[HN Gopher] How to Befriend Crows
___________________________________________________________________
How to Befriend Crows
Author : karmanyaahm
Score : 421 points
Date : 2022-12-26 16:27 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (fediscience.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (fediscience.org)
| theteapot wrote:
| TL;DR Give them food. Shocker.
| 867-5309 wrote:
| can vouch for this approach
| osrec wrote:
| Interesting. Also, Mastodon threads seem to be much easier to
| follow that Twitter... Twitter feels like a confusing mess of
| replies in any order. I could be wrong, but this felt much more
| ordered, and therefore made more sense to me.
|
| Edit: also faster.
| wpietri wrote:
| I can vouch for this approach. I lived in the territory of a
| couple of ravens (close relatives of crows; just as smart and
| twice as large) and it took me maybe 18 months to build a close
| relationship.
|
| I started out just talking to them and throwing whole peanuts
| (roasted, unsalted) on the ground while I was doing it. They
| looked at me warily and did not come close. Later on, the peanuts
| would disappear, but I was never sure why. This period lasted
| months.
|
| Eventually they would come down when I threw a peanut and
| approach it warily. If it was closer than 15 or 20 feet to me,
| I'd have to back away to give them enough room. Then I could
| throw another peanut near (but not at!) them and they'd walk over
| to get it.
|
| After many more months of this (six, I'd guess) they were
| somewhat less wary of me and would hang out on our back fence
| sometimes. So we worked out a ritual. I would place a piece of
| food on the fence rail and back away; they'd hop over and get it.
| As he suggested, I would talk with them as I did it. I'm sure the
| words didn't matter, but I suspect the tone did, and it helped me
| focus on being soothing with voice, body language, and behavior.
|
| Toward the end of my time there we got so that one of them would
| take high-value food, like a chicken bone with bits of meat left
| on it, straight out of my hand. That one, who we called George,
| would happily sit pretty close to me after eating. Out of arm's
| reach, of course; they were still a bit wary. But it would settle
| down and chill out. Truly a magical experience to just hang out
| with a big, smart bird like that. You looking at one another,
| both trying to figure out exactly what the other's deal is. And
| me, at least, knowing, that I'd never fully know.
| survirtual wrote:
| I love this. Thank you for sharing. I've always found crows and
| ravens to be majestic birds, even with the reputations they
| have. Thank you for being kind to them.
| prox wrote:
| My amateur theory is that talking makes you less likely to be a
| predator. You basically say "here I am", Predators tend to be
| quiet and sneak up on their prey. I think the tone does indeed
| help somewhat in my experience.
| oasisbob wrote:
| Makes sense to me. Crows have caught me tree climbing under
| them during their evening flights to the communal roost, the
| result was always a chaotic mess. They just couldn't leave it
| alone. Without fail, eventually one crow would notice and
| start the alarm call, then the hundreds of crows arriving at
| the situation would break off flight and begin mobbing as
| well.
|
| I must have seemed very novel and sneaky.
|
| https://youtu.be/RuOVY4r9ipg
| tomxor wrote:
| I sometimes end up crossing paths with birds while rock
| climbing. You try to avoid them where possible (especially
| if they are protected/endangered) but it's not always
| possible to spot them from the ground. Peregrines will warn
| you by swooping past you really fast, even if you are 10s
| of meters to the side of their nest.
|
| It can sometimes end up in a weird kind of stand off, where
| they can see your path is through their nest or perch but
| they don't really know what your intent is so you just end
| up staring at each other. The most aggressive I came across
| was a big seagull, which I'm pretty sure was protecting
| it's eggs since it clearly wasn't going to move, thankfully
| that line was easy enough that I could just figure out an
| alternate way around. Climbing you also sometimes get to
| see some of the horrific remains from the predators - One
| time towards the end of covid lockdowns some peregrines had
| reclaimed a pinnacle due to the unusual absence of
| climbers. When I got to the top it looked like a
| sacrificial temple, filled with the carcases of all the
| other bird species, not to mention the bees nest en route,
| that one was a mini adventure.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Great video. Were you scared? I once walked under some
| trees in which many crows were roosting. Scared the crap
| out of me. I thought they were going to attack. Maybe they
| had young and wanted to protect them, I don't know, but I
| ran.
| oasisbob wrote:
| Thanks. It was a bit scary the first time, but they keep
| their distance. No resident crows in this grove, afaik.
|
| Sometimes I wonder if I'm already being recognized as
| "that weird tree guy", even on the ground, and what it
| would take to test that.
| busyant wrote:
| > talking makes you less likely to be a predator
|
| For a second I thought I was dead. But, when I heard all the
| noise, I knew they were cops. Only cops talk that way. If
| they'd been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I
| would've been dead.
