As a child my friend was always getting blamed for loosing keys, necklaces, etc… they also had a crow that would visit their yard daily. After a bad storm a tree fell and there was the crows nest! Lo and behold within the nest was all the little missing trinkets!!
Oh no poor friend but such interesting crow behavior ! Did your friend continue to like crows or were they upset they were getting blamed the whole time ?
Apart from the crow experiment I laughed when I saw the jays doing what they do in my yard. They pick up several peanuts and put them down again, as if trying to see which weighs more before selecting the one they are going to take.
I live in Quebec, Canada, and I put out some sparkly, broken earrings to see if the crows would come for them. I put the pieces in two trays. The next morning they were all gone and I found a rusty nail on the small table on the patio. I have no clue where the nail came from and I can only conclude that my friendly crows left it as a thank you gift. :)
I’ve gotten a button, piece of Mylar ribbon. A little crumbled piece of metal and you won’t believe this. A Crow dropped a penny on my lap while I was catching some rays! But my schedule changed drastically while I had to take care of my mother and I was gone for months. They aren’t here any more and now we have a nest of hawks across the alley and we have lost our birds. - all of them!
The camera probably scares them away especially if the record light comes on. And they seem to bring small metal objects like pennies if you leave them out. They will also leave you feathers and bones. Blue Jays are part of the crow family so they will come around also. And the CD and fork is probably too big.
I think the CD was too much - too big and reflective. I have a murder of crows who come to my backyard every day and have left me gifts including a gold necklace and a rusty bracelet. I love crows! ❤
Good video and its nice to see someone feeding the wild creatures... i did once see a crows Parliament on the moors miles from anywhere in England where i live, and they picked a spot that wasnt overlooked and it was a beautiful part of the moor and as i approached from over a small hill they was all up and away but i saw how they arranged that court in a big circle of 40 or fifty foot with at least than many crows and they formed a small opening / passage into the middle where one was seeming to admonish another who had its head bowed whilst the other seemed to be talking....... a friend of mine said iwas so lucky to see it and in hundreds of years they do not often get observed.... good memories from an old man who cannot walk the moors now.
I think shiny metal in general scares birds. I remember reading a tip somewhere about protecting fruit trees from birds by hanging old CDs, metallic pinwheels, or aluminum pie pans in the branches.
Growing up my family has pecan orchards with hundreds of pecan trees. That we harvested pecans from as a business. From time to time crows nests would be found that had fallen out of the trees with featherless baby crows still alive. Many times fire ants would find them first. We would feed and raise a few here and there. They are very social with humans if raised with them. They stayed outside and would hang out with other wild crows until they saw one of us or we called their name. Then they would swoop in out of nowhere. They knew their names also. You could yell Harry or Chester and here they would come. Usually the other two would show up eventually but the one you called would almost always get there first. Chester would ride on the hood of the pickup hanging onto the windshield wiper and spread his wings like he was flying and make a sound I can only describe as laughter. I don't know if this is a result of them being semi domesticated, but they collected so many shiny things. You couldn't leave your windows down because they would take your keys. They would take ballpoint pens that were shiny and metal. They would take bottle caps of beer bottles. The coke tabs that used to pull off all the way before they had the little ones that stick on there. Nickels and dimes, they didn't really care for pennies too much. Me and my brother work constantly having to climb on top of the house and get keys to people's vehicles back because they would leave the windows rolled down. Neighbors that were miles away sometimes had their keys end up on top of the house. And of the three they all had their own pile. Norton's pile was the absolute worst. His was always two to three times larger than Harry's or Chester's. So I don't know if it's a regional thing, a domestication thing or what but they collected shiny things.
Such BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES, for YOU & YOUR FAMILY, to CHERISH!!! THANK YOU soooooo MUCH, for SHARING, this HEARTWARMING STORY, with US!!! GOD BLESS!!! VICKI🐦BYRD NORTH CAROLINA
on a kayak expedition deep into remote regions of Lake Powell, apparently a crow got into my unattended partially open bag in the kayak as we were hiking about a mile up from the beached boats. I might not have noticed, but a big crow flew low right over my head carrying a large wrapped Little Debbie rice crispy treat in his beak like a canard wing, croaking once. The only way I have successfully attracted them here in MO was with meat scraps. They don't want peanuts in shells here.
