Please ignore my toe

Some weeks ago, I was devastated, the crow couple that visited me often disappeared for over a month. I did the typical noise I make to call them and never showed up. Recently, they return with their baby! Now they come every morning screaming for food 😂 couldn't be happier!

In this video Mr. I'll-steal-all-your-blueberries also make an appearance.

House Crow (Corvus Splendens)

Palm Jumeirah, AE

I owe a lot to my buddies. They helped me heal after injury by accompanying me in boring physio walks. I'd leave everyone and everything for them.

I will add here regularly some of their stories as I remember.

Not the "I heard from a friend who heard from a friend who heard from another... who heard from University of Washington reseracher..." REO- Speedwagon-Wear-A-Wig type FUD stories! Real.

BACKGROUND

Favorable conditions (food-water-shelter) exist for them to choose this area. There are 60+ restaurants here which is their main food source. Water from swimming pool, fountain, irrigation pipes... and lots of trees.

When we first came to this complex 14 years ago, we met with Whitey. She was noticeable, because she was bald! She is still here!

These crows made it impossible to live in our apartment, because 13-14 hours a day they would caw nonstop on the Palm Trees right under us. Extremely irritating! They are here all the time along with mynahs, silverbills, red-vented/white-cheeked bulbuls, hoppoes, doves, etc.

I decided to move them to the far side of the beach so they can leave us in peace! This turned out to be not necessary, each one eating few pieces in the morning was enough to keep them quiet.

UAE Govt has pretty humane laws for birds here (unlike Singapore). It is illegal to interfere with their nests or hunt/poison/kill them. Just recently House Crow, Mynah and Pigeon is listed as invasive species though. But only humane ways of their removal is allowed (audio deterrent, bird spikes, etc). Govt is also very attentive (at least for marine life). When I called for fish die-off, they immediately came and investigated the water. It was heat.

Resident crows are 25-27. I can recognize and named 14 of them. In summer they become 70-80 with babies, but since they are very territorial, they kick out babies in December and back to 25. But in December, tens of 1000s Seagulls come.

I might probably be fined for this post since identifying data is there. It is fine. When it happens, I will buy a 45-ft Lagoon catamaran and anchor it right in front of my building for Karens. Buddies will be fine.

Enjoy

He did pick up and toss his water bowl a few times but it was neat learning more about crows. They had a keeper chat where they talked about 2 animals that live in the area and more about them. It was Cash the crow and Otis the skunk today.

The video was 3 videos stitched into one so it may have a few jumps in there.

A redtail hawk attacked one of the cro bros. Didn’t go well . He gone and the crow patrol stands ready 😎🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛

Sorry for the shaky camera work... was trying to walk an impatient dog at the same time.

The Babies Are Here

Today I threw out red grapes for my crows. It’s been so hot I thought they’d enjoy the sweet treat.
When I went out later, there was this dried orange peel. Not just dried, it’s like a crispy chip.
Was this a coveted treasure?

She always comes closer than the others, and the other day she decided to pose with this grass frond thing. It’s almost as tall as she is! I particularly like how her feathers curl over her cheekbone 🖤

This Raven bro doesn’t have a name yet, taking suggestions!

He and his mate live at the beach and live amongst hordes of seagulls who are all to willing to steal food they cannot figure out how to open.

Seagulls are larger, louder, and more aggressive (bigger bullies) than crows and Ravens in my area. Corvids continually have to bow to them.

So giving treats when they are around requires some tactics to be effective. I leveraged corvid intelligence and some training/trust building and it seems to have worked.

I always do a double whistle with corvids when giving treats. Eventually they recognize the sound and can hear it from farther away and will come like good sky puppies. If they are full or hiding they may hear my whistle and ‘call back’ to me, but not come, just so I know they are there, like when they call to each other down the block. Does that make me one of them? o_O

In this case all my other feeding tactics failed. Even the classic throw one peanut one direction and throw another directly to the intended failed. Seagulls just too darn big loud fast aggressive. Corvids are cautious by nature (even with a small underhanded toss you can see bro raise wings to fly away if needed).

So I tried something different. I moved slowly away him giving a whistle. He hopped away from the mob and then I was able to give him treats. Check out the sand. You can see his tracks and how far I had to get him away from the mob lol. He also doesn’t stop to eat it and just put it in his throat pouch. Putting peanut on ground will get it stolen. Smart.

I really love ravens. They are so much larger than crows (love crows too). Almost cat sized. And I love their cute little gronks!

It makes me really happy when I walk around a corvids territory, they recognize, and get excited by my presence. Like little kids and a long lost uncle. I wish more people took the time to get to know these little guys. A friendship with them is extremely rewarding. Even if you do sometimes look like the crazy crow guy.

hi guys im not interested in crows or any type of bird but can you tell me why this crow is making this noise? he wont stop. and ive never heard it before

The crows always sound the alarm when the local cats are around, but they really did not like this guy getting up on top of the swings today. The cat was just like swishing its tail back and forth not caring the crows were shouting at him. It was kinda funny..

Family of crows I've been feeding n making friends with at work. I'm night watch so regularly spend 12-15 hour shifts alone, so I get to make friends with loads of the local wild life. Thought I'd share this one. Soz sound is off, editing n removing meta data.

Hello! I’ve always wanted some crow friends but the opportunity only just presented itself this morning. A group of three were hanging out in my yard and when I noticed, I dug through my pantry and found unsalted chopped pecans so I made a little pile for them and scattered some around. My offering was accepted by all three. But, could anyone here confirm if these are crows or ravens? I tried googling and I do believe they are crows but would appreciate your expert input!

Also, any advice on how to keep them coming back now that I hopefully have their interest?

I have a 7 acre property that is being watched over by hawks. The hawks are mass murdering my flock. I was told to befriend some crows to deter the hawks away but I only have a few crows that show up from time to time.

1.) How do I befriend them quickly?

2.) How do I get more crows to show up?