|
| -Henry Hill, Goodfellas
| lisper wrote:
| Yes, of course. Your tone has to convey not only, "I am not a
| predator" but also "I do not perceive you as a threat, and so
| the purpose of my vocalization is not to scare you away
| because I perceive _you_ as a threat, and if you come close I
| am likely to try to harm you in order to defend myself. "
|
| In nature, the Bayesian prior on an entity that is not a
| member of your species, or even your tribe, seeking an
| interaction with you that will ultimately be to your benefit
| is very, very low.
| maxbond wrote:
| Hummingbirds I've noticed are very curious about other
| creatures. To a fault even, mantises will sometimes exploit
| this to catch hummingbirds (they are much more powerful
| than you might expect). I don't know if this is universal
| across hummingbird species/groups, but I'm able get very
| close to them by just patiently standing still by the
| feeder for 10 or 15 minutes, and they'll start
| investigating me.
| anthomtb wrote:
| I have noticed this about hummingbirds as well. We have a
| feeder on our deck and if you are out there when they are
| feeding expect to receive an inspection. I like to think
| the thought in their brain is "are you a flower?"
|
| I've also had a hummingbird come within a few centimeters
| of landing on my hand while mounting biking (stopped, of
| course). I credit my new-at-the-time bright red gloves
| for that interaction.
| bbarnett wrote:
| Most hummingbirds are opportunistic eaters, and also eat
| insects.
|
| Such as knats and such, which love humans.
|
| So they may be looking for a meal, too.
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| I can go outside holding a feeder and as long as I stand
| still, after about a minute the hummers will feed while
| I'm holding the thing. Brave little birds.
| fossuser wrote:
| My sister had one land on her finger and point with its
| head to which flowers it wanted her to move her hand to.
| This was without a feeder, but in an area with lots of
| people around (at a winery).
| quercusa wrote:
| We used to have one that would hover in front of our
| kitchen window when the feeder (at the other end of the
| house) was empty.
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| > _the Bayesian prior ... is very, very low._
|
| Felis Catus: OK, stubclaws, listen up. You're going to toil
| the fields and by the sweat of your brow fill up a barn to
| attract my mice. Got that? Agriculture, Architecture, the
| works? Good. I'd explain to you how to make laser pointers
| for chasing, but I doubt you'd understand ... your kind
| always has to work things out for themselves, anyway. Now
| go forth and do your best to hold this covenant, you
| inflexible hairless monkey.
| lisper wrote:
| You owe me a new keyboard ;-)
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| I have an amateur theory that strange wildlife, unlike
| strange people, are made much more comfortable by avoiding
| eye contact.
|
| Parent comment would explain this observation: predators gaze
| upon their prey.
|
| (flipping the arrows around, I've seen the advice to dance
| tango, not so much with "snappiness" as is popularly
| supposed, but in a predatory manner: slow stalking,
| interspersed with rapid pounces)
| eyelidlessness wrote:
| This is definitely true for dogs/canids, eye contact is a
| signal of dominance and/or aggression. It's common advice
| to soften your glance if you're approaching an unfamiliar
| or potentially aggressive dog. It's also helpful to make
| _more direct_ eye contact when establishing you're in
| charge when training them.
|
| I've also noticed with many birds that they prefer indirect
| attention. This includes not just eye contact, but pointing
| a camera (or really anything) in their direction. Which
| unfortunately means I have very little photographic
| evidence of the many times I've had birds just hanging
| around being pleasant companions for a while.
| naniwaduni wrote:
| > unlike strange people
|
| and ... like ... non-strange people?
| aidenn0 wrote:
| Every bird I've interacted with prefers when I look at it
| from one side, or barring that, closing an eye; I think two
| eyes on it screams "predator"
| godelski wrote:
| I talk to them and throw cashews at them from my balcony. They
| have gotten pretty close in a matter of weeks, despite having a
| cat (she is scared of them tbh and I think they know). I also
| leave some nuts on the railing near my back door for them to
| grab (make sure they watch me place them) so they can get them
| when I go inside (my cat loves watching this and the little
| birds). Though sometimes they do a quick grab if there's some
| distance. It really is a lot of fun and to watch their behavior
| patterns. For example, there will often only be one or two on
| the ground and checking things out while more in the trees or
| roofs. Once they realize those two are not dying from the food
| you feed there's a few caws and more come down. The spotters
| are the ones that make the quick grabs at my railing and it
| took a bit for this to happen so I think they trust me some. In
| a different place I lived one crow came right up to me, just
| out of arm's reach, for sunflower seeds. They really are smart
| and friendly creatures. They'll even talk back a bit.