I used to spin my wedding ring on the picnic table. Of course, I left it there and went in the house for awhile. Saw a crow out on the deck and when I went outside both the crow and my ring were gone. I think its in the crook of a tree at the back of the property the crows poke around in from time to time. Too high to climb for me. It's his now.
The frequency that is emitted from your camera whenever it is recording is probably what is deterring them. There is a pulse sent out anytime you touch a touch screen phone to zoom in on your camera Etc and a GoPro emits frequencies as well that most animals avoid. That's why it's so hard to get a good face pic of an animal because they always turn away when you're pulling the camera out LOL
It’s good you got them to even venture into your square feeders .. mine wont. Some mentioned the CD as a deterrent and the go-pro. Others have also mentioned they won’t go near cameras. Finally, i think the plastic dish is the biggest problem. Next time just dump the objects on the ground…. And only small things like bottlecaps, coins, rings.. nothing bigger than that. BUT if they are building nests nearby they use all kinds of wire and stuff.. including coathangers.
I had the same experience with my crow family that visits daily. I tried to attract them to a huge silver tray with bird seeds. However, they avoided the tray and went to the usual place I leave their peanuts. I love crows!
“Then I just walked about the house looking for anything that … … wasn’t mine!” 😊 Seriously, thoroughly enjoyed your video and experiment. I wonder if you’d get different results by isolating the shiny stuff, ie, just leave the nail clipper out on its own. Have subscribed. I live in rural France (since 2008) . Plenty of crows thankfully. But in my time there has been a decimation of animal varieties. Loved seeing squirrels and the crows just about tolerating one another.
I have crows visit me daily for cat food and peanuts. A family of 5. Dad, Mum, and 3 Babes. I befriended them last Christmas and they been coming every single day ever since. I’m located along the east coast at the tippy top of N Florida. I was recently told by a elderly naturalist hippie lady to loosely hang small shiny objects in my big tree in the front yard. Hang the necklace from a branch. Drill a hole in a coin and small baby spoon. And to do this sporadically. One or two items every other day from when you notice items missing. Slowly and methodically. I think you should give this experiment another go if your crows are still around. Start slow and small. Hang them. I’ll do it with you! Let’s see how we do!? ✨
If you ever re-test this idea, try leaving the cd out. I've used them to keep woodpeckers from destroying my house. My pet budgies are creeped out by them too, and they love to investigate shiny objects, especially silver rings. I chose them to keep woodpeckers away because they are easy to spot, but mainly because they look like giant eyes 👁️👄👁️
One of the crows at my house just stole a silver food bowl that I use to feed a feral cat. He literally picked it up and flew off with it and then dropped it in my driveway. So maybe it depends on the crow? Or because he knew there was food in it? They steal the cat food daily. I’m going to get some peanuts and corn just for them so maybe the cat can actually get to eat his food in peace. 😂
My grandma used to hang aluminum pie plates from her pear trees to keep the crows from ruining all the fruit. The movement and noise when the wind blew would also scare the squirrels.
I had observed crow are carring extra food and hide it somewhere else and able to find out it latter. I AM KEEPING LEFTOVER FOOD AND WATER FOR BIRDS EVERY SUMMER from Pune,India. Thank you for informattive video..
Crows like tools, and yes I believe they are interested in shining things, but not during time eating, my crows are 5 deep, and I notice they have scout crows that watch, while others eat, and they are very very thorough ie if I go walking around the block they call to each other at different points of my walk and basically have constant sight of me from the trees, and announce to each other where I'm at on the block...this is only if they are waiting to eat, because I on the other hand only feed them once a day, and it's basically scraps and leftovers and catfood, yet I do hook them up with peanuts, cashews, but they also love dipping their food in water. I noticed there are many birds in that area, if it was " their own personal area in the yard" they'd be more likely to chill rather than jack a peanut and take off, understand, they can eat like pigs, I feed them macaroni and cheese, ham, chicken, beans, any leftovers, and then catfood on top of leftovers then peanuts on top of catfood, and tbh them and the buzzards are usually posted in one spot of the yard, and the other birds like blue Jay's cardinals, Robin's, they in another spot more by the seed, my crows never tried for the bird feeders so I just started feeding them in a completely different area, they love to heckle things, like cats or the buzzards lol, get smaller objects and put it in the food, they won't accidentally eat it, rather pick it out, game won for the crows, they like puzzles, and they recognize your face, they have the intelligence of a 5 year old and the camera tbh could of been weird to them..
