Good morning it is I, Madi, here briefly then I'll hand it over to Mom.
Look just a wee bit to my right and you can see our shepherd's shaft that holds
4 birdfeeders. Mom calls this my wild life enrichment center. We have all kinds of lovely birds visiting the feeders.
I'll be quite honest, next to the humans in her life and me...birds are mom's passion.....EXCEPT for
CROWS.
Mom said she had always heard they were smart...BUT as you read on you will
see they are now public enemy
#1
This is a very sturdy birdbath and has been here for as long as I can remember.
First rule for getting birds to your yard is water...CHECK!!
Look just a wee bit to my right and you can see our shepherd's shaft that holds
4 birdfeeders. Mom calls this my wild life enrichment center. We have all kinds of lovely birds visiting the feeders.
I'll be quite honest, next to the humans in her life and me...birds are mom's passion.....EXCEPT for
CROWS.
Mom said she had always heard they were smart...BUT as you read on you will
see they are now public enemy
#1
First rule for getting birds to your yard is water...CHECK!!
Now for the rest of the story
Mom will take over now:
Last weekend at the garden store I was looking for something to replace my bird bath. When I mentioned to the 'bird lady' the crows were using it to wash (yes who knew they washed) road kill. The her first words were take the birdbath away...that is horrid. I change the water in the birdbath daily, however, when I went out to move the bath, the smell about knocked me over. I even put on some gloves before I touched the rim of the thing to move it. I kept looking til I found the perfect set up. We already had the metal pot stand. I paid 2.59 for a plastic dish that fits in it perfectly.
The little black tray has been there for years. It is for smaller birds like chickadees and Carolina Wrens. Glory be one year we had a flock (at least 87) Cedar Wax wings stop by our watering hole. They only pass through in the very early spring. It is such an honor to have them too.
The old birdbath has been moved.
A pot of of flowers has been placed where the birdbath was located.
A few days after I made the change,
A few days after I made the change,
I was eating breakfast and nearly spit my cheerios out when I saw...... a crow come flying in expecting to land in the bird bath. It was hilarious!!
I could just imagine him squawking
abort abort abort
(re-enactment)
I'm happy to report no more nasty disgusting crows in the yard!!
For now I won the battle of the birds.
True story:
Crows have always reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's
movie
THE BIRDS
My friend Sally and I went to see it in the mid '60's.
If you seen it, you know it is a rather INTENSE movie.
During the scene, when the man is nailing boards over all the windows to keep the crazy, lunatic birds from flying into his house, the audio at the theater malfunctioned. About
10 seconds passed when someone in the theater started
saying, bang, bang bang as the hammer hit the nail.
It kind of released the tension everyone chuckled. UNTIL all of a sudden the audio returned so loud with all the squawking and turmoil Sally and I were about to break each other's hands.
OKAY
THE END!!
AND MY APOLOGIES TO MY FRIENDS AT
TROUT TALKIN' TABBIES FOR WRITING SUCH A LONG POST ON BURDS!!!!
Wow! I had no idea crows did such a thing. That is disgusting (although I guess it makes some sense). I'm glad your human outsmarted them.
ReplyDeleteI'm deep impressed... and glad that you won the battle. Maybe that crows were those alfred hitchcock had in his movie once? Phenny would like to have such crows.... he is hoping for some snacks... ewwww....
ReplyDelete'The Birds' was on last weekend. SHE watched it again. We don't like crows--they tease us--but we never knew they did stuff like that!!
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteOh yes, The Birds... not one to forget is it?! As to the food prep, racoons and most of the corvidae and sometimes hawks are known to use birdbaths for this purpose. In spring there is the situation of the adult female crow who tends the nest and babies all the time. She depends on her mate and other crows known as helpers to bring food for her to eat as well as the food they bring for her to feed to the nestlings. Since both she and her babies need water in addition to food, dunking the food in water provides much needed moisture. Crows sometimes dunk food in a bird bath and then carry the moistened food directly to a nest. They don't always eat it themselves.
So yes, it's gross for us; but essential for the birds! YAM xx
Ewwwwwww - who knew that crows could be so disgusting! Your birdie area is so serene and beautiful, Madi!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny about the crows assuming their "landing strip" was still available when it wasn't! HAHAHA on them! We hate that the crows chase every other bird away when Mom puts sunflower seeds out in the feeders. They are PIGS. Anyway, my Mom says she remembers "The Birds" and how scary the movie was. For WEEKS after that she would keep a close eye on all the phone lines!
ReplyDeleteHugs, Teddy
We have ravens out here and we think they are as evil as crows!