| h4x0rr wrote:
| I misread the entire thread as cows instead of crows. I was
| wondering how cows are supposed to hop on fence rails xD
| fossuser wrote:
| If you have a pet parrot you can get a more personal glimpse of
| their intelligence. We have a cockatiel and it's interesting to
| get to know another intelligent species from a different branch
| of the tree.
| macawfish wrote:
| People are upvoting this after watching "It's a Wonderful Life"
| yesterday I see
| 11235813213455 wrote:
| All strategies here are about food, I don't think feeding any
| kind of wild animals is good
| Tepix wrote:
| We wouldn't have non-wild animals if noone had started feeding
| them.
| astrange wrote:
| IIRC dogs may have domesticated themselves by coming to visit
| us to eat our poop, not our hand feeding.
| Cupertino95014 wrote:
| I realize that all this is conjectural, but:
|
| Why is that more likely than just "eating the bones, skin,
| feet, and other animal parts the humans didn't eat" ?
|
| Either is more likely than "hand feeding" since that takes
| a pretty tamed animal.
| voakbasda wrote:
| In many places it is now outright illegal to feed wildlife.
| Humanity's period of whole species domestication has passed.
| Nomentatus wrote:
| Turns out it's okay nutritionally to feed ducks (for example)
| fresh (thawed frozen) peas. Just not bread. Changing their
| habits might be a different consideration.
| asdf123wtf wrote:
| Yea, generally when people feed animals it is harmful to the
| animal or potentially dangerous for humans in a variety of ways
| or you turn the animals into pests.
|
| Is there something special about crows where these things
| aren't so much a factor?
| fzeroracer wrote:
| I think a lot of it is the high intelligence of crows. If you
| feed say, wild deer or other animals they become dependent on
| humans to survive or end up sticking around human areas.
| Crows are already everywhere and their intelligence means
| that if the food source stops, they can still just do their
| thing. It doesn't disrupt the ecosystem though it can make
| them into an annoyance for neighbors.
|
| The more we learn about crows, their behaviors etc the more
| we realize that we severely understate their intelligence
| with each new finding.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| Also crows can tell humans apart, so feeding crows makes
| them less afraid of _you_ while feeding other animals can
| make them less afraid of all humans.
| asmor wrote:
| Crows are generally a pest inhibitor, given that they will
| eat carrion before less desirable "pests" like rats get to
| it.
|
| They also already are adopted to living in human cities.
| Usually in parks where they can do some traditional hunting
| intermixed with trash collecting and some direct feeding. But
| they are usually not reliant on the later and will move on in
| Winter if the other sources dry up.
| geocrasher wrote:
| When I tried to befriend the neighborhood crows, my wife took
| pity on me and got me a cat as a gift.
| futuretaint wrote:
| i fed a few blocks of crows for 4 years. mostly dry cat food.
| each block had a unique family group and they swoop down in
| succession, hop over and i'd stand there and watch them eat for a
| bit. I also saw a crow funeral once and I stopped a crow dive
| bombing run (on other pedestrians).
| joe__f wrote:
| I saved a blackbird's life once.
|
| He was flying low across the road near my house and I saw him get
| hit by a car. So I went over to stand in the road and make sure
| the other cars coming drove around him, and I picked him up. One
| of his eyes was bloody where he'd been hit, and he was stunned
| and very distressed. I kind of just knew what to do, I held him
| in my hands by the side of the road for a few minutes which I
| think helped him calm down from the shock, and then he jumped
| down and sat for a bit when he was ready. I stayed and watched
| him for a while, but I could tell he'd had enough after a bit so
| I just left him.
|
| I didn't see him fly away but I don't think his things were
| broken and he wasn't there the next morning. I guess he probably
| only had one working eye, I don't know how well birds manage with
| only one eye. Maybe he didn't make it but I hope he did, and I'm
| sure he would've been stuck shocked and panicking in the road
| until he got flattened without my help.
|
| It was cool.
| seunosewa wrote:
| I feel bad to have to say that he may have been snacked on by a
| predator. If he could fly, he would probably have flown while
| you were there.
| wan_ala wrote:
| Excuse my ignorance, but what type of animal would eat a
| crow?
| tacotime wrote:
| A raccoon can definitely kill and eat (part of) a chicken
| so I'd imagine a crow could be on the menu. Or a coyote. Or
| a possum or bear. There are vids of deer eating birds and
| other animals.
| pierrec wrote:
| So I've done a lot of volunteering at a bird refuge (LPO Ile
| Grande). Birds hit by traffic get something similar to shock
| and will sometimes recover and fly again just by resting for
| some time, which can range from seconds to days. Unless they
| have broken bones, in which case they're toast. So I'd say it's
| possible that your bird survived. More likely it didn't, but
| there is hope.
