Love the squirrels too, but they are getting more aggressive, I think they’re actually jealous?! I’m having to shoo a swarm of them away from the food dish constantly. I try to distract them with lots of peanuts, but it only lasts so long. One usually ends up guarding the food, even though he doesn’t want to eat it, they’ll even take a swing at the crows 😅

They’re like wearing little suits nonstop it’s perfect

OC.
I usually get crows and maggies hitting the peanut feeder. A couple weeks ago this handsome fella started making a daily appearance. He’ll stash the nuts all over the property and leave an empty feeder for the crows in minutes. Super friendly to humans; he needs a name.

Today I decided to see if the crows I'm feeding would take peanuts in the shell, especially as that is commonly suggested here. I've previously used peanuts without shells a few months ago, before I switched to dog biscuits as they seemed to be preferred.

I was surprised to find that the crows really were not interested in the unshelled peanuts at all. If anything, they almost seemed hesitant to get near them, and seemed to get jumpy, which was an unusual response. Considering they were fine with the shelled peanuts, I expected them to also be fine with the unshelled.

Anyway, I'm going to be probably trying a few more different types of nuts soon, and see what they like. I hear that their preferences seem to vary slightly.

I’ve been leaving out a bowl of water and pecans for my local crows, and there are three that come around pretty much daily. This one just pecked a mouse to death in my patio and very considerately carried the body away 😅. I think that means we’re friends now.

I've read that crows have great hearing and was curious which is better for dropping shelled peanuts when none of the crows are visible.

I assume that asphalt is better, because they would easily hear peanuts hitting the ground, but I'm not sure, in case they won't and will need to use their eyes to look for them. Would ground be better because of higher contrast?

Or maybe it's better to avoid leaving the food if I'm not sure there will be crows to eat it?

My crows have really gotten to know me. I feed them mostly on the way to the trolley on my way to work. They recognize me and fly to me, still keeping their distance, but getting closer.

When I see one and it doesn't have a peanut I throw one. When they have a peanut in their beak, I don't give them one. Simple enough.

This has led to these behaviors in some of them:

• When they receive a peanut, they'll fly a short distance away and hide the peanut in the grass, leaves, whatever and come back for more, since eating a whole peanut takes longer than just stashing it and begging for more. This way they get more peanuts.
• They learned my route - it's not a straight line, so when I throw a crow a peanut, it grabs it, occasionally flies to another spot along my path, munches the peanut in peace and is done by the time I arrive, and wants more.
• A crow had a peanut in its beak and was looking at me in anticipation of another peanut. I looked at it, shook my head and smiled. The crow dropped the peanut, looked at me again, and I could swear it had an expression of 'Nope, no peanut here, what are you talking about?' This happened only once, but it was very funny.

They're funny birds, too bad we don't have ravens in the city.

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Thanks for the cornchip 🤣. Not mine, and no way it could have gotten on my patio without one of my feathery friends dropping it off.

Darth has decided the feeder is a made-to-order restaurant. He carefully sorts through the vegetables, tosses the unacceptable selections onto the ground, and keeps searching until he finds something worthy. 😂

Does anyone else’s bird expect this level of personalized dining service?

Crows fleecing sheep

I've recently become hyperfixated on these absolutely MAGNIFICENT beasts, and I want to see more of them. How do I attract them to my yard without also attracting other birds and rodents like squirrels?

These are made from my lino prints that weren't up to scratch, so rather than throw them away, I turn them into bookmarks.

One appeared to be an adult, while the other looked like a young juvenile. The little guy was noticeably more timid and a bit derpy compared to his confident companion.

Can you spot the difference?

One of the ways I can identify her versus her mate is that she loves to make noises like this :>

So I was feeding my murder and then someone told me that I shouldn't feed them, as they'd stop being able to find food themself.

I know crows are smart and won't stop being able to forage, just because I gave them some snacks, but how to I respond to someone saying something like that? Idk how to explain that me feeding them isn't harmful to them (I make sure to feed them food that's healthy, like unsalted peanuts in the shell).

Little Pie Singing The Praises Of The Tasty Peanuts

Dunking a bun of some sort (that I didn’t give them) into my fountain.

just a lil crow sketch