Crows loved the pint plastic deli tub I tried to set out to provide water in the summer. A crow would grab the rim and dump the water as it waved the tub around. Fortunately, they left the replacement ceramic pet bowl alone
Haven’t seen them attracted to shiny objects - likely b/c I myself am attracted to them, and keep them in the house! 😂 I had a friend who put out a whole (unboiled) chicken’s egg for a crow, every day. Just left the egg on a stump for it. As for shiny, crows are cautious. Maybe you made it too obvious? Nice footage
I think they like sparkly things more, things that reflect the sun the most probably. I think putting Pennies on the roof helped when I first began attracting them. I know water reflects too so maybe this is another reason birds notice shiny things. Shiny things also can indicate movement or a change in habitat so it could draw attention to the area. Maybe they don’t like the cd 😹
Q: try it again without the cd? The cd has an unnatural sparkle; nobody said they were attracted to iridescent objects. In fact, don't people string up aluminum pie pans to repel crows from gardens? The cd is reminiscent of a pie pan, imo.
Cool experiment! I might guess the novelty concerns them, particularly with the food and objects together experiment section. Once I was feeding crows and pigeons on a beach, (tossing nuts on the ground near me), and the crows only took food if I looked away. Each time, I dropped food closer till some was on my foot. The pigeon took food even from my foot, but the crows kept a certain distance, letting the pigeon eat everything, as they watched from their perception of safety. (Too close and it didn't matter if I looked away or not, they wouldn't approach, unlike the pigeon.). Those crows watched other animals eat near the shiny objects but didn't do so themselves. Their caution outweighs observed novel convenience.
Crows are not afraid of shiny stuff. They HATE unknown objects. At least objects of a certain size. You could have put whatever big thing in the food box and they would have been extremely distrustful. The collection of metal objects may just be too much. I would have put one small piece next to the food box. I am friends with 15+ crows whom I feed daily on my balcony. Most of them do not mind picking up food from 10cm next to me (given I look in the opposite direction), one or two have taken food from my hand. I do not really have an opinion on this question. During the four years of our close relationship they (I guess) have made me just one present (I noticed as such): a beautiful peace of metal (no idea what it is), looks like copper. Crows (assuming they are similar everywhere) do not really like peanuts. I made some experiments a while ago. Their most preferred (kind of) nut is cashew. By a huge margin. In winter many of my crows prefer cashew even over meat. The next best ones are walnuts / Brazil nuts, almonds, hazelnut, peanut. Everything without shell. My spoilt brats would not even take peanuts without shell any more. Some even give me a disappointed stare when they see only walnuts in the bowl... They like peanuts and (much more) walnuts for storage, though. Nuts are a bad food while they are feeding their nestlings. During that time you should switch to meat, fish, eggs, and/or insects. 🖤
Some crows do like shiny stuff. One visits the shiny metal chimney pot on the house opposite - it almost attacks it. At first i thought it had lost a friend down the chimney but on speaking to the owner, nope - it just likes to come and bash and pull on it with its beak like it's gonna take it home one day if it just keeps trying. It wakes us all up early with the noise!
In my experience with crows and ravens, they are often shy of something "new" for a while, maybe even days. No surprise they preferred eating the peanuts in the shell. Nothing can be inferred from that really. I agree with one commentator that said "the CD was too much". Also, instead of putting it all in a bowl, spread it out on the ground or on a surface. Overkill, visual overload perhaps. Hours of testing don't mean a thing with these smart creature. Days and weeks of it would provide better data. Thanks for trying!
I’m getting ready to put out a crow feeder. Will they bother my other smaller birds and their feeders? Will the squirrels invade and take over? Thanks for your help!
I have crows that come to my platform feeder daily and I know they would be afraid if they saw something different on or by the feeder! They are very suspicious creatures. I have also been feeding them for years and I have yet to have them bring me any gifts lol!
Oh, well... I was hoping to attract crows with a shiny-handle bird feeder. I guess the handle won't matter much, as long as I fill the feeder with peanuts...