| loudthing wrote:
| "How to befriend crows", also known as "how to get away with a
| murder".
| keeptrying wrote:
| I live in the Oakland hills so our living room is at the height
| where birds fly.
|
| Over the last 5 years I've realized that there are a pair of
| crows which essentially own the airspace above our house and in
| front of it.
|
| Each time a hawk or owl or crane flies into this airspace, it
| will be hounded by these 2 crows. And it happens pretty often.
|
| (One of the crows only has 1 leg - that's why I know its the same
| 2 each time. We've named him Blackbeard.)
|
| I imagine there is so much of nature we just blindly miss.
| Nomentatus wrote:
| I've seen a woodpecker (I think it was) and a crow combine to
| challenge a falcon, in Edmonton repeatedly; although not in the
| air. The competition was for tree tops in the ravine and lasted
| a while with the smaller birds zooming up to harrass the
| sitting falcon then diving down to lower perches the falcon had
| trouble getting at. Eventually the falcon had enough and left.
| PreInternet01 wrote:
| Just from my experience as a cyclist in Amsterdam, crows are
| amazingly intelligent. They actually participate in traffic, and
| know the difference between bicycles, motor vehicles and light
| rail (they will get out of the way just-in-time for the first
| two, and happily ignore the latter if they're outside the profile
| of the train set).
|
| Pigeons, on the other hand, are the species that gave birth to
| the term 'bird brain'. They will happily sit in front of oncoming
| traffic forever, then take evasive action that is, like, the
| opposite of the optimal strategy...
| jimmaswell wrote:
| Waiting until the last second and zigzagging out of the way
| works on animal predators, just not manmade machines
| arcturus17 wrote:
| Pigeons may be dumb as bricks but I've never seen one hit by a
| car. When I'm driving I think I'm going to hit them but they
| always bail. Credit where credit is due!
| blippage wrote:
| I've been trying to befriend crows, but it's a slow process. When
| I go for a walk I usually take a rich tea biscuit with me. I put
| it on a post where a crow sometimes rests.
|
| At first, it was more-or-less luck as to who and when a crow
| found it. But they began to catch on, and I'm pretty sure at
| least one was waiting for me. They were either on the post, or
| nearby. They fly off when you approach, of course. But they get
| the idea, and I know they're watching. I try to step back, but
| they need quite a large distance before they'll try to take the
| biscuit. Crows seem to know that humans are always up to
| something. The probably know that it's always plans within plans
| when it comes to those damn hairless apes. Is he really being
| generous, or is he running some inscrutable psyop?
|
| The problem is that I haven't been consistent the last few days,
| so the crows lose interest.
|
| A few days ago, mind, there was a crow sitting on the fence a few
| feet from the house. He flew off as I left the house, but he
| didn't seem particularly alarmed. He flew up to the top of a
| conifer quite a few yards away. But I knew he was watching. So I
| put a biscuit on a post and went for a walk. When I came back the
| biscuit was gone.
|
| I guess what I like about crows is that they're really smart, so
| you're always left wondering as to how much they've cottoned on
| to and how much of it is just blind coincidence.
| arbitrage wrote:
| It's an order of magnitude easier to befriend crows in the
| city, as opposed to the country. The more rural you are
| located, the more time it will take you to befriend a crow.
|
| The first one is the hardest. They'll start bringing friends,
| eventually. They like they rituals and consistency -- you've
| already discovered this. They also lose interest if you don't
| keep it up regularly.
|
| Don't look straight at crows, they don't like it at all. When
| they're ready to be your friend, they'll put themselves into
| your field of vision. I was able to communicate vocally with
| crows and get them to respond before they were comfortable
| being face-to-face friends with me.
| raffraffraff wrote:
| I've noticed the face-to-face thing too.
|
| My mother had been feeding birds for a while. The local crows
| quickly realized that she's a soft-touch, so they sit on the
| garden fence outside her window. If she sees them, she throws
| something to them. It started with one female bird who
| eventually brought her young. She would take treats and feed
| them to her annoyingly loud offspring before eventually
| having something for herself. My mother got a kick out of
| this. The matriarch would eventually come to her window and
| tap on it. But if my mother looked at her directly she'd fly
| back to the fence. But she could open the window
| "nonchalantly" and throw treats without scaring her off as
| long as she didn't look straight at her. Other crows have
| noticed this. She now has a dozen or so hanging around. The
| original bird sits looking into her bedroom window in the
| morning waiting for her to get out of bed, and then flies
| around to the kitchen to tap on it. You see, there's
| competition now.
| jimmaswell wrote:
| A raven flies over my house every day. It would be interesting to
| try attracting it. It's never been interested in my feeder
| though.
| [deleted]
| starkd wrote:
| First read this as "how to befriend cows". So, inevitably
| surprised on visiting the site!
| geocrasher wrote:
| Oh man, cows are awesome. They're smart, lovable, and even
| playful. And when they reach a certain age, they're even
| _edible_. What 's not to love?
