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.
More info: Facebook
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”
Image credits: antinostalgist
Image credits: StuartDahlquist
People were incredibly moved by the generosity of the crows
Image credits: Oz9podcast
Image credits: thegriffin88
Image credits: emiface
Image credits: fionalmorrison
Image credits: mulberryjane
Image credits: duchessofdp
Image credits: AmandaYeardsley
Image credits: IanForrestAdams
Image credits: grm_chikn
Image credits: Seattle_JC
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
Funny..all the crows around our house are a**holes. From picking on and harassing other birds to waking us up at unGodly hours with their caws. They pick on the cats, dogs and livestock in the neighborhood and prefer to steal food over being fed. They destroy patio furniture and c**p all over the cars. How did we end up with the juvenile delinquents of the crow community? LOL
Ours are like that, too! Makes me so jealous reading about these awesome crows.
Load More Replies...
If crows ever c**p on your food, don't throw it away where they can get it - or they will forever be trying to c**p on your food. I learned this the hard way.
This is an amazing story. i wish one day i would be bless enough to find a cool crow to experience this.
Peanuts work really well for crows also consistency.
Load More Replies...
Crows are highly intelligent creatures. Very aware and have great face recognition abilities. These story are not rare, but when it does happen think about how amazing it feels. I have been meaning to get my bird feeders up since we moved into our new house so I can show her how great mother nature is.
Have been reading around crows are very socially evolved, have a rich language, share the concept of collaboration, pranks on friends and surprisingly advanced constructions techniques, like making traps and whatsoever, if Im not wrong they celebrate funerals to their beloved, too.
Could you elaborate on those pranks? What are they doing?
Load More Replies...
I run a KFC in northern Canada and although we don't have crows, we have many ravens. At lunch time, we prep ahead a lot of stuff for people to be able to have super-fast service. At the end of the lunch hour - 2pm - the wires and building tops around our back yard will be lined with as many as 80 to 100 ravens (the colder it is, the more ravens) waiting to be fed. That's the time each day I throw the remnants out back for them and they are all civil to each other as they eat popcorn chicken, strips, Big Crunches, and even fries. Fries go last, but the weaker of the bunch get to have something in their bellies to temporarily help them along.
It is amazing what Gods little and big creatures can do! One thing many people forget is that they have feelings and they can Love!
Many years ago my children helped neighborhood kids in the same apartment building one summer to care for a young crow with a broken wing. They feed the crow, "Jake", that was kept on the neighbors balcony and made sure it had water and visited it a lot during it's stay with them. The neighbor mother took Jake out into the country to a farm a few miles away once it healed and the kids missed it but it was what the crow needed. The following spring the kids were playing outside when a crow came from the sky and landed on the shoulder of one of the kids who helps care for it. The other kids were assembled and Jake visited each one, and hung out for an hour or so. It then left and did not return. But clearly Jake came back to thank the kids and give an appearance to reconnect with the kind children who were then in middle school. What a positive experience.
Ooooh.... once there was a very loud crow outside my balcony which overlooks at a little courtyard where my cat sunbathes, it became louder and meaner; I was worried it would attack my cat so I searched for my son’s Nerf gun and a few soft foam bullets and shot on its direction to scare it away.... not only I didn’t scared it away; but he brought his squad to torture me for the rest of the week ... :((
When we lived in the Country I had often times extra dog food that had chicken in it( real chicken) So I would leave it out on a fence rail for the crows. it started with about 5 /6 crows and we lived there for 15 years and it grew to over 30. A few were born with bad legs but they did just fine. the last 4/5 years I could put food flat in my hand and they would come and take it from my hand. They are very smart. One of my favorite birds
Interesting fact about crows is their ability to recognize faces....one of the many reasons I never tick off a crow by shooing it away or trying to scare it--you never know if it'll recognize you and start dive bombing you or c**p all over you!