ReplyDeleteThose crows need to go somewhere else for their baths. Glad the Mom outsmarted them. Have a wonderful day.
ReplyDeletewow, what a creative answer to your crow problem, and the sound tract to the birds still gives me heebie jeebies... it scared me silly back when they made it... I was afraid to go outside and had been afraid of birds my whole life. I still am not in love with them like you and other bloggers.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you showed the crows who the boss is at your birdbath.
ReplyDeleteWe loved your re-enactment picture of the aborted landing. We have crows use our bird feeders but have never seen them bringing road kill to them. We have a neighbor that puts out bread scraps and the crows bring the dried bread to our water to soften them.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say "We have crows use our bird BATH..." not feeder.
ReplyDeleteAbort! Abort! Abort! Dying laughing!!! The crows didn't know they were dealing with a determined woman! Crows are very smart and they can be comical but mostly I find them really creepy and disgusting. Not too happy with blackbirds either.
ReplyDeleteLove your picture of the Cedar Waxwings... lucky you. We haven't seen them in a couple of years. I can't watch The Birds to this day... LOL!
BOL! That was a good joke you played in the crows. We've seen crows attack and kill baby birds in our area. In winter thousands of crows congregate in the City of Rochester and make all kinds of noise and mess. They have to be chased away with fireworks.
ReplyDeleteYups we're not fond of crows here either. We loved your story and the trick you played on the crows!! BOL Nothing like out foxing a crow to make your week.
ReplyDeleteMolly and my Mom @The Fast and The Furriest
http://thefastandthefurriestat.weebly.com/
Ugh, we didn't know that about crows. And to think our Mom once considered finding a way to attract them to our house... No, no, no, Mom!
ReplyDeleteWe don't try to attract birds, for two reasons: Sweetie and Patty O'Malley. Doesn't mean I wouldn't love to see more birds around...so I visit the local nature centers!
ReplyDeleteEwwwww!! We're very glad you fixed that. Nasty.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great bird bath set up you have, although I must say my view of crows changed completely when I read a book called 'Corvus', by Esther Woolfson, a local Aberdeen writer who over the years has kept crows and other corvids as pets. Now I look at the many crows in the park and think of them as super smart and brimming with personality!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Gail.
PS And it is a long, long time since I watched the Hitchcock film!
Mom says we do too much bird chasing for her to have feeders or baths in our yard. Dang it! But we really don't like those crows either - they like to sit on the rooftop and torment us.
ReplyDeleteWoos - Lightning and Misty
Ick, I didn't know they washed the road kill. That is funny that you tricked one by getting rid of the bird bath.
ReplyDeleteMadi are you going to tell the crowd the bath moved? BOL mom always thinks of the movie the Birds too. She is going to be that lady for Halloween and already bought crows to stick on her head and shoulders
ReplyDeleteLily & Edward
Oh dear, we had no idea crows would wash road kill in a bird bath! Disgusting! So glad you won the fight!!
ReplyDeletegood job I don't like crows! catchatwithcarenandcody
ReplyDeleteMOL! Your Mom just flipped them the bird!
ReplyDeleteWe had no idea crows washed their food....ewwwwwwwww.....your Mom did a good job winning the battle!!
ReplyDeleteHugs, your guy Raz and The Florida Furkids
HaHa! Brians comment is funny! Glad your mom found a solution!
ReplyDeletehugs
Mr Bailey Hazel & Mabel
Oh, wash road kill?!?! Our mom would be totally grossed out! We love your illustration of when the crow returned -- ha roo woo roo!
ReplyDeleteCammie!
So excited your mom found such a great way to have water for the little birds!
ReplyDeleteWe don't like the crows here either Madi.
ReplyDeleteThe tree rats cause enough trouble.
The little birds are fun to watch
from my front door too.
xo Astro
Those crows are sneaky and crafty! We get magpies coming onto our deck and they are beautiful butt gross. Water will bring them in. We like getting the Northern Flickers in the winter time. They always come back!
ReplyDeleteYour Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
We can't believe the crows use the birdbath to clean roadkill. Wow. You sure fooled them by moving the bath. MOL! The mom loves watching all the birds that come into our yard, too. You get some really interesting ones visiting you.
ReplyDeleteWho knew they cleaned da roadkill?
ReplyDeleteThose stinking crows are LOUD too! I had no idea they washed their roadkill ... EWWW and EWWW and EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I'm glad your Mom outsmarted them - at least for the moment. I'm so jealous of the flock of wax wings! Chickadees are my favorite and I can't remember the last one I saw.
ReplyDelete
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