When I wake up, I start almost every morning off feeding my neighborhood squirrels. There’s only a handful of them and they’re quite cute, and content to stay outside where they belong. But this usually attracts another sharp-eyed critter. The crow. So today we’ll be talking about crow control, and whether it’s really something that you need to practice.
Crow Control: Overview
The Crow is believed to be the most intelligent of all birds. When trying to open nuts, it will purposely place them in the roadway so cars will crack them open. Crows are identified by their black feathers, black eyes and the caw-caw sound they make. Adult crows have a light violet gloss on their body and a greenish-blue gloss on their wings.
Crow Food Sources
Crows thrive mainly on corn, thus the reason scarecrows are put up in corn fields as well as other food crops and gardens. They damage corn crops by tearing open the cobs and exposing them to the weather. These birds can be seen sometimes following a plow so that they can feast on exposed earthworms. Although they cause damage to corn crops, crows are very beneficial to farmers by eating the June bugs, grasshoppers, weevils, and other insects that affect farmers’ fields. They also eat bugs, worms, road kill, mice, berries, spiders, millipedes, snails, salamanders, lizards, small mammals, and fast food leftovers. Crows like to store any excess food they may find. They usually hide food in areas such as trees or in rain gutters.
Mating, Reproduction Habits of Crows
When courting, the adult crow fluffs his feathers, struts and fly in a circle to attract a female crow. Once mated, the male and female crows stay together for life. Both take turns sitting on the 4-6 eggs in the nest. When building the nest, younger birds help build the nest and bring food and water to the mother to be. Building a nest usually take 1-2 weeks of gathering leaves, moss feathers, grass, twigs, and sticks. Baby crows stay in the nest for up to 2 months before leaving. Adult crows can live up to ten years and are 21 inches from beak to tail when fully grown.
Crow Roosting and Migration
Crows are found all around the world except in New Zealand , Antarctica, and South America. They are found mainly in agricultural lands, farmland, and woodlands. During the fall and winter months, crows “roost” together in packs. Roosting protects them from predators and always revolves around a major food source. Crows usually wait nearby until dusk before finding their roosting spot. Roosts can grow from 100 to thousands of crows. They have been known to migrate a few hundred miles away from their roost to search for scarce food and then return to the roost at night.
Crows are both migratory and resident. The Northern Crow usually migrates in the fall through January when the weather can get down to 0 degrees. Crows have been known to travel over 1500 miles to migrate to agricultural lands. Southern crows normally do not migrate as do their northern cousins.
Crows can sometimes be mistaken to be ravens and vice versa. Between the two, the Crow is the smallest. Although the raven is black like the crow, it is the largest of the two species and has a shaggy throat feature as well as a wedge-shaped tail that is most recognized when flying. When in flight, the raven’s tail is fanned out. Ravens also soar more than crows.
More so than most other birds, Crows are also very territorial. They will come to the aid of unrelated crows in need of help or distress. Owls and hawks are their main enemies.
Crow Control: Impact On Prey?
According to the works analyzed, when crows were taken away from their habitat, the survival rates of chickens and the number of eggs of other species were higher in most cases. Nevertheless, with respect to abundance, without corvids, an increased size of the populations of other birds was observed only in a small number of cases.
According to the study, when crows were removed from the environment, in 46% of cases their prey had greater reproductive success, while their abundance fell in less than 10% of cases.
Additionally, these experimental studies carried out in nine different countries (Canada, France, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the USA) revealed that, if corvids are eliminated but other predators are not, the impact on the productivity of their prey would be positive in only 16% of cases; whilst without corvids and other predators, including carnivores, the productivity of other birds improves in 60% of cases.
This suggests that crows, ravens, and magpies, amongst others, have a lower impact on prey than other threats. “Compensatory predation can also occur,” the researcher explains.
Crow Control: Techniques
At the end of the day, the crow isn’t enough of a pest to warrant a single person doing anything about it. If they become enough of a problem, that’s for your local government to handle. But if you REALLY don’t want them in your yard, there are a few easy steps you can take.
To start with, you can reduce your outdoor lighting. Crows tend to congregate in well-lit areas at night. Reducing your outdoor lighting will help make your space less attractive to crows. And since they’re most populous down here in the winter, address them early on in the season. Crows are migratory birds and typically choose roosting grounds in early winter. Disrupt their habits by addressing the birds as soon as they arrive so they don’t take up residence with you all winter.
You can even get some fake animals from the dollar store to help out. String fake crows from a Halloween store upside down with their wings out. Crows will avoid the fake dead crows. You can try using fake horned owls or snakes, but these will only deter the crows for a short while. Crows will even learn the patterns of animatronic animals and recognize that they aren’t real eventually.
Reflective items placed around your home can help as well. Crows can be frightened by moving shiny objects. You can find bird tape that is designed as a visual deterrent to crows. Hang shiny streamers on poles throughout your yard, or make a fence around your property by twisting the tape together and stringing it between poles along the perimeter. Move the location of your streamers periodically to keep the crows from overcoming them as a threat. And these are a few easy crow control tips.