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| For milk cattle, depending upon gender, that age may be
| sooner rather than later. cf milanesa/schnitzel/chicken fried
| steak.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_schnitzel
| [deleted]
| baeaz wrote:
| I was under the impression that, like chicken, cows became
| _less_ edible as time passed?
| Cupertino95014 wrote:
| I don't think his comment meant "edibility rises linearly
| with age." I think it meant "it reaches a peak" and
| implicitly "and then declines from there."
| geocrasher wrote:
| Exactly.
| Lio wrote:
| There's only one way to get to the bottom of this...
| we're going to have to have eat a _lot_ of crows.
|
| No arguments now, this is science damn it!
| Cupertino95014 wrote:
| He said "cows" not "crows."
|
| Although you can open up a new branch of Science.
| Nomentatus wrote:
| Having heard stories of my homesteading great-grandparents
| being chased 'round and 'round their sod house by a steer
| while screaming at their significant other to "open the **ing
| door, for **'* sake!" I'm gonna stick with befriending crows.
|
| (Cows give birth to steers, that's what not to like.)
| starkd wrote:
| yes, I'd rather befriend a cow than a crow. Who's going to do
| the blog post?
| cultofmetatron wrote:
| ME TOO!!
| parentheseus wrote:
| Advice/Accounts on how to befriend crows has been submitted
| here in the past, but there hasn't been anything regarding
| cows, unfortunately.
|
| https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| IMX cows (they are all domestic, locally) treat anyone with
| thumbs as a potential source of food.
|
| They like licking hands and under-the-chin or cheek
| scritches; move slowly and talk, and if they're skeptical try
| crouching to make yourself smaller. (but don't make mothers
| suspect you're after their calves!)
|
| Anyone know about bison?
| Cupertino95014 wrote:
| Unless they're domestic bison, it's probably illegal to
| approach them. And unwise.
| IntrepidWorm wrote:
| Oddly enough, cows seem to enjoy big band and jazz.
|
| https://youtu.be/lXKDu6cdXLI
|
| Now that's some cultured dairy!
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| With other wildlife, changing silhouette can make a big
| difference in approach bubbles. Being in a kayak or on a horse
| allows much closer approach before flight.
|
| Does anyone know if the same goes for corvids?
| jmann99999 wrote:
| Interacting with birds has been so wonderful for my family.
|
| We live in the mountains in North America. We were tearing down
| and replacing our deck when the builders came upon a nest with
| multiple eggs (finch eggs). Thankfully the builders asked us what
| to do.
|
| Our family decided to do some quick research, build a birdhouse
| within 10 meters of the previous nest, and put the eggs inside.
| We were able to watch as the mother bird found her eggs and cared
| for them through their hatching.
|
| Years later, so many of them come back every Spring. It makes us
| smile and wonder what would have happened if we wouldn't have
| moved those eggs a decade ago. I'd like to attribute how friendly
| the birds seem to be to some sort of anthropomorphism, but that
| is probably not the case.
|
| Regardless, even the "most basic" birds are wonderful.
| Jackson12 wrote:
| Crow Tech Slaps
| tasty_freeze wrote:
| My wife set up a bird feeder on our floor to ceiling glass
| windows in our living room -- it is a plexiglass module with
| suction cups. It was nice seeing the birds, but it was really
| entertaining watching the squirrels trying to get the food.
|
| At first she tried to thwart the them, but in no time started
| recognizing the squirrels as individuals and noticing their
| personality and behavioral differences, and gave them names.
| After that, she stopped buying birdseed and began stocking the
| feeder with various nuts, and setting up some ramps and jumping
| obstacles, but not to any crazy level, just something to watch.
|
| They recognized her as the person that fills the feeder with
| nuts. Once she tried hand feeding them it took only a couple
| weeks for the first brave one, then other squirrels didn't want
| to be left out and came up to her too. When the feeder goes
| empty, they'll stand on it and peer into the living room to see
| if she is around. Once they make eye contact, they hop down and
| run to the door to get fed.
|
| My wife has some chronic health issues that mostly keep her
| housebound, except for doctor appointments. The squirrels have
| been a godsend -- even on her worst days, the squirrels make her
| smile and bring her joy at random times throughout the day.
| zdragnar wrote:
| > They recognized her as the person that fills the feeder
|
| Even songbirds do this with my parents. If they're outside and
| the feeder is empty, they'll perch on the closest (but not too
| close) spot and squack until my parents move, then they'll
| perch a little closer to the feeder and repeat if my parents
| follow them.
