Seattle Man Has Been Feeding A Crow Family For Years, Has His “Mind Blown” After They Bring Him Presents
Stuart Dahlquist, 56, has been a bird enthusiast for most of his life, but a family of crows has still found a way to surprise him. Recently, the Seattle man received a gift from the wild animals he’s been feeding for a couple of years and if that wasn’t enough, the smart birds brought him another one the very next day.
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Image credits: StuartDahlquist
“Crows are amazing creatures and I’ve always felt this way since I was a boy,” Stuart told Bored Panda. “Birds – all kinds – have been a real focal part of my life; I love watching them, listening to their calls, identifying them… Oh! And helping them if they need help. I’m not a real ‘birder’ with high powered binoculars or anything like that but wildlife plays an outsized role in my enjoyment of life.”
He has been feeding this particular corvidae family for about 4 years. “They nest in a large douglas fir tree that’s in our front yard and we could hear the babies when the parents would feed them,” he said. “One day I found both babies had fallen to the ground, almost able to fly but not quite. We got them into a tree and the parents – pretty angry with us actually – took it from there and the little ones survived. We began feeding these intelligent animals soon after.”
There were four of them, but sadly, just before these gifts showed up, the adult female was killed by a raccoon.
Stuart said he can easily tell when they’re hungry. “Sometimes when I’m walking they’ll fly with me, landing on the wires and branches above as I amble along. When we get home they like to land on the fence and wait to be fed. Other times they simply “Caw! Caw!” at us… It’s pretty obvious when they want food.” He gives them high-quality dry cat food with very little filler. “Crows aren’t as keen on corn as people seem to think.”
“The adult male is very distinctive,” Stuart said. “His right leg was injured at some point and didn’t heal properly so he hops on only one foot. I often wish we could do something about it but there really isn’t a way. He gets around just fine otherwise.”
Image credits: StuartDahlquist
Stuart was interested in birds for as long as he can remember. “When birds are very young, they will become very tame and I had a few wild birds as a kid; a robin, a magpie. Since I became an adult, crows, the smartest birds I know, have been my companions quite a lot, as well. I had one ‘The Judge’ (named after Cormac McCarthy’s character in Blood Meridian) for ten or eleven years. He was really a wonderful pet and we’d likely still have him if it wasn’t for some raccoons killing him one night. While we had The Judge we also had quite a few rescue crows while he was with us (which we released). There was one rescue that came to us while still very young and he became quite tame. We rehired him to a wild animal trainer and as I understand it that crow’s intelligence has earned him quite a few movie roles.”
It’s worth mentioning that none of Stuart’s birds were taken from their parents. “They came to us as hurt, of having fallen from the nest and couldn’t be returned, or had been abandoned. Please don’t ever take a chick from its nest.”
“Buddy – This [pic was taken] right after we found him and were bandaging his broken wing.”
Image credits: Stuart Dahlquist
“The Judge hanging around the living room. He used to give the other pets hell!”
Image credits: Stuart Dahlquist
“This is our pet crow ‘The Judge’ taking a bath in the tub”
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Image credits: StuartDahlquist
People were incredibly moved by the generosity of the crows
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Crows are cool af! Ever seen a crow funeral? It's sad, but ... anyway, if one of theirs is dead, they all meet around the corpse, look at it, in silence, and some minutes into the sermon take off synchronized. They will help each of their mates when he's in trouble, will attack even much bigger animals threatening them or having caught a friend - crows are cool. They're the Mafia of birds.
I read somewhere on the internet (so take it with a grain of salt lol) that it isn't so much a funeral but more of a CSI investigation to see if what killed the crow is a threat to the rest of them. Either way it shows how awesome they are. https://www.audubon.org/news/a-funeral-crows
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I had a Peach-faced Lovebird. He escaped through the cat door and kicked a whole murder of crows out of their own tree! The crows were so impressed by this, my Lovie joined the group and they all flew off together.
I had a cage of nesting Zebra Finches in a flight aviary. One day when adding food and water one slipped out into the huge cottonwood tree that grows close to the house. It kept hopping higher and higher into the tree til I could not see it. It was early Spring and worried it would not survive the night in the tree. I moved the cage on wheels near the door and left the door open. After awhile I heard the bird chirping and saw it on a lower branch near the cage. So moved the cage a bit outside the edge of the door. The Finch, missing it's own came to sit on top of the aviary chirping happily. After gently moving it inside the room and closing the door that lovely bird went back in preferring to be with it's family. It was a great relief and seemed a bit of a miracle that we got our little Finch back safe that night.
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I've been fascinated by crows for many years. We have a farm, so of-course we also have a lot of crows. They form communities and use one language among themselves and another language when around other crows who are not part of that community. They have different calls for the people they know and another -- more of an alarm -- for unknown people. A few years ago we had someone try to break into one of the out buildings. I was in the barn at the time and kept hearing the crows screaming. I headed out to see what was making them so loud and one of the crows -- an older male -- met me at the door and flew toward the intruder. The guy -- I suspect he was drunk -- made an aggressive move toward me. Before my dog (German Shepherd who loves everyone, but is also appropriately protective) could cross the yard, two crows flew down and screamed at the man. He fled with the crows chasing him. They often bring us shiny objects and other goodies. We put out food during the winter. Just cool birds
Crows are cool af! Ever seen a crow funeral? It's sad, but ... anyway, if one of theirs is dead, they all meet around the corpse, look at it, in silence, and some minutes into the sermon take off synchronized. They will help each of their mates when he's in trouble, will attack even much bigger animals threatening them or having caught a friend - crows are cool. They're the Mafia of birds.
I read somewhere on the internet (so take it with a grain of salt lol) that it isn't so much a funeral but more of a CSI investigation to see if what killed the crow is a threat to the rest of them. Either way it shows how awesome they are. https://www.audubon.org/news/a-funeral-crows
Load More Replies... I had a Peach-faced Lovebird. He escaped through the cat door and kicked a whole murder of crows out of their own tree! The crows were so impressed by this, my Lovie joined the group and they all flew off together.
I had a cage of nesting Zebra Finches in a flight aviary. One day when adding food and water one slipped out into the huge cottonwood tree that grows close to the house. It kept hopping higher and higher into the tree til I could not see it. It was early Spring and worried it would not survive the night in the tree. I moved the cage on wheels near the door and left the door open. After awhile I heard the bird chirping and saw it on a lower branch near the cage. So moved the cage a bit outside the edge of the door. The Finch, missing it's own came to sit on top of the aviary chirping happily. After gently moving it inside the room and closing the door that lovely bird went back in preferring to be with it's family. It was a great relief and seemed a bit of a miracle that we got our little Finch back safe that night.
Load More Replies... I've been fascinated by crows for many years. We have a farm, so of-course we also have a lot of crows. They form communities and use one language among themselves and another language when around other crows who are not part of that community. They have different calls for the people they know and another -- more of an alarm -- for unknown people. A few years ago we had someone try to break into one of the out buildings. I was in the barn at the time and kept hearing the crows screaming. I headed out to see what was making them so loud and one of the crows -- an older male -- met me at the door and flew toward the intruder. The guy -- I suspect he was drunk -- made an aggressive move toward me. Before my dog (German Shepherd who loves everyone, but is also appropriately protective) could cross the yard, two crows flew down and screamed at the man. He fled with the crows chasing him. They often bring us shiny objects and other goodies. We put out food during the winter. Just cool birds
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