By Judi Curry
It’s been a little over a week since I wrote about the problem that “Mr. X” was having with the crows in his backyard. They followed him everyplace he went; dive-bombing him unexpectedly at different intervals. It did not matter if he was in his own backyard; in my backyard; walking on Sunset Cliffs, etc. For the most part they missed him, but I noticed that even the neighbors were staying away from him in fear that they too might be injured by these crows.
Since that article appeared, someone suggested that Mr. X have some peanuts available for the crows to eat. Maybe they were hungry. Since Mr. X doesn’t use Amazon – and I do – I ordered 10 pounds of raw, unsalted peanuts for him to feed the enemies. I put some in my backyard also, because Mr. X acts as my handyman sometimes and he is over often. The crows ate the peanuts from my dish without hesitation. Sometimes they would crack them open on my fence; sometimes they would drop them into the bird bath to soften the shell and eat them from the dish.
Did they eat them at Mr. X’s house? What do you think? If you said “no”, you were right. They looked at them, “cawed” at them, and flew away. Mr. X began walking with a handful of peanuts and would throw at the crows, hoping they would stop and pick them up while he, Mr. X, escaped their wrath. It also didn’t work.
In this time of “mask wearing”, Mr. X and I began talking about wearing a “crow mask”. Maybe if they thought that he was “one of them”, they would leave him alone. The more I thought about it I thought it might be better if he were a “bigger bird”. So, once again, I went to the pages of Amazon.
This follow-up is to alert the neighbors that if they see an odd looking person walking down the street with a bevy of crows following him, not to worry. No need to call the police. He is not casing the place; he is not mentally ill; he is not drunk. He is merely protecting himself. Because yesterday what I ordered from Amazon arrived, and I invited some of the neighbors in to watch the “unveiling.”
Here is the new “persona” of Mr. X. We can only hope that this works. (Just a note: when Mr. X went home after the grand opening, there wasn’t a crow in sight!)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Still quiet over there – 12:00pm!!!!
PBS has a program on crows. It is probably one of the Nature shows. Crows do not forget a wrong and it can continue from generation to generation. In the show a researcher wore a Nixon mask to confuse the birds and also wore a mask backwards.
They are really very smart. Smarter than some people I know!
I have never seen a crow attack a person. I throw a pebble or doggie chew toy at them if they try to set up in my yard and that keeps them away. I’ve seen them get into some midair fights with ospreys that fight back and parrots that just flee.
There used to be a much smaller blackbird that would attack people’s heads as they walked down Voltaire St just east of Cafe Bella and OB Quik.
Come on over and see them. They really dive-bomb him. Throwing something at them only makes them more angry. They really hurt him when they hit him in the head. A little bit scary.
One reason they would do this is if there was one that was injured, or died on or near the location. Crows and Ravens often hold “funerals” for deceased members that can last for days if the dead one had high status in the murder. ( Murder is the name for a group of crows, nothing to do with murder in human terms). If you are going to feed them offer wet dog food rolled into small balls. Crows are omnivores but prefer carrion. Never throw things at them or somehow attack them as this would make things worse. Hope this helps