The uproar may be related to fledgling crows, you probably have a couple of adults out there and the rest are teenagers squawking at them to get some food. It will calm down once the youngsters get more independent at finding food.
I go through the same thing with all sorts of birds every spring, finches, downy woodpeckers, blue jays.
How about setting up a feeder for them in a spot where they will be less annoying, far from your spooky horse?
Yes.
There are white crows and black-and-white (hooded) crows.
FYI: They are NOT migratory/songbirds and are NOT protected by said act.
That said, you may need to make sure they’re in season:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10363_10874_11675---,00.html
In Michigan, they’re huntable in-season with a Small Game permit (NOT upland bird.) It is state-regulated, not federal.
That said, unless you own small birds and the crows are killing them, or have plantings they’re destroying, I dont’ see the point. They probably taste bad (most carrion-eaters do) and if I shot everything my horse found spooky I’d have a few dead neighbors. If they’re tearing open your trash (and you’re sure it’s them and not raccoons, possums, and 101 other things that do that) get better bins that they can’t open.
Yes – crows in parts of Europe and Asia have tan bodies and black wings.
I love crows, and after reading some of the links in this thread I’m thinking about trying to befriend our local gang. We have some HUGE ones that hang out in the yard- ravens maybe?
A couple of years ago, when we first put fish in our pond, the crows were amongst the entrepreneurial assortment of predators who picked off the slow, stupid ones (the others being raccoons and a blue heron who would perch on my neighbors roof to select his dinner). That's OK with me because now all the fish in the pond are descended from the smart ones. Years later, the heron and the raccoons have given up, but I still look out back once a month or so and see 5 or 6 huge crows sitting around the pond, waiting for some poor stupid fish to forget himself. :lol: I had no idea that they fished, but when it's laid out like a buffet apparently they'll eat anything![QUOTE=danceronice;4891470]
FYI: They are NOT migratory/songbirds and are NOT protected by said act.
That said, you may need to make sure they’re in season:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10363_10874_11675---,00.html
In Michigan, they’re huntable in-season with a Small Game permit (NOT upland bird.) It is state-regulated, not federal.[/QUOTE]
Actually, the North American crows are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act:
American crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
Fish crow, Corvus ossifragus
Northwestern crow, Corvus caurinus
Hawaiian crow, Corvus hawaiiensis
Mariana crow, Corvus kubaryi (okay, so this one is in Guam)
Tamaulipas crow, Corvus imparatus
White-necked crow, Corvus leucognaphalus
http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/RegulationsPolicies/mbta/mbtandx.html
They are legally protected as migratory birds but they are not included in the regulations protecting migratory game birds. (How often do people actually want to eat crow? :lol:)
However, as per 50 CFR 21.43, a federal depredation permit is not required to “take” crows that are causing (or about to cause) damage to fruit trees, crops, livestock, wildlife, or people as long as 1) none of the birds (or their plumage) are sold or offered for sale, 2) the person/entity taking the crows allows various flavors of law enforcement free access to the premises where the take is occuring and to all records/information associated with the actions, and 3) that the person/entity performing the take follows state regulations and obtains any required state permits.
Some states allow crows to be taken out of season when they are causing issues. From the link above, it would appear that Michigan may be one of them. The best place to find an accurate answer is your state’s game/natural resources dept.
But it sounds like the OP is resigned to living with the uninvited guests. Hopefully, the youngsters will soon settle down and become good neighbors. In the meantime, hide the cat food! :lol:
[QUOTE=Janet;4891445]
Yes.
There are white crows and black-and-white (hooded) crows.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, Janet-I guess my world is pretty small here in piedmont Carolina!
Just be thankful you only have eight of them. Pray they don’t take up a roost in your neighbourhood because they will come in every night at dust to roost - thousands of them from miles around. The noise they make is extraordinary, and messy. Every day they head off to the city for their daily pickings - garbage bags…returning like clockwork every night.
