"I HAVE CROWS EVERYWHERE!"

“I HAVE CROWS EVERYWHERE!”

Having lived in my house a long time, I hadn’t seen any crows around until the last couple of years and now I am bombarded with them. They like to stay in an oak tree that is across the street from me—it’s a wooded area. The minute I put out birdseed or bread for birds and squirrels and come inside, they swarm into my yard. They are huge and beautiful but also skittish for if they see me watching them from my kitchen window and make a move, they fly off in unison.

Sometimes I will have as many as twenty in my yard—that’s a lot of crows! And they will eat anything in sight leaving the yard barren of anything I put out. At other times, I will see only three or four mingling with other birds such as cardinals, chickadees and the like and the smaller birds pay no attention to the crows at all. [Could be that such a small number of crows is not as threatening to the smaller birds as a large number.] I do know that they are on constant watch to see if I put anything out—how could they not be for they swoop down as soon as I shut my front door.

Curious me decided to google crow information and I was astounded to learn that they have a good memory; not only that but if someone is mean to one of them, they will carry a grudge forever. And a group of flying crows is called a “murder:” Doesn’t mean that they are on a murdering rampage—it’s just what the group is called.

I have seen hundreds of crows gathering across the street at times and then they all take off in a huge group flying across the river which is way down below my house. If you’ve ever heard a crow, imagine that sound magnified by a hundred: It’s so loud that it blasts your ear drum! These gatherings are no doubt a reason to congregate and fly off for food somewhere else.

It’s fun to watch a crow grab something out of my yard such as an ear of corn [I put those out in the fall] and take it out to the street. The crow will put its feet on the ear of corn and eat away right there in the street but also protecting that corn from other crows. One specific day, I had three crows on my split rail fence and two were in the yard. All of a sudden, a red-tailed hawk flew down and sat perched beside the three crows:  I could see the hawk’s yellow eyes as it peered to the left and the right to see the crows. But the hawk decided to fly away for it was outnumbered. A red-tailed hawk will attack a crow in a heartbeat but not when it’s outnumbered.

Another fact about crows [maybe you the reader knew this] is that they will swoop down and peck at a small dog or cat. I actually saw this happen a long time ago and was so surprised—my neighbors had a small dog that they let out in their backyard and one day a crow came down and pounced on that little dog. The dog was all right with a few scratches.

So many sayings about crows are prevalent in our English language:  “As straight as a crow flies” is one as is “dark as a crow’s wing.” There are so many more but I’m sure you’ve heard them. And as for a “scarecrow” I don’t think they do much good at all in keeping crows away from crops. Crows catch on real fast that the “scarecrow” is a fake!

If you’re out and about glance up and see if you see any crows: They are awesome to watch. Just don’t be mean to one for they have that long-term memory!

Sherry Hill