I have many crows 🐦⬛ on my property along with fowl I raised and stray cats that I adopt ! For some reason several months ago I decided to google information on crows and I looked them up on TH-cam too . The information I learned was that to get crows to trust you , one must leave them small shiny things because they use these to decorate their nest ! It also said to feed them every day at the same time and to talk to them so they can remember your voice . Well I did all that and even ordered beautiful gold plated dime size buttons that have crystals in 12 different shiny colors ! Totally lovely ! I also decided to add cashews to their peanuts and sunflower seeds ! Well today is May 9th Thursday 2024 2 1/2 months later and the crows eat up the nuts but the shiny crystal buttons , they totally ignore ! I have put them around their food trays and my roof top and nothing ! They don’t take anything and still fly away when I try to befriend them ! So as far as I am concerned the story that crows 🐦⬛ like shiny things is a made up lie ! A total myth ! New subscriber ! 👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰😊😊😊⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍👍👍
A visit to any crow’s nest will show cigarette pack foil woven into it. I saw a crow’s nest that featured the arm of a red flannel shirt as its lining.
I tryied to attract them with chrome chains, keychans, cat food, fish and an enbalmed crow that a friend gave me. After 20 min there were 50 crows in the air, screaming for 10 min, everyone looking at me, but none landed :( I will try peanuts and no chrome
Birds are big on mourning ceremonies. If you've ever seen a dying or dead bird of almost any kind, you'll notice there are plenty others in the trees nearby chirping and cawing away. They likely saw the presumably dead, unmoving crow, and were doing exactly that.
I think it may be Magpies and not Crows. There's a Magpie that's attracted to a bit of shiny metal on my satellite dish. It perches on it and pecks at it when the sun shines off it.
Yes, I was brought up with the idea that it was magpies too. Our house backed onto woods and my Mum used to warn us not to leave the upstairs windows open if we had anything shiny on the window sill. Having said that, I've never seen any birds with shiny things in their beaks.
Ohio, Holmes County. Never see them take anything shiny. I have left shiny things out also and nothing taken. But I have trained a few not to caw next to home. And when that doesn't work I place a Styrofoam Crow upside down in my window to upset them.
Not crows, but what looked like maybe a magpie, anyway it was black and white, carry off a military canopener (P38) while I was in an apc (M113) on training in Australia back in the 80s or 90s.
Like Bower birds they may only care about shiny and colorful objects during mating season when they live to attract mates. Of course, I'm totally ignorant about this subject. Just Guessing
Have you bright colors? I would be interested if they are attracted to colors. I think I saw somewhere that marbles were part of a gift exchange with humans friendly humans they trust.
Test small blue shiny objects. We lost a key with a blue bottleopener attached to the same ring. It was the only key to a closet. Had to buy a new door. My wife forgot the key on a table outside just for fifteen minutes. We investigated the disapering with neighbours, but the only explanation is a bird stealing the key to decorate a nest.
Maybe the CD was a bit too shiny and oversized... reading the comment about how crows avoided the lady's silver plated feeder. A little shine catches their eyes, too much might keep them at bay!?! You should retry this with a smaller, pickable items.
Honestly, I think your "test" was flawed. You collected a bunch of stuff--especially things like that fork and some of the other long pointy things--that greatly resemble the sort of things that would comprise a trap. Think about what a snare or leg-hold trap looks like. There is always a string or chain (like the one you had in the tray), a lever with some sort of counterbalance (like the fork or the screwdriver you had in the tray) and bait (like peanuts). Crows are incredibly intelligent. They aren't going to go anywhere near something that looks like a trap to them. Also, when they find shiny things, they aren't usually collected together and placed in a tray like some sort of food offering. They will find them singly--like a dropped coin, or ring. If I were conducting this experiment, I would first set up my camera where I wanted to observe activity. Then I would go back in the house and wait a few hours. Then I would put a few coins in my pocket and go about some routine business in the yard--like filling the bird feeders. While engaging in this activity, I would pull out a Kleenex or something from my pocket (where the coins are located) and "accidentally" drop one or two in front of the camera. Crows watch us carefully, (I know this from personal experience.) and will see everything you are doing. They will be much less suspicious of this ordinary activity than they will be of a tray full of very dubious objects placed in their way for no apparent reason. If you don't believe me, try it.