I always call out and greet the crows when I leave the house in the morning. At first I felt silly, but the more I learn about them, the more likely it seems that they recognize me and my "Good morning, crowies!" A couple of them sit side-by-side on the roof of the church next door. I've noticed them tap their beaks together. It's not an adult feeding a baby; it seems to be part of their conversation.
Load More Replies...
We have a mated pair of beautiful cardinals living in our yard. They've eaten from our bushes every day through the wintertime, and they have tried nesting in the branches during the early summer. Last year they laid eggs but a storm blew the nest out. I found the broken eggs in the grass - and to my delight and sadness, the cardinals were sitting quietly in their bush, watching me bury their children among the spearmint and forget-me-nots.
I noticed a Robin across the street at a house I rented. He would go to this porch everyday. So one day I looked on the pouch to see why? He was eating the cat food the old lady left for the stray. Then I started and she stopped, the Robin followed the food. He would kinda dance around, kinda making sure, then head in for food. When I moved I took Mr. Huba the cat, wished I could have taken Mr. robin with me too, I'm sure he's ok eating insects and worms, but he sure loved the cat food.
Love this story, and the fact that the crows actually crafted something, not just once but twice.
Crows are bloody smart If they ever decided to revolt we'd be f****d
Jan Moser I also live in the Seattle area and have crows that I feed peanuts. When I take off for work and forget to throw some peanuts, a crow flies right next to the driver window to remind me he didn't get fed. So I stop the car and throw nuts onto the sidewalk. Cracks me up every time.
When we lived near Seattle there were a lot of large blue birds about the size of crows around our house. We went to the wild bird store and asked what to feed them. They said whole peanuts in the shell The birds loved them, in fact they would steal the peanuts out of our squirrel feeder.
Stuart Dahlquist, Such loving pictures, indeed. You certainly truly love and cherish crows! As long as I remember, I have loved birds. Before I was born, my parents & 3 elder brothers had already had budgies for a while. The last budgie we had, Grethe, died in 1983, aged 9½ and learned to say some words + to whistle which she did excellently. Abt. crows: my wife and I live in a small parish in which there are numbers and numbers of crow birds: "grey" crows, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, and in our neighbour village, where my music teacher lives, ravens have been seen now and then.
Crows and magpies are very intelligent, it's not surprising they left gifts to the man who fed them !!
To Amanda :: why do you have an outdoor cat, they do kill some birds.. As for crows many years ago, we saved a crow unable to fly, later we brought it to family on a farm, the crow would follow my uncle everywhere as he tended to his farm chores !!!
We had a crow from the time it was a baby. I used to exercise his wings by having him stand on a dowel and he would flap his wings for balance. His name was Willey. He would land on our shoulder when we were out. My brother taught him to remove the clothes pins when he brought in the dryed clothes. Problem was Willey went around our town and removed lots of clothes pins from other people's yards!! We had him about 1 year.
I have fed all types of birds, animals up here in NE PA for well over 20 yrs living up here. Cats and coyotes even the deer like the cat/dog food Crows also enjoy the dry pet food. Of course once the garden is producing veggies,fruits, fruit trees, the animals enjoy 90% of it.... Love to watch the deer as they will stand up on the trees to pick their fav fruits, apples, pears, cherries. The crows love the cherries, they have 4 varities to choose from. When we go walking daily with our dogs, the crows will waddle behind us. They leave us gifts of string, ribbon, shiny glass etc. A neighbor used to chase the crows, do not do this, they can recall your face, so they would mob up and shite on his brand new truck...no time has any bird s**t on my cars up here.... It is mankinds duty to help all of HIS animal friends....
Crows are very social and intelligent birds, and if you treat them with love they will never forget you.
Read a story similar a few years back about a girl who'd feed the crows part of her lunch on the way to school. The family started feeding them everyday in the back garden and they ended up with a treasure trove of crow gifts including a little heart pendant. :)
Crows r really intelligent. People ought to leave them alone rather than chase them. I once saw this family try to chase one away from their picnic table, only to have more come join in on messing with them. If they come asking for alms n get ignored they know to move on. N on another note, they r Odin's messengers!
