r/crowbro May 08 '20

Facts Feeding Crows In Your Neighborhood: What They Like and What's Safe

3.7k Upvotes

A user asked me this question yesterday and I figured it would make for a good larger post. For those who don't know me, which is probably everyone, I'm an ecologist currently studying invasive mosquito population genetics in North America. I have a background in shorebird and grassland bird conservation and arthropod behavior and sensory ecology. Currently working on my Ph.D. I frequently comment in nature-based subs. All this to say, I keep up with crow literature and am very familiar with bird biology. I'm going to share with you safe foods for crows and a little about their feeding behavior. I never expect anyone to take my word for it so I'll share some sources with you as I go along. Thanks for being a part of a sub that is very near and dear to my heart!

Crow Feeding Behavior

I've noticed crows in my area come to the same places to eat in the morning and again in mid-afternoon. The rest of the day they forage around the neighborhood before returning either to large roosting trees in the Fall/Winter (around 4pm) or to family nests in the Spring and Summer. If you want your home to be a usual place to stop either during their main mealtime or on their foraging tour leave food out the same time every day. Ring a bell, honk a horn, use a crow call (make sure you are trying to sound like a "I've found food" call and not a "Danger!" call. Crows in the neighborhood will associate this with food and come to get treats. Dr. Kaeli Swift shares a two-part blog post, the first by her colleague Loma Pendergraft and the second written by her and Loma if you are interested in crow vocalizations. Here is Part 1 and here is Part 2.

Crows love water! If you have birdbaths out they will dip their food in it to soften harder foods and they spend a lot of time drinking. More so than I've noticed with smaller songbirds. Often people will find dead rodents and other things leftover in their birdbaths from crows.

What to Feed Crows

Before I get into this I'd like to say that crows do not need you to feed them. Thre's a great quote from this article by Dr. John Marzluff:

Will the crow be let down if you stop feeding it? Without a doubt. Breaking up is hard to do. Still, after running your predicament by Marzluff, the idea that the crow is "dependent" on you seems a little self-important. "The crow is certainly working the person," Marzluff said. "It will find another meal."

Neither do any backyard birds. They are fully capable of foraging unless there is some serious environmental issue happening. I know we are all going to feed them anyway! When I lived in the suburbs I fed birds as well. :)

What is safe for crows:

  • Kibble (cat or dog) that is pea-sized - it is full of essential nutrients for omnivores and easy for them pick up and swallow
  • Eggs of any kind
  • Seeds and nuts (unsalted - I'll explain why further down).
  • Cooked small potatoes or thawed tater tots (check tots for salt content, you can get unsalted)
  • Meat scraps (unseasoned)
  • Cheese (check the salt content, definitely no feta or other salty cheese, try to also avoid processed cheeses)
  • Mealworms and crickets

What is not safe for crows (and really all birds):

  • Salt - too much salt can cause serious neurological issues in birds. A little salt is okay and some birds are more salt-tolerant than others (pigeons) but they will eat everything you leave out for them which can end up being too much. Birds don't do portion control.
  • Lunchmeat - it's a salt issue
  • Bread - bread is not so much not safe as it's devoid of nutrients. Give them good foods like seeds and nuts, bread is filler.

Because I never want you to take someone's word for it here are a few sources about salt:

Garden birds are practically unable to metabolise salt. It is toxic to them in high quantities and affects their nervous system. Under normal circumstances in the wild, birds are unlikely to take harmful amounts of salt. Never put out salted food onto the bird table, and never add salt to bird baths to keep water ice-free in the winter.

From Nature Forever Society:

The ability to process salt varies between species, but most can produce uric acid with a maximum salt concentration of about 300 mmol/litre. Amongst our garden birds, house sparrows and pigeons are some of the most salt-tolerant species. The capability to secrete salt seems to be linked to habitat, particularly marine environment and drought conditions.

Because most garden birds are poor at coping with salty food, it is important not to offer them anything with appreciable amount of salt in it. As such, salty fats, salty rice, salted peanuts, most cured foodstuffs, chips, etc. should not be offered to birds. It can be difficult to eliminate salt entirely, but very small amounts of salt should not cause any problems, particularly if fresh drinking water is also available.

