Person Watches Bully Neighbors Get Sweet Revenge, Discovers It’s Done By The Crows They Befriended Earlier
Crows have been captivating our imagination for years, with Hitchcock’s masterpiece “The Birds” (1963) imparting them with exceptional cultural significance. Scientists believe that these birds of the genus Corvus possess incredible mental capacities and are able to solve complex problems, make abstract reasoning, engage in group decision-making and much more.
And one Redditor, Tempthethrowaway, experienced what it is like to befriend them. In a post shared on the Petty Revenge subreddit, they shared how “the day we moved into this apartment complex our across the hall neighbors started bullying us. Why? We parked in the handicap spot next to the sidewalk to the building. Why? I’m handicapped.” Turns out the neighbor liked to illegally park their cars there and the author was a total inconvenience.
“A bunch of nasty letters” started flowing in and a complaint was even filed against the author. This all changed when the Redditor became friends with “a decent sized crow population.” Turns out the new feathered friends were ready to stand up to them.
This person made an online post sharing how they befriended an army of crows, who then defended them against a bully neighbor
Image credits: Qurratul Ayin Sadia (not an actual photo)
If you ever wondered if it’s even possible to befriend crows, John Marzluff, a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington told Bored Panda that’s definitely possible. “Many people that feed them on a regular schedule form close, pet-like relationships,” he said.
Image credits: grendelkhan (not an actual photo)
Not only that, crows are able to recognize people for way longer than you may think. “Our experiment shows recognition for 16 years, but we never left for more than a year at a time,” Marzluff said. He added that they surely recognize our faces. “If you have a strong relationship with the crows and leave for a while and come back I think they would still recognize you, or quickly relearn to count on your for food, etc.”
Image credits: David Jackmanson (not an actual photo)
Crows are capable of recognizing people even if they change clothes and hairstyles. “We had many people in our experiments that dressed differently and were of different ages and shapes but if they wore the face the crows knew they were recognized,” the professor explained and added that changing hair dramatically might fool the crows, but his team of researchers hasn’t looked at that specifically.
“Anything done to harass the crows is remembered,” Marzluff warned. “Throwing a rock at them. Chasing them. Have your dog chase them. All these can cause a bird to scold you with harsh calls and diving.”
“If you pick up an injured or dead crow or a grounded nestling and others see you then they associate you with the danger to that bird and also react aggressively to you in the future. They see you as a potential predator and treat you just as they treat hawks, eagles, owls, and other natural predators,” he explained.
And this is what people had to say about this whole situation
A friend of mine had crows that went to war with some squirrels. The crows would land in her horse corral with food, and before they could eat their full meal, a bunch of squirrels would run at the crows, and make them fly off, and steal the food. Well, one day, as my friend was watching the usual display, the crows flapped away from the squirrels, who found that the crows had been... guarding a fresh horse chip. She said the crows were sitting on the pasture fence, and once the squirrels realized they had been had, the crows started squawking, and she said it sounded like they were laughing at the squirrels for falling for that trick.
That's hilarious! I would have loved to see that.
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Crows remember. I’d be putting out extra food for them after that. I was waiting at a bus stop once and noticed a raven having trouble getting into a container of potato salad. Poor guy kept trying to peck through the lid but it wouldn’t break so I waited till he backed off a bit and made sure he watched me as I opened the container and put it back where he could reach it. He watched as I sat back down and pretended to ignore him so he could take the food and then had to fight off all his mates as they came down to get some. He ends up grabbing the container and trying to fly off with it only to get swiped by another who takes it and nicks off into the trees. Best way to waste time waiting for a bus!
Some time ago I had a cat, Fritz the Cat was not the brightest bulb in god´s illumination and he loved to chase the birds, until the crows started punking him. One would land and pretend it had a broken wing, Fritz would do the cat thing and creep up sloooooly and jump. Crow flies off, all crows start to laugh. Another crow would do the same thing, and another until they all had a go, these crows were pissing themselves laughing at p poor Fritz Since then I know that cats can look frustrated.