Birds are amazing creatures! We have a Striated Pardalote nest outside our back door. As the adult birds were preparing the nest, I picked up a small piece of dried grass (exactly like the ones they were using) and poked it into the nest for them to use. Well the male fluttered and pushed until he came out through the nest entrance and very deliberately threw my piece away before re entering and getting on with the job !
I also feed crows and have for many years.Many are shy and won't come too near but the odd mostly male crow will come close when you feed them.They Remember Faces
I moved to a small town on the northern coast of California last year, and ravens are the dominant bird I’d the area. I LOVE ravens—they’re so smart and I’m intrigued by their clucking noises. After getting permission from my landlord, I set about inculcating a relationship with them by setting out two small dog biscuits each morning. Last month I was away for nearly two weeks, so it’s taken a little time to get them back into the swing of things. A couple of times I’ve seen them watching from the roof of the church across the street and a few doors down. The first time, they waited until I got into my car, and even then they were a bit cagey about going for their treats—but this morning they saw me and the one on the church (the male, I assume) started chattering, and this time he flew over before I was even all the way down the stairs.
Tomorrow I’m heading out of town for an overnight with some friends, so I’m going to leave two apiece. They won’t likely know why until after I return, but I bet the next time I do that they’ll understand. I love it when they clatter their bills.
Load More Replies...
Crows are very grateful and surprisingly kind beings - we could learn a lot from them! There's a field by my house that's used for draining excess water. We get ducks there often! Whenever I see them there, I take some oatmeal to feed them. I've gotten to the point where I can feed them by hand and if I sit with my legs in the water, sometimes I get a duck in my lap lol They'll let me pet them and they'll stay by me even when I don't bring food :)
In my neck of the woods, the crows are huge! My cat was waayy up in a tree, two crows came to tease her. I was so afraid they were going to attack her. Now I'm trying to make friends with some resident crows. I love them so!
One of the things that struck me was that the adult pair was still raising their "kids" after two years. I had no idea that crows spent that much effort in raising young. (Usually, the more intelligent the species, by human standards, the longer they take to raise up. The smarter the species, the more helpless are their young. Remember that when your sister-in-law brags about her 1 1/2 yo teaching him/herself how to read ;-)
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
Funny..all the crows around our house are a**holes. From picking on and harassing other birds to waking us up at unGodly hours with their caws. They pick on the cats, dogs and livestock in the neighborhood and prefer to steal food over being fed. They destroy patio furniture and c**p all over the cars. How did we end up with the juvenile delinquents of the crow community? LOL
Ours are like that, too! Makes me so jealous reading about these awesome crows.
Load More Replies... If crows ever c**p on your food, don't throw it away where they can get it - or they will forever be trying to c**p on your food. I learned this the hard way.
This is an amazing story. i wish one day i would be bless enough to find a cool crow to experience this.
Peanuts work really well for crows also consistency.
Load More Replies... Crows are highly intelligent creatures. Very aware and have great face recognition abilities. These story are not rare, but when it does happen think about how amazing it feels. I have been meaning to get my bird feeders up since we moved into our new house so I can show her how great mother nature is.
Have been reading around crows are very socially evolved, have a rich language, share the concept of collaboration, pranks on friends and surprisingly advanced constructions techniques, like making traps and whatsoever, if Im not wrong they celebrate funerals to their beloved, too.
Could you elaborate on those pranks? What are they doing?
Load More Replies... I run a KFC in northern Canada and although we don't have crows, we have many ravens. At lunch time, we prep ahead a lot of stuff for people to be able to have super-fast service. At the end of the lunch hour - 2pm - the wires and building tops around our back yard will be lined with as many as 80 to 100 ravens (the colder it is, the more ravens) waiting to be fed. That's the time each day I throw the remnants out back for them and they are all civil to each other as they eat popcorn chicken, strips, Big Crunches, and even fries. Fries go last, but the weaker of the bunch get to have something in their bellies to temporarily help them along.