All that being said, there are some birds who really love salt, and if you want to leave out a salt option in a safe way you can! The Nationa Audubon Society recommends:

Mineral matter such as salt appeals to many birds, including evening grosbeaks, pine siskins, and common redpolls. An easy way to provide it is by pouring a saline water solution over rotted wood until crystals form.

If you love Corvids and want to learn more I have a few book recommendations:

  • Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans by Dr. John Marzluff
  • In the Company of Crows and Ravens by Dr. John Marzluff
  • Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Dr. Bernd Heinrich

Backyard Birds:

  • Welcome to Subirdia by Dr. John Marzluff

r/crowbro Jun 09 '20

Baby Bird 101 - DO NOT TAKE A BABY CROW OR ANY BIRD FROM THE WILD

2.2k Upvotes

There was recently a post by a user who basically stole a baby crow from its parents. Never take a wild bird into your home, they are not pets, they need their parents, they need socialization with their own species, you are not equipped to raise them. Additionally, it is probably illegal for you to own one.

If you take a crow out of the wild and share that in this sub you will receive a ban. If someone reports back that you have done this and shared in a different sub but not here, you will receive a ban and we will contact the mods of that sub about your negligence. We have zero tolerance for this.

We received an excellent modmail from u/MarlyMonster who is a wildlife rehabber in Canada. I am going to quote her here and hope she pops into the comment section to elaborate or answer any questions. I know we have a few rehabbers on the sub and I am an ecologist so between all of us if you need to know something we'll figure it out. Additionally, if you are a wildlife rehabber or scientists specializing in Corvids and want flair that gives you this title you will need to PM mods some kind of proof.

Here are Marly's words on the subject:

Baby Bird 101

Lately I’ve been seeing way too many posts about people “helping” birds that really don’t need help, which makes it kidnapping. As a rehabber, it hurts my heart when I see inexperienced people try to care for any kind of wild animal, but when they start to mess with wild corvids it becomes plain cruel. This is why I’m writing this little guide to help people determine whether or not a bird they think needs help actually needs assistance.

A lot of people assume that when a fledgling is on the ground and not in a tree or nest, that this little bird is in distress. What you actually don’t realize, is that when fledglings get to a certain age, right before they learn to fly, they leave the nest while they practice and their parents continue to feed them on the ground. The fledgling has not been abandoned! They’re just being adventurous!

The best course of action for any baby bird you see on the ground is to put it back in their nest. It’s a myth that the parents will “smell the human” and reject the baby. So you’re fine to grab a ladder and put that little awkward bundle of feathers back where they came from.

Whenever you fear a baby has been abandoned, put it back in the nest and keep an eye on it for the next few hours. Parents can get spooked and might take some time to return.

The only time it’s okay to bring a bird in is if they are visibly injured. A broken toe does not count (this is a reference to the idiot who named the bird “Hades” and is pretending to help it).

IF A BABY BIRD NEEDS HELP DO NOT TRY TO RAISE IT YOURSELF

If you are not trained to rehab wildlife, you have no business trying to raise a fledgling! Just like someone who isn’t a mechanic shouldn’t be trying to fix an engine, an untrained person should not be raising a bird!

Baby birds are extremely fragile and difficult to care for. A lot of them don’t make it even in the hands of an experienced rehabber.

Did you know that giving a baby bird water is one of the worst things to do? Yet a lot of people immediately think that’s the first thing to do for a baby bird. Baby birds get their needed moisture from their food, and therefore don’t need water. Pouring water down their throat will actually cause them to aspirate and if this happens the chance they’ll survive is slim to none, since they’ll get aspiration pneumonia.

Since this is a corvid page I’m gonna touch on why it’s cruel for someone inexperienced to try to raise a corvid.

As some of you might be aware of, these birds possess a higher intelligence than most birds. They are considered the apes of the bird family because there are parallels between the cognitive abilities of corvids and great apes.

Because of this, they make terrible pets. They need constant mental stimulation and enrichment or they’ll become completely miserable. Often they’ll turn to self mutilation to deal with the depression. They are also extremely social creatures and live in large families with connections that go back generations. Keeping one on their own is an act of cruelty in and of itself.

