not edible.

And then, about 2 years ago, we got a little dog, a Pomeranian. When he was about 6 months old and had all his shots, we started taking him for walks. And the crows noticed. We observed them as they observed us walking our little guy around the neighbourhood, stopping when he stopped to pee and poo. They watched us pick up his poo in little bags, and when we moved past their sight, they flew to a different tree or pole closer to where we were, and continued to observe our behaviour, and his as well. Sometimes he would try to catch one; it would stay where it was until he was about 10 feet away, and just hop into the sky and fly off. I could imagine the crow chuckling to itself.

That's when we started noticing other, more amazing behaviours. Near our neighbourhood, there are a pair of eagles that hunt small animals and birds. The crows set up sentinels spaced at various intervals throughout the neighbourhood. They would watch the eagles and warn each other when the eagles got too close. They were especially vigilant when we were taking our little dog out for a walk. They would band together and chase the eagles away, dive-bombing them and just being a nuisance to them so they would stay away. 

And it worked! 

These one-time pests had accepted us into the community and were looking out for us. They protected our little guy from a predator that could kill him. (Collars have been found in eagles' nests). 

So, now we use a white noise machine so we can sleep in when we want to, and we have learned to live with (and appreciate) the crows. 

Funny how attitudes change.