It is amazing what Gods little and big creatures can do! One thing many people forget is that they have feelings and they can Love!
Many years ago my children helped neighborhood kids in the same apartment building one summer to care for a young crow with a broken wing. They feed the crow, "Jake", that was kept on the neighbors balcony and made sure it had water and visited it a lot during it's stay with them. The neighbor mother took Jake out into the country to a farm a few miles away once it healed and the kids missed it but it was what the crow needed. The following spring the kids were playing outside when a crow came from the sky and landed on the shoulder of one of the kids who helps care for it. The other kids were assembled and Jake visited each one, and hung out for an hour or so. It then left and did not return. But clearly Jake came back to thank the kids and give an appearance to reconnect with the kind children who were then in middle school. What a positive experience.
Ooooh.... once there was a very loud crow outside my balcony which overlooks at a little courtyard where my cat sunbathes, it became louder and meaner; I was worried it would attack my cat so I searched for my son’s Nerf gun and a few soft foam bullets and shot on its direction to scare it away.... not only I didn’t scared it away; but he brought his squad to torture me for the rest of the week ... :((
When we lived in the Country I had often times extra dog food that had chicken in it( real chicken) So I would leave it out on a fence rail for the crows. it started with about 5 /6 crows and we lived there for 15 years and it grew to over 30. A few were born with bad legs but they did just fine. the last 4/5 years I could put food flat in my hand and they would come and take it from my hand. They are very smart. One of my favorite birds
Interesting fact about crows is their ability to recognize faces....one of the many reasons I never tick off a crow by shooing it away or trying to scare it--you never know if it'll recognize you and start dive bombing you or c**p all over you!
I always call out and greet the crows when I leave the house in the morning. At first I felt silly, but the more I learn about them, the more likely it seems that they recognize me and my "Good morning, crowies!" A couple of them sit side-by-side on the roof of the church next door. I've noticed them tap their beaks together. It's not an adult feeding a baby; it seems to be part of their conversation.
Load More Replies... We have a mated pair of beautiful cardinals living in our yard. They've eaten from our bushes every day through the wintertime, and they have tried nesting in the branches during the early summer. Last year they laid eggs but a storm blew the nest out. I found the broken eggs in the grass - and to my delight and sadness, the cardinals were sitting quietly in their bush, watching me bury their children among the spearmint and forget-me-nots.
I noticed a Robin across the street at a house I rented. He would go to this porch everyday. So one day I looked on the pouch to see why? He was eating the cat food the old lady left for the stray. Then I started and she stopped, the Robin followed the food. He would kinda dance around, kinda making sure, then head in for food. When I moved I took Mr. Huba the cat, wished I could have taken Mr. robin with me too, I'm sure he's ok eating insects and worms, but he sure loved the cat food.
Love this story, and the fact that the crows actually crafted something, not just once but twice.
Crows are bloody smart If they ever decided to revolt we'd be f****d
Jan Moser I also live in the Seattle area and have crows that I feed peanuts. When I take off for work and forget to throw some peanuts, a crow flies right next to the driver window to remind me he didn't get fed. So I stop the car and throw nuts onto the sidewalk. Cracks me up every time.
When we lived near Seattle there were a lot of large blue birds about the size of crows around our house. We went to the wild bird store and asked what to feed them. They said whole peanuts in the shell The birds loved them, in fact they would steal the peanuts out of our squirrel feeder.
Stuart Dahlquist, Such loving pictures, indeed. You certainly truly love and cherish crows! As long as I remember, I have loved birds. Before I was born, my parents & 3 elder brothers had already had budgies for a while. The last budgie we had, Grethe, died in 1983, aged 9½ and learned to say some words + to whistle which she did excellently. Abt. crows: my wife and I live in a small parish in which there are numbers and numbers of crow birds: "grey" crows, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, and in our neighbour village, where my music teacher lives, ravens have been seen now and then.
Crows and magpies are very intelligent, it's not surprising they left gifts to the man who fed them !!