Yeah dude. Crows remember faces. They will hate a person just because another crow was wronged by them. They protect ppl who feed them and they are loyal as all F**k. I fed my crows in New Orleans. They loved quail eggs so I'd go to the Asian market and buy as many as I could and I'd get all sorts of dried and fresh fruits n anything I could find that they'd eat in the wild and eventually they would even start following me on my walks around the neighborhood. I never had them bully someone for me. But I bet they would have. When I moved I was devastated to leave them all. But that's their home n I obviously have no control over them. Lol. But then the ppl who moved in said they love birds so I showed them my routine and they took over. But sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic I'll take a walk around my old neighborhood and bring treats to set out n stuff to give the new tenants and they still remember me. Crows are incredible.
Where I live there are quite a few sparrows. I used to throw them breadcrumbs. I noticed one day there was a small one that was getting bullied, the other were taking the bread from him. I felt sorry for him so always threw extra in his direction. After a few days he started coming closer and closer to me until he started taking food from my hand. I think he realised that he was safe staying close to me because he could eat without being bullied. One day watching TV with the patio door open, just a mosquito net to stay cool in the summer. There he was on the step chirping away, by then I´d named him Chippy. I let Chippy in, gave him some breadcrumbs he ate them on the coffee table pecked my fingers a bit, stayed around for 10 min and then flew over to the mosquito net I opened and off he went. After that he´d come every day sometimes more than once. When we ate on the patio he´d fly in to eat something. Sometimes he´d stand on my finger or fly onto my head.
Cool thing is the the whole flock learns who to hate, even if they don't know the reason. A colleague did research for which he had to measure gull eggs in their nest --- pick up, weigh, put back, no big deal. However, the gulls obviously hated that and just hated him. 20y later he still couldn't go to the city where he did this research, as he'd get mobbed instantly... pretty sure younger gulls just learned to recognize him so this would go on forever. And besides, they live so long it makes little difference.
The icing on the cake will be when the neighbor tries to trade the car in, and they're told that it has potential hail damage from all those little stones. Which will lose that person at least $1,000 on value, because dealers are supposed to title brand it.
that's why they are called a murder of crows. you don't want to piss them off
God, I love crows! The local ones are fond of me, as well. But this story illustrates why a group of crows is called a "murder." I suppose a VERY LARGE group would be a mass murder, and less that five would be an attempted murder....
Crows are a special kind of creatures - very smart, can learn a lot of things, can FIGURE OUT a lot of things, remember people, and who knows what else. My favorite example of crows being smart is how they learned to drop nuts on the crosswalk, cars would crush them, and then the crows will go DURING green light for pedestrians, and eat the nuts.
Crows are smart. We feed them sometimes too, when my dad would cut up meat, he would trim the fat off (I think it fat) and then dry it out. And then leave it out for the crows. Due to this the crows now leave our garden and apple tree alone.
Crows can make some really weird noises too. I had a crow gurgle at me once.
My uncle had a crow for a friend when I was about 2. It would come and visit him whenever he was outside and sit on his shoulder.
My mother loved to ride her bike and a favorite part was around a large potato field. Our dog would run with her. The dog started chasing crows in the field. There was no way he could catch them but they wouldn't just fly away. The crows would take off fly low and land. If he got close, they'd do it again, and again. They might take him from one end of the field to the other or loop him around in a circle. Mom was positive they were playing with him. It wasn't just a one time event this was ongoing.
One of my friends found a baby crow in their yard and nursed it back to health. She let it go as soon as the baby crow was OK and it rejoined the other crows. But the crows misunderstood her intentions and kept attacking her after they saw her releasing the little crow. They probably thought it was kidnapped. Poor woman had to take an umbrella just to leave the house because they would keep flying dangerously close to her head when she went out :)
I was driving to an appointment one day, and had to stop for a light. I watched a squirrel go up a tree to raid a nest, and get chased off by mama crow, and herded right into traffic when the lights turned green.
