Thanks everyone for your input. It's nice to hear so many positive comments as not everyone likes crows. Yes I agree crows are very easily spooked. It was amazing to see the largest bird in our garden was actually the most timid. I do put out meat occassionally and the crow did take some along with the magpies who are certainly not as shy. I put out cat biscuits soaked in water every single day as I believe corvids love them and I also saw crow eating them. The magpies head straight for them every morning once I've put them out! Dennis, re your comment about the bread, I actually don't have to pre-soak the bread before I put it out because our clever maggies have already sussed how to drop a piece into the bowl of drinking water which I leave out for the birds (or sometimes they drop it into their birdbath) before they eat it!!!.......very canny corvids!
Me too with bread in my garden, but not dry bread, i chop it up into small pieces and put in a large pan, then fill with water to the top to totally soak the bread, then pour onto garden wet through, it goes down a treat, they usually wait on the nearby roofs watching me and wait till the coast is clear , also cooked potatoes strangly goes down well too, cold boiled spuds,
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Did you see it? It was small and brown and flew that way.........................
but they are exceptionally clever and shy and spook at the slightest noise.
To say the least Tony.
I've found the best attractors big lumps of bread or a smashed up chicken frame.
Their method of food collection is like an under-cover military operation.
They are very active at dawn ..... turning up in the half-light (usually as a pair) but alighting at a safe distance and weigh the situation up for at least 5 minutes even when they are fed every day.
They then fly down to the bait but not to feed ....... one bird keeps look-out while the other gathers up as much as it can in its beak then goes on look-out while its mate gathers. Then they fly off to cache there prize and return as fast as they can and keep going until they have mopped it all up ........ nothing else, even the Magpies get a sniff.
It's surprising how fast they can clear up even a large amount but they are ever so wary at all times .... I've watched them for years and never been disappointed.
Roger .
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Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
A really tall tree like a hundred year-old Black Poplar :)
We had a pair nesting in our garden for several years, until unfortunately we had to take the tree down as it was becoming unsafe. The Crows have now moved 2 doors down.
They will literally eat anything from chicken bones, bread, apples, worms etc. but they are exceptionally clever and shy and spook at the slightest noise.
-- Edited by Tony Coatsworth on Friday 10th of August 2012 09:01:13 AM
Has anyone got any tips for attracting crows to my garden? You may think this is a strange request as I am aware that crows can scare away other birds but I have recently had a lone crow visit my garden on a daily basis, several times a day, but now he seems to have vanished and I'd love to see him back again. Contrary to popular belief my crow had no "scare effect" on my regular garden visitors, in fact he seemed extremely timid and would only land in my garden when there was few or no birds in it (he would wait on a nearby roof until the coast was clear!). I'm not sure if I possibly attracted him in the first place by putting chicken eggs out at night for a fox which had visited (I believe crows do like eggs) and then maybe he decided he liked all the other food I put out and so he became a regular diner at my restaurant...but it's strange how I don't see him anymore ....could he have been scared off by the ever increasing number of squirrels in my garden (up to 7 at one time)? Anyway, I'd love to hear of some guaranteed ways to entice him back. I love crows, I find them so beautiful and fascinating and amazingly intelligent.