To Amanda :: why do you have an outdoor cat, they do kill some birds.. As for crows many years ago, we saved a crow unable to fly, later we brought it to family on a farm, the crow would follow my uncle everywhere as he tended to his farm chores !!!
We had a crow from the time it was a baby. I used to exercise his wings by having him stand on a dowel and he would flap his wings for balance. His name was Willey. He would land on our shoulder when we were out. My brother taught him to remove the clothes pins when he brought in the dryed clothes. Problem was Willey went around our town and removed lots of clothes pins from other people's yards!! We had him about 1 year.
I have fed all types of birds, animals up here in NE PA for well over 20 yrs living up here. Cats and coyotes even the deer like the cat/dog food Crows also enjoy the dry pet food. Of course once the garden is producing veggies,fruits, fruit trees, the animals enjoy 90% of it.... Love to watch the deer as they will stand up on the trees to pick their fav fruits, apples, pears, cherries. The crows love the cherries, they have 4 varities to choose from. When we go walking daily with our dogs, the crows will waddle behind us. They leave us gifts of string, ribbon, shiny glass etc. A neighbor used to chase the crows, do not do this, they can recall your face, so they would mob up and shite on his brand new truck...no time has any bird s**t on my cars up here.... It is mankinds duty to help all of HIS animal friends....
Crows are very social and intelligent birds, and if you treat them with love they will never forget you.
Read a story similar a few years back about a girl who'd feed the crows part of her lunch on the way to school. The family started feeding them everyday in the back garden and they ended up with a treasure trove of crow gifts including a little heart pendant. :)
Crows r really intelligent. People ought to leave them alone rather than chase them. I once saw this family try to chase one away from their picnic table, only to have more come join in on messing with them. If they come asking for alms n get ignored they know to move on. N on another note, they r Odin's messengers!
Birds are amazing creatures! We have a Striated Pardalote nest outside our back door. As the adult birds were preparing the nest, I picked up a small piece of dried grass (exactly like the ones they were using) and poked it into the nest for them to use. Well the male fluttered and pushed until he came out through the nest entrance and very deliberately threw my piece away before re entering and getting on with the job !
I also feed crows and have for many years.Many are shy and won't come too near but the odd mostly male crow will come close when you feed them.They Remember Faces
I moved to a small town on the northern coast of California last year, and ravens are the dominant bird I’d the area. I LOVE ravens—they’re so smart and I’m intrigued by their clucking noises. After getting permission from my landlord, I set about inculcating a relationship with them by setting out two small dog biscuits each morning. Last month I was away for nearly two weeks, so it’s taken a little time to get them back into the swing of things. A couple of times I’ve seen them watching from the roof of the church across the street and a few doors down. The first time, they waited until I got into my car, and even then they were a bit cagey about going for their treats—but this morning they saw me and the one on the church (the male, I assume) started chattering, and this time he flew over before I was even all the way down the stairs.
Tomorrow I’m heading out of town for an overnight with some friends, so I’m going to leave two apiece. They won’t likely know why until after I return, but I bet the next time I do that they’ll understand. I love it when they clatter their bills.
Load More Replies... Crows are very grateful and surprisingly kind beings - we could learn a lot from them! There's a field by my house that's used for draining excess water. We get ducks there often! Whenever I see them there, I take some oatmeal to feed them. I've gotten to the point where I can feed them by hand and if I sit with my legs in the water, sometimes I get a duck in my lap lol They'll let me pet them and they'll stay by me even when I don't bring food :)
In my neck of the woods, the crows are huge! My cat was waayy up in a tree, two crows came to tease her. I was so afraid they were going to attack her. Now I'm trying to make friends with some resident crows. I love them so!
One of the things that struck me was that the adult pair was still raising their "kids" after two years. I had no idea that crows spent that much effort in raising young. (Usually, the more intelligent the species, by human standards, the longer they take to raise up. The smarter the species, the more helpless are their young. Remember that when your sister-in-law brags about her 1 1/2 yo teaching him/herself how to read ;-)
493
81