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Did you try to scatter the shiny objects on the ground away from the container ? Did you try smaller shiny objects ? Nope nope nope So your theory could be false information Thank you I have been feeding crows for about 4 years now
I think you had too much stuff there and some things intimidatingly big for the crows. If you try using one small shiny object about the size of a dime or a ring, I think you'll have better luck.
No! That steal all the time and bring you stuff back. All the time. Keep your dog out of that area! And but the feeders higher off the ground. Yes these cd so a no no
As a child my friend was always getting blamed for loosing keys, necklaces, etc… they also had a crow that would visit their yard daily. After a bad storm a tree fell and there was the crows nest! Lo and behold within the nest was all the little missing trinkets!!
Oh no poor friend but such interesting crow behavior ! Did your friend continue to like crows or were they upset they were getting blamed the whole time ?
Apart from the crow experiment I laughed when I saw the jays doing what they do in my yard. They pick up several peanuts and put them down again, as if trying to see which weighs more before selecting the one they are going to take.
My Stellers jays do the same thing. One even flew away with a peanut, but immediatly returned and exchanged it for another, presumably better peanut.
I've noticed that, too. They remind me of my Dad thumping all the watermelons in the grocery store before selecting one.
I live in Quebec, Canada, and I put out some sparkly, broken earrings to see if the crows would come for them. I put the pieces in two trays. The next morning they were all gone and I found a rusty nail on the small table on the patio. I have no clue where the nail came from and I can only conclude that my friendly crows left it as a thank you gift. :)
wow thats weird maybe they gave them to somebody else what could they use it for otherwise
Once my mom left out peanuts for the crows and they brought us a gold colored button
I think you can safely say that the crow that took the earrings is telling you that you “nailed it” with the gifts you put out for it.
@@silaslarson7329 Hahaha! Yes! Very clever birds! :)
I’ve gotten a button, piece of Mylar ribbon. A little crumbled piece of metal and you won’t believe this. A Crow dropped a penny on my lap while I was catching some rays! But my schedule changed drastically while I had to take care of my mother and I was gone for months. They aren’t here any more and now we have a nest of hawks across the alley and we have lost our birds. - all of them!
The camera probably scares them away especially if the record light comes on. And they seem to bring small metal objects like pennies if you leave them out. They will also leave you feathers and bones. Blue Jays are part of the crow family so they will come around also.
And the CD and fork is probably too big.
I think the CD was too much - too big and reflective. I have a murder of crows who come to my backyard every day and have left me gifts including a gold necklace and a rusty bracelet. I love crows! ❤
Yes I'm a year late lol but what the hell is a murder of crows?
@@davidivey9257 a group of crows lol
@@stinni407 oh ok 🤣😂
Good video and its nice to see someone feeding the wild creatures... i did once see a crows Parliament on the moors miles from anywhere in England where i live, and they picked a spot that wasnt overlooked and it was a beautiful part of the moor and as i approached from over a small hill they was all up and away but i saw how they arranged that court in a big circle of 40 or fifty foot with at least than many crows and they formed a small opening / passage into the middle where one was seeming to admonish another who had its head bowed whilst the other seemed to be talking....... a friend of mine said iwas so lucky to see it and in hundreds of years they do not often get observed.... good memories from an old man who cannot walk the moors now.
I think shiny metal in general scares birds. I remember reading a tip somewhere about protecting fruit trees from birds by hanging old CDs, metallic pinwheels, or aluminum pie pans in the branches.
That must be why I often see random CDs on people's trees here in NYC!
I used to think it was some left over Xmas decoration... 🤦♀
There's a crow that daily comes and taps and pulls on the metal chimney pot on the house opposite. It's obsessed. It's why I'm watching this video 😄
I fed a crow once and it brought me a CD
IT WAS A FRIKIN RICK ROLL CD!
