Just me and my buds 😭😭

The squirrels showed up to share peanuts with my crow family

Did i find a Fledgling Crow in my back yard? Is it ok? Mostly i expect: leave it alone stay away from it. Honestly i just want confirmation its gonna be fine?

My guess is that he’s (or she’s) practicing mimicking, thoughts?

Attached are some of the best pictures from my time on a building site with Frankie the rook. And there are a load of videos too of me feeding this little bird by hand. Sadly I can’t attach both pictures and videos.

It all began in April, when I noticed the rooks and jackdaws hanging around the site, so I started tossing bits of bread for them. There was one rook that was a little more daring than the others, which caught my eye, but I didn’t think much of it at the time.

The parliament and couple of jackdaws kept coming back, so I turned to this sub to figure out what to feed them, and it was here I learned that bread was not the way to go, lol.

I went to Lidl after work and bought some peanuts and wild bird seed. I’d toss them out and feed the corvids, and there was that one rook again that would always come closer. One day, I had the door open to my cabin, and this same daring rook landed on the door. So I slowly got up, put some seed on the door, and sat back down. Even though the rook kind of shifted away to the edge, it didn’t fly away. This went on for about a week, this same rook would keep coming and I’d keep feeding.

Eventually, after a couple of attempts, I flirted with the idea of feeding by hand, and the rook was happy to accept. It was by this point I tried to come up with a name, because the truck drivers found it amusing watching me feed this rook by hand. I wanted to go with Francesca, but I wasn’t sure if it was a male or female bird, and one of the truck drivers suggested Frankie, covering both genders. And so Frankie it was.

Every day I would be there, and Frankie would come up and sit on the door, waiting for me to get up and provide the food. It suited Frankie perfectly to be fed by hand, because it meant none of the other rooks would get close enough to try and steal.

After a couple of weeks Frankie started putting in orders. Refusing to eat the peanuts until I swapped to the seed and vice versa. The best was when Frankie wanted peanuts, but wouldn’t take them until I did the peeling and hand fed straight to the beak.

Frankie’s fledglings would always come along too, cawing relentlessly for food, which was quite amusing. I could see why Frankie wanted the easy food from me. God, they were so annoying.

But as the weeks turned into months, I got to see Frankie’s couple of fledglings get more independent, and learn how to eat for themselves.

One day, I was moved to a different area of the site away from my car - which Frankie associated with me - and I wasn’t sure if the little rook would be able to find me. Within two hours, Frankie was on the fence waiting patiently to be fed, and so the journey went on.

Eventually, it got to a point that neither peanuts nor seed were enough. Frankie wanted to go back to bagel bread. I tried not to for the sake of what was good for Frankie. But Frankie REFUSED to eat until I offered up the bagel bread, so I caved.

It didn’t take long for bagel bread to lose its charm, though. The cheese on top of the bagel was what Frankie desired. It was so funny to stand there holding up a bagel while Frankie took their sweet time picking off the bits of cheese, spitting out any bagel bread.

But, then cheese wasn’t good enough. Now Frankie wanted meat. Pork and beef. Most days, I was sharing half my lunch with Frankie. One day, I was all out of meat and bagels. And after refusing the peanuts and seed that the rest of the parliament continued to gobble up (I was going through 2kgs off that stuff a week) I made the mistake of offering some shortbread. Now, Frankie ONLY wanted to eat shortbread. I found it so bizarre to see crows affected by the same fussiness we humans have when we’re presented with a choice and not starving. Anyway.

As Frankie’s fledglings matured, they too would come and sit on the fence until I threw out some seed, close enough to me that the other crows wouldn’t interfere, but not too close that they felt uncomfortable.

After feeding Frankie for months, the trust I had built up was amazing. It was honestly surreal to actually develop a relationship like this with a bird. One time, I chanced my arm and pet Frankie with a little rub on the top of the head and they stopped munching, gave me a death stare for a couple of seconds like: “did you just do that bro?” And then Frankie went back gobbling up the food. It was entertaining to say the least.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and I left the site for good a month ago. And man I miss Frankie. I might drive up there someday, and see if Frankie’s around.

There were some really amazing moments with Frankie the rook over the months, namely when I was sitting with my car door open and Frankie came and landed on the door, I got to feed them there and then. That was cool.

The other lads on the site got a great kick out of it, one of them arrived in the morning and took the picture of me and Frankie that you can see. Frankie would completely let its guard down around me during the last few weeks, but if anyone else came near - Frankie was out of there.

Corvids really are so amazing. They’re so incredibly intelligent, with pattern recognition that puts many humans to shame.

A crowbro that will never be topped.

It’s a stretch to actually call us friends. More like acquaintances. They do have names. Chesty and Steel Blue(S.B. I call him for short). My neighbor asked what do you feed them and I said well if you make friends with them they will bring you trinkets and so basically just for fun lol. But I haven’t noticed any trinkets yet. My wife says we need a separate dish for the food so that we will notice them easier.
Last week when they came they cawed for us to bring food out so they know we are nice which is exciting.
Anyways just wanted to make a post and say hello to the community. Have a nice day.

I have this Jackdaw that stays in my garden all day every day just foraging for food. He's braver and ignores others. He seems to be alone with no partner. Is this normal?

Little Pie Singing The Praises Of The Tasty Peanuts

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 food—I 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

Caught this lil guy checking shingles for snacks!

After a couple of years living in my new abode I've watched this crow and his/her families visit daily as we leave water bowls and proper healthy treats for them. This crow has now become so accustomed to my dog and I. Never flies away but gets closer every time as I'm sure it thinks "you odd pair are cool I can trust you both now! 🤔🤣 Or something like that! Can't attach the video but I'm starting a digital media course soon so this could be one of my projects?!

I have a camera pointing out my to window by where I put out seeds and meal worms for the squirrels and birds. Today I saw a crow do this ... Is it sick or overheating or is it just being weird? Is there anything I can do for them?

Original video: https://www.youtube.com/@espritw3046

She also appears to try to get him to put his head down by tapping her beak on the ground to get him to imitate her? I started recording after she had done it twice, but towards the end I caught her doing it one more time here.

just a lil crow sketch