Yeah thus my comment far above about getting hated by neighbors for intentionally feeding crows.
I can say with more than a bit of sadness that the intelligence, work ethic, time management, creativity and tool use off Japanese crows exceeds that of some people I’ve worked with here just a bit too often.
I think it’s a defensive behaviour… disrupting the crows hunting while in their territory… I see similar behaviour here directed towards eagles and ravens. It’s pretty large scale with gulls of all sizes, geese, crows and herons ganging up on eagles.
Just in case you want to know what they want for Christmas…
https://imgflip.com/i/19cmg2
I would agree with all of the above except “work ethic.” Poor time management, in particular, is a feature, not a bug, since you need to do something while you bum around the office waiting for your boss to leave so you can go home.
That’s pretty good. In my experience 1 caw can also be a territorial declaration/warning. Just this morning my usual two crows landed at the peanuts and then the big one puffed himself up and gave one caw to a couple of crows on the other side of the lawn. And they kept away, although they were clearly eyeing up the peanuts.
I’m not sure if this is what you were getting at, but the commonly held myth that feeding birds causes dependency or makes them less able to forage on their own has been debunked.
In my area, even though we have harsh winters, not all birds migrate. The feeders have been shown to improve survival rates during very harsh winters.
OTOH, I knew a guy who befriended a raccoon once and the animal turned into the house guest from hell. When the guy stopped feeding it, it kept breaking in to get food. It once broke in by clawing through the roof!
We must choose our animal friends wisely…
If only they didn’t harass the hawks and owls in the neighborhood. Oh and don’t let them roost in your trees. Nothing worse than dozens of crows cawing at sunset. Except when the caw in the morning on the porch outside my bedroom. I chase them away when ever they start to gather around my place.
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