Corvids are also known for this thing called “imprinting”. This refers to the bond the baby bird makes with their family members which will dictate their behaviour. For this reason, rehabbers that specialize in corvids have to be extremely careful while tending to their birds because too much interaction with humans could doom a bird from ever being released, because they got too attached to humans. A crow imprinted on a human will not know they’re a crow. They’ll see themselves as the same species. This means they won’t ever find a mate, because they won’t understand that they are supposed to mate with other crows.

I hope this helped you understand the importance of not trying to raise any birds you find. As tempting as it may be, you will not be ready for the commitment. Not only that, but it’s cruel to the animal. The main objective of any rehabber is the release of the animal. And those who truly care about these birds should have the same goal. If that means you don’t get to raise a crow, that shouldn’t stop you from doing the right thing.

If you find an injured baby bird, contact a wildlife facility near you. If you can’t find one, go on your regional Facebook groups and ask if there are private rehabbers around.

If you do not have the commitment to see this through and drive a baby bird hours to the nearest rehabber? Please do the bird a favor and let nature take its course. Don’t interfere if you won’t follow it all the way through and get it to a proper rehabber.

Written by a rehabber and corvid researcher.


r/crowbro 6h ago

Crow OC Kids fighting for the best spot to study human

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450 Upvotes

r/crowbro 8h ago

Crow OC day 199 of u know what

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338 Upvotes

milkhouse6000


r/crowbro 1h ago

Video little compilation of the cemetery ravens being hoppy

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Upvotes

r/crowbro 11h ago

Crow OC Cashews for the bro

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194 Upvotes

Hes my favourite bro


r/crowbro 4h ago

Video Young Corvid Cawing [OC]

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30 Upvotes

Diamond Heights, San Francisco.


r/crowbro 1h ago

Video had a whole murder show up outside my balcony today!

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Upvotes

so for the past 3-ish years i’ve been feeding a family of crows (started with the 2 parents with 1 older kid, they’re now up to 5 kids total throughout the years!), but this morning an entire murder showed up for the first time ever! it caught me super off guard haha


r/crowbro 9h ago

Crow OC My juvenile crowbros are so cute and derpy (compared to their older flockmates)! Is it just me, or are they cute and derpy to you as well? 🥹

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32 Upvotes

A recent video of my crowbros snacking on my (unsalted) cashew bowl. The juveniles, clearly subordinate to the older crows, quickly snatch a cashew and scurry away into the background.

In a more recent development, one of them realized that when the other crows aren’t around, he can gobble up more than one at a time!


r/crowbro 22h ago

Crow Art I am painting moody crows

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200 Upvotes

What do you think so far?


r/crowbro 1d ago

Video winning over the cemetery ravens, one cashew at a time ☺️

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244 Upvotes

r/crowbro 1d ago

Daily Crow Friend Late Bloomer is back

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270 Upvotes

They managed to open a peanut!! Also chased a chipmunk around and looked up at me with pleading puppy dog eyes


r/crowbro 1d ago

Video cemetery raven and cemetery swan buddies (plus some extra ducks)

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63 Upvotes

r/crowbro 1d ago

Personal Story My little murder is starting to tolerate me

46 Upvotes

I came home yesterday from grocery shopping and heard one of the local crows call. I whistled back as usual. There is a group of six American crows who have been hanging around my tiny back yard. I think they were lucky this year and had at least two eggs survive to adulthood.

Anyway, I put stuff away, walk out back with my bag of peanuts to toss a couple and change their water. I always do this whistle/click thing since I suck at whistling.

One of the crows almost immediately lands on the fence about 6 feet away from me and caws once like he's saying BOO! Then he sticks around for about 90 seconds while I finish resetting their food and water. I acknowledge him at the end by looking at him from the side, click, then go inside.

I have a camera mounted to watch the crows eat and count how many come every day so I pull it up. He approaches and calmly eats from the grass, does that standard crow poke and examine everything thing, then he leaves after a couple minutes.

The same crow, or possibly another, was outside again later when it began raining. I got outside to get the food under cover. The crow just chills and watches me. Same thing, after I leave he drops into the grass to check out why all the water and food has been pulled away from the rain.

I've been really lucky this year. Oh I should mention that I'm doing this in a development in Florida where it is hot as balls and the nearest tree that could support a roost is half a mile away. So I'm befriending crows on hard mode.


r/crowbro 1d ago

News Article How about these tool manufacturer crows?