When we had lambs, the crows would sit in the trees mimicking them. I saw their beaks going “baa baa”, and it wasn’t the lambs. So smart.
There was a thread a while ago called a Murder of Crows with some interesting information.
My main “I love to hate 'em” are starlings…the sky is black with them sometimes and they land in my field.
I love them for their poop spreading service.
Haha, I ‘hate’ them for their poop spreading service, it makes poo-picking the pasture take much longer, coz the spreaded manure falls through my fork.
The reason they bother me, is because they drive out the red tailed hawks. We used to have 2 of them sitting in a tree nearby and time and time again would I see 3 to 4 crows chasing them out of the area.
I never thought crows to be ranking higher then hawks, but I’ve seen enough.
Like Mary in Area 1 we have lots of wildlife and I kinda like our crows, but the teenagers? SO loud!! I didn’t know why (thank you previous poster) but there is always a period in the spring when crow noise spikes. And yes they can be annoying, but they eat all our scraps! And are fun to watch.
My tiny cat thinks she’s going to catch one. She’s a good hunter but doesn’t realize they are actually bigger than she is.
You win the kewpie doll.
The name is Kills Crow Indian.
His ancestor earned the name by killing one of Custer’s Crow scouts at Little Bighorn.
String a wire or string a string
It needn’t be electric, a smaller gage wire or string will work because they really don’t like to roost on thin lines. They will go to the next best place to roost. You can also make treat spot else where when you are going to ride to get them elsewhere. PatO
Michigan has a regular season on shooting them, under the same permit for things like rabbits and squirrels. PEST crows can be shot out of season. Though I’ve never actually met anyone who hunts crow.
I once saw two on the roof of the maintenance shed on Mackinac Island (I worked for the Parks) and one was obviously a juvenile, about half the size of the other. He was babbling on and on and ON just in the most random way…until the adult roosting next to him turned and just SCREAMED in his face! He shut up for a good few minutes, until he started muttering again…just quieter. Much quieter. So even the adult crows get fed up with the noise from the juveniles!
We counted crows in the southern Appalachians.:yes: But the rhyme I remember is
One for sorrow
Two for mirth
Three means a funeral
Four means a birth
after that I lost count.:lol:
I’m glad you’re not going to kill your crows, OP.
DH and I went tent camping on our honeymoon. We live near the coast, where we just have polite little fish crows, who murmur “aww, aww, aww” in fairly dulcet (for a crow) tones. But we went camping in the mountains, in one of those little two-person dome tents. Just before dawn a big fat crow would perch on the roof (about two feet from the end of our noses) and shriek CAW CAW CAW at the top of his little avian lungs. Pretty sure DH thought about shooting it, but luckily we were unarmed.:winkgrin:
Today while I was outside, I heard crows from the south screaming and before long some crows from the west started yelling back. It honestly sounded like a group of people shouting directions back and forth…
but it was loud.
[QUOTE=JoZ;4890239]
I think the crows are a lot of fun. Does anyone else count them?
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told
Eight for a wish
Nine for a kiss
Ten for a life of endless bliss
I frequently see 8 – and my wish is that I’d see two more! :yes:[/QUOTE]
I believe that little ditty only counts when it’s magpies
Out foxhunting, I can sometimes tell where a fox is by seeing what the crows are up to.
I’ve seen them sound an alert or harass the fox.
Well…My morning started with crows outside my window at 5:30.DH did barn.Returned to house…6 crows on power line,one on ground several in tree(not sure if we hit the magical 10!)Great white hunter is climbing tree to nab any.Starting to feel like Alfred Hitchcock’s, The Birds!
I head to barn to turn the boy out…Not wide awake at that point.Fly mask,halter then out we go.I go in to pick out stall and sitting on the arm of a lawn chair (not 2 Ft from door)is fairly lg bl crow.Watching!Chilly and windy so maybe he’s cold?Get broom,hold in front of face,leave barn quietly…Hope he doesn’t scare old guy who goes out later…Pray he’s gone when I go back!
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