Crows are pretty darn smart. Animals in general can tell when someone needs help. Most humans have symbiotic relationship with animals. We help them, they help us. :)
When I was young my grandparents had a big black cat named Lucy. She was a hunter. One day she got hold of a baby bluejay. From that day forward, any time she went outside, the bluejays would all take turns pecking her on the head. This lasted for years. She ended up deciding to be an indoor cat with a bald spot.
Hahahaha! Serves them right. We're really into Pirate stuff & used to have a fake crow on our entry table. His name was Morty (short for Mortimer) and he was our "watch crow".
In the future calling someone a bird brain may be meant as a compliment.
Not a bad plan...but next time make friends with some harpy eagles...they will take the whole family away.
But you have to persuade them to move to South America first (I think that is where harpy eagles live)
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Honest question for any bird enthusiasts out there: can you befriend hawks like you would befriend ravens? I don’t have a huge crow/raven population, but we have TONS of hawks. This seems like a useful skill.
You probably can, but they are not at sociable as crows, so it might not work all that well
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Like someone said in the comments.. I hope this is true cause it’s awesome !
Animals know when you insult them. I once pointed at a crow on a power line and said "you're stupid!" You know what it did!? It flew to the power line above me and husband and crapped the biggest bird crap ive ever seen. I dodged it but my husband got hit on the chest and legs lol
A friend of mine had crows that went to war with some squirrels. The crows would land in her horse corral with food, and before they could eat their full meal, a bunch of squirrels would run at the crows, and make them fly off, and steal the food. Well, one day, as my friend was watching the usual display, the crows flapped away from the squirrels, who found that the crows had been... guarding a fresh horse chip. She said the crows were sitting on the pasture fence, and once the squirrels realized they had been had, the crows started squawking, and she said it sounded like they were laughing at the squirrels for falling for that trick.
That's hilarious! I would have loved to see that.
Load More Replies... Crows remember. I’d be putting out extra food for them after that. I was waiting at a bus stop once and noticed a raven having trouble getting into a container of potato salad. Poor guy kept trying to peck through the lid but it wouldn’t break so I waited till he backed off a bit and made sure he watched me as I opened the container and put it back where he could reach it. He watched as I sat back down and pretended to ignore him so he could take the food and then had to fight off all his mates as they came down to get some. He ends up grabbing the container and trying to fly off with it only to get swiped by another who takes it and nicks off into the trees. Best way to waste time waiting for a bus!
Some time ago I had a cat, Fritz the Cat was not the brightest bulb in god´s illumination and he loved to chase the birds, until the crows started punking him. One would land and pretend it had a broken wing, Fritz would do the cat thing and creep up sloooooly and jump. Crow flies off, all crows start to laugh. Another crow would do the same thing, and another until they all had a go, these crows were pissing themselves laughing at p poor Fritz Since then I know that cats can look frustrated.
Yeah dude. Crows remember faces. They will hate a person just because another crow was wronged by them. They protect ppl who feed them and they are loyal as all F**k. I fed my crows in New Orleans. They loved quail eggs so I'd go to the Asian market and buy as many as I could and I'd get all sorts of dried and fresh fruits n anything I could find that they'd eat in the wild and eventually they would even start following me on my walks around the neighborhood. I never had them bully someone for me. But I bet they would have. When I moved I was devastated to leave them all. But that's their home n I obviously have no control over them. Lol. But then the ppl who moved in said they love birds so I showed them my routine and they took over. But sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic I'll take a walk around my old neighborhood and bring treats to set out n stuff to give the new tenants and they still remember me. Crows are incredible.
Where I live there are quite a few sparrows. I used to throw them breadcrumbs. I noticed one day there was a small one that was getting bullied, the other were taking the bread from him. I felt sorry for him so always threw extra in his direction. After a few days he started coming closer and closer to me until he started taking food from my hand. I think he realised that he was safe staying close to me because he could eat without being bullied. One day watching TV with the patio door open, just a mosquito net to stay cool in the summer. There he was on the step chirping away, by then I´d named him Chippy. I let Chippy in, gave him some breadcrumbs he ate them on the coffee table pecked my fingers a bit, stayed around for 10 min and then flew over to the mosquito net I opened and off he went. After that he´d come every day sometimes more than once. When we ate on the patio he´d fly in to eat something. Sometimes he´d stand on my finger or fly onto my head.