Growing up my family has pecan orchards with hundreds of pecan trees. That we harvested pecans from as a business. From time to time crows nests would be found that had fallen out of the trees with featherless baby crows still alive. Many times fire ants would find them first. We would feed and raise a few here and there. They are very social with humans if raised with them. They stayed outside and would hang out with other wild crows until they saw one of us or we called their name. Then they would swoop in out of nowhere. They knew their names also. You could yell Harry or Chester and here they would come. Usually the other two would show up eventually but the one you called would almost always get there first. Chester would ride on the hood of the pickup hanging onto the windshield wiper and spread his wings like he was flying and make a sound I can only describe as laughter. I don't know if this is a result of them being semi domesticated, but they collected so many shiny things. You couldn't leave your windows down because they would take your keys. They would take ballpoint pens that were shiny and metal. They would take bottle caps of beer bottles. The coke tabs that used to pull off all the way before they had the little ones that stick on there. Nickels and dimes, they didn't really care for pennies too much. Me and my brother work constantly having to climb on top of the house and get keys to people's vehicles back because they would leave the windows rolled down. Neighbors that were miles away sometimes had their keys end up on top of the house. And of the three they all had their own pile. Norton's pile was the absolute worst. His was always two to three times larger than Harry's or Chester's. So I don't know if it's a regional thing, a domestication thing or what but they collected shiny things.
Thank you for helping the baby Crows.
Thank you for sharing this. It's lovely.♥ Greetings from Alsace, France.
Such BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES, for YOU & YOUR FAMILY, to CHERISH!!! THANK YOU soooooo MUCH, for SHARING, this HEARTWARMING STORY, with US!!!
GOD BLESS!!!
VICKI🐦BYRD
NORTH CAROLINA
That was a cool story. Crows are pretty cool.
on a kayak expedition deep into remote regions of Lake Powell, apparently a crow got into my unattended partially open bag in the kayak as we were hiking about a mile up from the beached boats. I might not have noticed, but a big crow flew low right over my head carrying a large wrapped Little Debbie rice crispy treat in his beak like a canard wing, croaking once. The only way I have successfully attracted them here in MO was with meat scraps. They don't want peanuts in shells here.
They could be afraid of the camera.
I used to spin my wedding ring on the picnic table. Of course, I left it there and went in the house for awhile. Saw a crow out on the deck and when I went outside both the crow and my ring were gone. I think its in the crook of a tree at the back of the property the crows poke around in from time to time. Too high to climb for me. It's his now.
The frequency that is emitted from your camera whenever it is recording is probably what is deterring them. There is a pulse sent out anytime you touch a touch screen phone to zoom in on your camera Etc and a GoPro emits frequencies as well that most animals avoid. That's why it's so hard to get a good face pic of an animal because they always turn away when you're pulling the camera out LOL
Crows are smart enough to thwart human's experiments about them.
It’s good you got them to even venture into your square feeders .. mine wont. Some mentioned the CD as a deterrent and the go-pro. Others have also mentioned they won’t go near cameras. Finally, i think the plastic dish is the biggest problem. Next time just dump the objects on the ground…. And only small things like bottlecaps, coins, rings.. nothing bigger than that. BUT if they are building nests nearby they use all kinds of wire and stuff.. including coathangers.
I had the same experience with my crow family that visits daily. I tried to attract them to a huge silver tray with bird seeds. However, they avoided the tray and went to the usual place I leave their peanuts. I love crows!
I just had six crows in my backyard and one of them flew off with a ping pong ball that was out there.
“Then I just walked about the house looking for anything that … … wasn’t mine!” 😊 Seriously, thoroughly enjoyed your video and experiment. I wonder if you’d get different results by isolating the shiny stuff, ie, just leave the nail clipper out on its own. Have subscribed. I live in rural France (since 2008) . Plenty of crows thankfully. But in my time there has been a decimation of animal varieties. Loved seeing squirrels and the crows just about tolerating one another.
My crows LOVE the bird bath, they left me frog leg bones with a flipper on the end, or a baby duck or chicken leg bones yesterday!
I have crows visit me daily for cat food and peanuts. A family of 5. Dad, Mum, and 3 Babes. I befriended them last Christmas and they been coming every single day ever since. I’m located along the east coast at the tippy top of N Florida.
I was recently told by a elderly naturalist hippie lady to loosely hang small shiny objects in my big tree in the front yard. Hang the necklace from a branch. Drill a hole in a coin and small baby spoon. And to do this sporadically. One or two items every other day from when you notice items missing. Slowly and methodically.
I think you should give this experiment another go if your crows are still around. Start slow and small. Hang them.
I’ll do it with you! Let’s see how we do!?