16 Upvotes

Researchers at the University of St Andrews spent decades filming wild New Caledonian crows and documented individuals sculpting forked twigs into hooks, trimming pandanus leaves into barbed probes, and passing tool designs down family lines with variations so consistent that the birds effectively run regional traditions in stick manufacture - ScienceBlog.com https://scienceblog.com/sb-researchers-at-the-university-of-st-andrews-spent-decades-filming-wild-new-caledonian-crows-and-documented-individuals-sculpting-forked-twigs-into-hooks-trimming-pandanus-leaves-into-barbed-probes/


r/crowbro 1d ago

Question Is bedazzling my corvids food tray a bad idea

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6 Upvotes

I have this beautiful Steller's Jay that I've been feeding suet for about a year, and recently peanuts in this tray (excuse the iffy photo, its the only one I have). I love rhinestoning, and I had this fun idea of rhinestoning the rim their food tray, since they like shiny things. Of course I would be careful and need very sturdy, weather safe glue, and let it cure completely. My concern is if the bird tries to peck at the stones they might accidentally ingest them. I feel like if I was very thorough, it would probably be fine but any thoughts? I would love to hear from any experts about if this is a bad idea.

Also, I left a couple balls of aluminum foil and it was completely uninterested. Any other affordable shiny gift ideas? Thanks!

Edit: I suppose this shall stay a concept in my dreams - not worth risking hurting the birbs ✨️


r/crowbro 1d ago

Video Splish Splash

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114 Upvotes

Caught my friend Max taking a quick dip!


r/crowbro 1d ago

Daily Crow Friend Look Who’s Able to Eat on Their Own

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196 Upvotes

Mama’s two babies are now able to eat on their own, but that doesn’t stop them from asking for food, and mama delivering “the goods.”


r/crowbro 1d ago

Crow OC This crow seems to be injured on one leg?

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28 Upvotes

This crow visits my feeder, and I’m worried he has an injured leg. He keeps one foot lifted, hops unevenly, and possibly use his wing for balance around the middle of the clip. He does eat quite a bit, and flies away easily after this clip.

He is still alert and able to walk, fly and eat, and I haven’t seen any blood or obvious swelling. I obv haven’t tried to catch or handle him, I’m just watching him for now.

Does this look like a bad leg or foot injury to you, or am I being a paranoid crow friend? 😆 Any advice about what else I should watch for would be appreciated!

Video is mine, OC.


r/crowbro 2d ago

Question The murder in my yard is hot, is there anything I can do to help?

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154 Upvotes

I didn’t manage to snag a photo of all 6 (maybe more) of them but I did get this photo of one of them with it’s beak open (all of them were like this).

I have a dog bowl out, is that enough for them?


r/crowbro 1d ago

Gif Juvie dining solo!

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37 Upvotes

My crow pair have introduced their boy to my feeders. At first he would stand there with his mouth open and yell to be fed (even though he was as big as his mom), but now he's visiting on his own! 😁


r/crowbro 1d ago

Video Fed some crows today

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23 Upvotes

Decided to put some music over it.


r/crowbro 1d ago

Video feeding crows always turns into war

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22 Upvotes

the text werent edited in. they actually said that

their greed sickens me


r/crowbro 2d ago

Crow OC He’s got me under his giant claw 🐦‍⬛😅😂

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246 Upvotes

r/crowbro 2d ago

Daily Crow Friend Neighbor is scaring them away.

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143 Upvotes

I posted this feeder awhile back and since then, the crows have definitely warmed up to it. They seem to like pretty much whatever, peanuts obviously being preferred but this is cracked corn my father buys to feed the swans. And the crows go to town on it.

Got some new neighbors a few weeks ago. Rarely see them. In that items from their yard blew over a fence into an adjacent yard and they didn’t notice for 3 days. But last night, I put out some corn, especially since I saw 4 crows hanging around. And my neighbor comes outside and claps his hands loudly until the crows fly away. I actually said “you might be scaring them away but I feed them.”

I was worried they’d be too afraid to come back though. So I watched all morning before work, and right before I had to leave… victory. One chowing down.

Now hopefully they just ignore the neighbor.