Cool thing is the the whole flock learns who to hate, even if they don't know the reason. A colleague did research for which he had to measure gull eggs in their nest --- pick up, weigh, put back, no big deal. However, the gulls obviously hated that and just hated him. 20y later he still couldn't go to the city where he did this research, as he'd get mobbed instantly... pretty sure younger gulls just learned to recognize him so this would go on forever. And besides, they live so long it makes little difference.
The icing on the cake will be when the neighbor tries to trade the car in, and they're told that it has potential hail damage from all those little stones. Which will lose that person at least $1,000 on value, because dealers are supposed to title brand it.
that's why they are called a murder of crows. you don't want to piss them off
God, I love crows! The local ones are fond of me, as well. But this story illustrates why a group of crows is called a "murder." I suppose a VERY LARGE group would be a mass murder, and less that five would be an attempted murder....
Crows are a special kind of creatures - very smart, can learn a lot of things, can FIGURE OUT a lot of things, remember people, and who knows what else. My favorite example of crows being smart is how they learned to drop nuts on the crosswalk, cars would crush them, and then the crows will go DURING green light for pedestrians, and eat the nuts.
Crows are smart. We feed them sometimes too, when my dad would cut up meat, he would trim the fat off (I think it fat) and then dry it out. And then leave it out for the crows. Due to this the crows now leave our garden and apple tree alone.
Crows can make some really weird noises too. I had a crow gurgle at me once.
My uncle had a crow for a friend when I was about 2. It would come and visit him whenever he was outside and sit on his shoulder.
My mother loved to ride her bike and a favorite part was around a large potato field. Our dog would run with her. The dog started chasing crows in the field. There was no way he could catch them but they wouldn't just fly away. The crows would take off fly low and land. If he got close, they'd do it again, and again. They might take him from one end of the field to the other or loop him around in a circle. Mom was positive they were playing with him. It wasn't just a one time event this was ongoing.
One of my friends found a baby crow in their yard and nursed it back to health. She let it go as soon as the baby crow was OK and it rejoined the other crows. But the crows misunderstood her intentions and kept attacking her after they saw her releasing the little crow. They probably thought it was kidnapped. Poor woman had to take an umbrella just to leave the house because they would keep flying dangerously close to her head when she went out :)
I was driving to an appointment one day, and had to stop for a light. I watched a squirrel go up a tree to raid a nest, and get chased off by mama crow, and herded right into traffic when the lights turned green.
Crows are pretty darn smart. Animals in general can tell when someone needs help. Most humans have symbiotic relationship with animals. We help them, they help us. :)
When I was young my grandparents had a big black cat named Lucy. She was a hunter. One day she got hold of a baby bluejay. From that day forward, any time she went outside, the bluejays would all take turns pecking her on the head. This lasted for years. She ended up deciding to be an indoor cat with a bald spot.
Hahahaha! Serves them right. We're really into Pirate stuff & used to have a fake crow on our entry table. His name was Morty (short for Mortimer) and he was our "watch crow".
In the future calling someone a bird brain may be meant as a compliment.
Not a bad plan...but next time make friends with some harpy eagles...they will take the whole family away.
But you have to persuade them to move to South America first (I think that is where harpy eagles live)
Load More Replies... Honest question for any bird enthusiasts out there: can you befriend hawks like you would befriend ravens? I don’t have a huge crow/raven population, but we have TONS of hawks. This seems like a useful skill.
You probably can, but they are not at sociable as crows, so it might not work all that well
Load More Replies... Like someone said in the comments.. I hope this is true cause it’s awesome !
Animals know when you insult them. I once pointed at a crow on a power line and said "you're stupid!" You know what it did!? It flew to the power line above me and husband and crapped the biggest bird crap ive ever seen. I dodged it but my husband got hit on the chest and legs lol
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