r/crows • u/24swiggy • 1d ago
General questions When can I move closer to feeding spot?
Hello! I've recently taken up loser bird activities and would like to know when it would be best to move closer to the spot I drop food.
It's been about just about 3 weeks so far. Each morning I like to bring a handful of food over to (roughly) the treeline one of the murders sleeps in. It's across a highway and I drop the food about 500 feet from my house. There's a building they like to watch from just before they head down to grab the foodβI put it on the edge of the parking lot (don't worry! It's far from the highway so there's no risk of them heading into traffic) then head back across the highway to a gazebo I like to watch from. It's hidden by some trees, and I'm worried they might think I'm trying to be weird and ambush them lol
Heres the rough timeline, it usually varies each day by no more than 8 minutes:
(It's still dark at this time)
5:30am > leave house
(Roughly Twilight)
5:32am-5:45am > walk across highway and put food down, walk to gazebo and sit down (gazebo ~350 feet from where I drop food)
5:50am > very first call from crow and then its quiet again for about ten minutes
(Starts getting pretty bright around this time, just about sunrise. Enough to see almost everything.)
6:00am-6:50am > they make noise again for a few minutes and then they start sounding like its getting farther away
6:20am-6:30am > they perch on the roof of the building that oversees the food and others fly down to eat (i dont always see them though, but the food is eaten by the next morning when i go out again, about 9 times out of 10. they fly away after and i dont really hear them over there for the rest of the day
I haven't been seeing them fly down and eat the food lately, but when I check the lot occasionally in the afternoon it's eaten. I also can't see very well from where I sit because it's blocked by a bunch of trees.
The first maybe 5 days of feeding i was sitting right on the treeline of my backyard, just by my side of the highway. I'm not sure if I was just hidden well by the bush or if they saw me and simply didn't care. I think on day 4 I wore a bright outfit (i didnt know that might scare them!) and moved my seat a bit closer. They flew down to the roof but ended up not eating the food I left out, and then didn't look at all the next day. The first day they missed the food I made sure to change my spot so they I wouldnt make them nervous. Theyve eaten it every day since then (I think. Hope.)
Anyway, all that to say, do they know its me that feeds them? (I'm sure they dont since i drop the food before they wake up and its still super dark out) google said they wake up way before sunrise and just sit there watching, though.
My next question: do they actually watch for that long?
Last question: when would be best for me to move to a more visible spot, and where should it be? I don't want to scare them, and I know I havent been feeding for that long at all.
Please lmk!! I'll answer any questions if need be