|
| If they're not outside, they'll sit outside the door or even
| fly into the garage if it is open and chirp and squack until
| they come out.
|
| It's amusing and more than a little impressive to see since
| songbirds aren't much associated with intelligence like corvids
| are.
| Jarwain wrote:
| I'm glad these squirrels bring joy to your wife c:
|
| This reminds me of my University days, where peeps would go and
| eat under large banyan trees. There would be a number of
| squirrels who'd hang out and be fed by students, and as a
| result these squirrels would get gutsy. A friend had a squirrel
| leap onto their table and steal fries while they weren't
| looking!
| sound1 wrote:
| Loved it! Hope she gets better soon bro!
| geocrasher wrote:
| This is just wonderful. I'm so glad that your wife has
| something to keep her going on her bad days. My wife passed
| away at 46 years old, and the years leading up to her death
| were very hard. I learned that sometimes it's the smallest
| things that really bring joy- not _things_. Interacting with
| nature whether by observation or active participation is a
| wonderful thing.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| You might enjoy this story, then:
| https://www.countryliving.com/life/a32668694/former-nasa-eng...
| Zak wrote:
| She might enjoy Mark Rober's squirrel obstacle course series on
| Youtube.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgeXOVaJo_gl1ZIpbYyPR...
| kstenerud wrote:
| Reminds me of the Twirl-A-Squirrel bird feeder. It usually
| works, but sometimes there are some VERY tenacious squirrels!
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDa_cpgHWs
| status200 wrote:
| I play bamboo flute and started playing the same song after
| feeding a crow that would come by my house, now I can just play
| the song and I will hear the crow respond from far away and then
| quickly fly over.
| fencepost wrote:
| And if you want to do the opposite, consider wearing a very
| realistic Trump mask while you throw rocks at seagulls outside
| Mar-A-Lago.
| cc101 wrote:
| Steller Jays are also approachable. I'm a camp host. One started
| aggressively seeking food from campers. I took a close look at it
| and saw the one of the recent forest fires had damaged its
| feathers. It was desperate for food. I respected that bird. It
| did what it had to do to survive. I started feeding it. Next year
| when I returned to the campground, it showed up within an hour
| calling for food, and its feathers had been replaced.
| sacnoradhq wrote:
| Corvids must be Irish. ;) They have long memories and do exhibit
| cooperative behaviors with other species. I've watched quasi-
| documentaries first-hand accounts about this phenom on YT.
|
| They're also quite socially/situationally adept. A crow snuck
| into my mechanic's garage and stole a bag of sunflower seeds on
| top of a rolling toolbox about 30 ft / 10 m into the building
| without being seen. They then proceeded to take their loot back
| to their murder and had a sunflower seed party in the alley.
| phillc73 wrote:
| My Mum did this with magpies in Australia. She lives alone in a
| small rural town and started feeding these two magpies, that
| seemed to like her garden, with small pieces of meat.
|
| Over the course of a couple of years, the magpie pair even
| brought their chicks along for a free feed. At one point there
| were six or seven regular breakfast guests.
|
| One of the original magpies would practically eat our of my
| mother's hand, the other wasn't quite so bold.
|
| Sadly, they stopped coming at one point. My mum heard from a
| neighbour that a large number of local birds, including magpies,
| had been poisoned. I guess that's what happened to them.
| Lio wrote:
| That's pretty cool. Aussie magpies have a ferocious
| reputation[1] so kudos to your Mum.
|
| We have lots of magpies where I live and I've always wanted to
| make friends with them but they're both timid and obviously
| pretty smart so very hard to get near here.
|
| 1. https://gplama.com/2022/09/01/the-worst-magpies-ive-ever-
| enc...
| dilap wrote:
| Does it work with grackles? I'd really love to befriend a grackle
| or two.
| erikig wrote:
| I didn't know what grackles were, so I did a quick Google
| search and encountered my avian nemeses!
|
| These bastards are such a nuisance that they've made me fear
| birds. During their nesting season they'll repeatedly dive bomb
| innocent walkers-by and threaten to peck at their ears.
|
| Any tips to appease these fascists of the sky would be
| appreciated.
| zxcvbn4038 wrote:
| You probably don't want to befriend grackles - they are
| absolutely magnificent to look at but they crap twice their
| weight every hour, they chirp to each other around the clock,
| and if you are feeding them they will bring dozens or hundreds
| of their closest friends to the party, and they won't leave.
| modzu wrote:
| tl dr feed them
| brigandish wrote:
| I wish I'd read your comment before clicking through as I
| could've saved the time, little as it was. That has to be one
| of the lowest quality posts I've ever seen on HN.
| [deleted]
| mynameisvlad wrote:
| Seriously? How long could it possibly have taken you, a
| minute? It's like 4 Twitter-sized posts. That's under 1000
| characters. Also, just because it didn't interest you doesn't
| mean it's not an interesting topic; it clearly is otherwise
| it wouldn't have made it to the front page or gotten dozens
| of comments.
|
| The same logic could be applied to your comment:
|
| I could've saved the time, little as it was. That has to be
| one of the lowest quality comments I've ever seen on HN.
| dgacmu wrote:
| Sometimes it's about the journey. The original post is full of
| exceptional photos of crows and fun anecdotes that go way
| beyond the simple answer to the thread title.
| modzu wrote:
| agree, the photos are really good and seem to capture a piece
| of their individual personalities. i just got a bit of a
| chuckle at the title, because you can befriend any animal
| with this one simple trick ;)
| pjmlp wrote:
| Including fellow humans. :)
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| > _"There are three possible parts to a date, of which at
| least two must be offered: entertainment, food, and
| affection. It is customary to begin a series of dates
| with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount of
| food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the
| amount of affection increases, the entertainment can be
| reduced proportionately. When the affection IS the
| entertainment, we no longer call it dating. Under no
| circumstances can the food be omitted."_ -- JM
| shrimpx wrote:
| My neighbor befriended a crow, and was recently asking around
| about how to _un_ befriend the crow, who has become a nuisance
| stealing every object it could carry from their back porch.
| jimnotgym wrote:
| Run at it clapping, try to grab it...or take a shot at it. I
| think the crow will soon cotton on
| dhosek wrote:
| When I was in first grade, in the wake of a particularly big year
| of cicadas, the area around my school and home was overwhelmed
| with large numbers of crows and ravens. In fall, the numbers were
| so high that they became somewhat aggressive and on multiple
| occasions came to the windows of the school and pecked at them,
| which was, unsurprisingly, an event that could disrupt classroom
| activity for at least half an hour at a time.
| allenbrunson wrote:
| i kind of love the fact that posting fediverse links on hacker
| news is coming to be almost as common as posting twitter links.
| and i already read this, because one of the mastodon accounts i
| follow boosted this into my timeline.
|
| all hail decentralized social media!
| superkuh wrote:
| I just wish there were an html interface to read mastadon
| posts. Something like nitter.net is for twitter. Right now to
| read them I have to use the general RSS feed and then find the
| post. And the .rss feature is only available on some
| implementations of mastadon.
|
| https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom/109571409346371116 ->
| https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom.rss
|
| My browser displays RSS natively well enough. It just can't
| display mastadon pages even with JS on because it's old.
|
| The api interface through
| https://fediscience.org/api/v1/statuses/109571409346371116 is
| handy but it doesn't seem to give the full post.
| senthilnayagam wrote:
| from India, my wife feeds squirrels, crows and pigeon on kitchen
| window, they recognise her and wait for her to put food.my wife
| only feeds them freshly cooked food or raw rice and they have
| varied taste. they kind of avoid me as I am stranger to them.
| jalada wrote:
| Cute. My parents' house has, for a few years now, been plagued by
| crows attacking the windows in the early hours of the morning,
| dive-bombing them, standing outside them screaming, pecking them,
| etc. If they're not attacking the house they're on the roof or in
| nearby trees screaming.
|
| The closest to a solution has been to cover every window with
| outside blinds to at least stop them smashing into them.
|
| I stayed with them for a few months and was woken up by this
| every morning without fail. Honestly, it was pretty distressing.
|
| I love birds and feed them in our garden, but I wouldn't want to
| encourage crows to follow me around after that.
| ankraft wrote:
| Two crows. Rick and Two Crows.
| jcpst wrote:
| I'll take it over a Morty any day.
| visitect wrote:
| My wife and I have successfully befriended the crows that inhabit
| my neighborhood. When we first moved into our home a few years
| ago, I would leave various nuts - and sometimes bits of
| unfinished bacon - on the back fence when I would see them
| perched on the neighbor's (tall) home. I would make a clicking
| noise with my tongue and call out to them in a friendly voice.
| Then I would retreat to the house and watch from the windows. It
| didn't take very long at all for them to learn this routine.
| After a few weeks, as soon as I would "click" one would swoop
| down from the high perch and land on a nearby post and wait for
| me to leave the treats. Another would keep watch.
|
| Now it feels like we are old friends. If they happen to be around
| when we pop out of the house, one will vocalize and come near.
| Others show up soon after. My wife chats with them and leaves
| various snacks. They really love peanut butter sandwiches! I kid
| my wife about how much she spoils the crows with the peanut
| butter, but she just laughs about her "extra shiny" crows.
| mulmen wrote:
| Why though? There are dozens of crows in my neighborhood. If I
| befriend crows will they come to expect food from me? What about
| the pigeons and seagulls? Will they come to resent me?
|
| My policy on neighborhood birds has always been neutrality.
| Cupertino95014 wrote:
| If you were an administrator in a large, elite university,
| you'd see this as a golden opportunity to establish the
| Committee on Corvid Policy.
| drakonka wrote:
| Neutrality might be a smart choice in a suburban neighborhood
| unless you like the idea of guard crows:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/ki6fnd/oregon_...
| philwelch wrote:
| You can eventually train crows to bring you stuff. I've read
| stories of crows being trained to deliver money or cigarettes.
| My favorite was a guy who used to hang out with crows on his
| balcony when he smoked, and he had to move when he quit smoking
| because the crows would just bring him packs of cigarettes.
| Reason077 wrote:
| I first read the headline as "how to befriend _cows_ ", and that
| seemed a lot more interesting!
|
| I'm no friend of crows (specifically, magpies), having been
| attacked by them in the past. They're also considered a non-
| native, invasive species in my country.
| eyelidlessness wrote:
| I haven't made a point to befriend crows, but I've very much made
| a point to establish mutual trust and respect. When I moved my
| pup from Saint Paul (which had surprisingly few if any crows)
| back to my long time home of Seattle (which, I've only since
| learned, if famous for its crows), I had to teach pup not to
| chase crows. She actually has learned the difference between
| crows (and Steller's jays) and other birds.
|
| And the crows definitely know us. And recognized us when we moved
| to another neighborhood. They know we give them a wide berth if
| they're doing their thing on the ground whenever we can, crossing
| the road or splitting the middle wherever possible. And they
| calmly move aside when they see that we can't. Sometimes one will
| see us and (I think) find a perch to announce our approach to the
| others. At first this seemed like a warning, but now it feels
| more like a friendly heads up.
|
| I don't regularly give them food, but I did sometimes leave
| little stuff for them at a designated place outside my last
| house. It was an accident the first time, I had left a little cup
| of salsa out on top of my yard/food waste bin and forgotten it
| was there until I saw a crow fly off with it. After that, any
| deliberate offering left there was swept up within minutes.
|
| I'd like to make better friends with them, but most of my
| encounters are with pup in tow. While she definitely understands
| they're different than other birds, she still needs fairly strict
| control to keep her behaved while we pass by. So friendly respect
| at a distance feels more appropriate.
| cainxinth wrote:
| > _It 's probably not good for them, but they adore cheetos._
|
| I can relate
| zxcvbn4038 wrote:
| If seagulls are in your area, put some Cheetos on your dash
| board, press record, know the location of the nearest carwash.
| asmor wrote:
| If you want a healthy snack for crows that they adore, my local
| murders (~100 crows) go absolutely nuts for cashews. We put
| them at the bottom of our peanut can, because as soon as we get
| the cashews out they will outright refuse peanuts and forego
| any sort of social etiquette and sometimes even try to steal
| from each other, so we only start feeding them cashews when
| most of the murder is sated.
| macrolime wrote:
| Once when I visiting a friend I heard someone saying hello, hello
| outside the window. I looked out and couldn't see anyone. Then I
| saw this crow standing there and it said hello again.
|
| Turns out one of my friends neighbors used to feed the crows and
| taught one of them to say hello like a parrot.
| 0xmarcin wrote:
| I grow up in a small village in eastern europe. It is amazing
| that you can befriend most of the animals. Chickens are too
| primitive for that, but cows turned out to be quite intelligent.
| You can do it the same as with crows, but you should start with a
| younger animal. You may bring a young cow something to eat and
| after some time it will recognize you. And they really love to be
| hand carded (this thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carding).
| Also remember that cows are quite dangerous (as most of the huge
| farm animals).
| voakbasda wrote:
| Cows can indeed be dangerous. We raise a few dairy cows here;
| they know us and eat out of our hands. When one of our 1000lb
| girls was in heat, she tried to mount my wife, and it was sheer
| luck that she escaped with only a sore leg.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| There's two blue jays that live in the forest my house is in. A
| squirrel was once giving them a hard time. They were on the fence
| squawking away as the squirrel kept rushing them then retreating.
| I let one of my cats out who executed the perfect hunt on the
| squirrel that had no clue my cat was there. After ten mins of
| proud trotting and wanting inside, I convinced my cat to drop the
| squirrel, which ran off.
|
| I want to say this was the beginning of a jay/cat alliance but
| nothing came of it. The jays are around all summer though which
| is nice.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-12-26 23:00 UTC)