✨
In Prince Edward Island where I live during the summer, crows will pick up pieces of foil, like tinsel, and wrappers from candy bars. 🤷🏼♀️
If you ever re-test this idea, try leaving the cd out. I've used them to keep woodpeckers from destroying my house. My pet budgies are creeped out by them too, and they love to investigate shiny objects, especially silver rings. I chose them to keep woodpeckers away because they are easy to spot, but mainly because they look like giant eyes 👁️👄👁️
One of the crows at my house just stole a silver food bowl that I use to feed a feral cat. He literally picked it up and flew off with it and then dropped it in my driveway. So maybe it depends on the crow? Or because he knew there was food in it? They steal the cat food daily. I’m going to get some peanuts and corn just for them so maybe the cat can actually get to eat his food in peace. 😂
My grandma used to hang aluminum pie plates from her pear trees to keep the crows from ruining all the fruit. The movement and noise when the wind blew would also scare the squirrels.
This man robbed his kids in the name of crow friends
I had observed crow are carring extra food and hide it somewhere else and able to find out it latter.
I AM KEEPING LEFTOVER FOOD AND WATER FOR BIRDS EVERY SUMMER
from Pune,India.
Thank you for informattive video..
Thanj you scott for the live cams the videos just everything I love nature thank you :)
Noticed that before crows got there, blue jays where giving heads up 😂
3:08 notices the camera
Crows like tools, and yes I believe they are interested in shining things, but not during time eating, my crows are 5 deep, and I notice they have scout crows that watch, while others eat, and they are very very thorough ie if I go walking around the block they call to each other at different points of my walk and basically have constant sight of me from the trees, and announce to each other where I'm at on the block...this is only if they are waiting to eat, because I on the other hand only feed them once a day, and it's basically scraps and leftovers and catfood, yet I do hook them up with peanuts, cashews, but they also love dipping their food in water. I noticed there are many birds in that area, if it was " their own personal area in the yard" they'd be more likely to chill rather than jack a peanut and take off, understand, they can eat like pigs, I feed them macaroni and cheese, ham, chicken, beans, any leftovers, and then catfood on top of leftovers then peanuts on top of catfood, and tbh them and the buzzards are usually posted in one spot of the yard, and the other birds like blue Jay's cardinals, Robin's, they in another spot more by the seed, my crows never tried for the bird feeders so I just started feeding them in a completely different area, they love to heckle things, like cats or the buzzards lol, get smaller objects and put it in the food, they won't accidentally eat it, rather pick it out, game won for the crows, they like puzzles, and they recognize your face, they have the intelligence of a 5 year old and the camera tbh could of been weird to them..
Quite a post. I was holding my breath for some reason while reading it (no punctuation!).
Thanks for sharing.
Makes sense.
After all, even humans are attracted to shiney
things. ✅
Crows loved the pint plastic deli tub I tried to set out to provide water in the summer. A crow would grab the rim and dump the water as it waved the tub around. Fortunately, they left the replacement ceramic pet bowl alone
Haven’t seen them attracted to shiny objects - likely b/c I myself am attracted to them, and keep them in the house! 😂 I had a friend who put out a whole (unboiled) chicken’s egg for a crow, every day. Just left the egg on a stump for it. As for shiny, crows are cautious. Maybe you made it too obvious? Nice footage
I think they like sparkly things more, things that reflect the sun the most probably. I think putting Pennies on the roof helped when I first began attracting them. I know water reflects too so maybe this is another reason birds notice shiny things. Shiny things also can indicate movement or a change in habitat so it could draw attention to the area. Maybe they don’t like the cd 😹
wasnt it magpie whose attracted to shiny objects?
Your objects were stationary, but more importantly very little opportunity for sun spots reflected objects make.
Q: try it again without the cd? The cd has an unnatural sparkle; nobody said they were attracted to iridescent objects. In fact, don't people string up aluminum pie pans to repel crows from gardens? The cd is reminiscent of a pie pan, imo.
Cool experiment! I might guess the novelty concerns them, particularly with the food and objects together experiment section.
Once I was feeding crows and pigeons on a beach, (tossing nuts on the ground near me), and the crows only took food if I looked away.
Each time, I dropped food closer till some was on my foot. The pigeon took food even from my foot, but the crows kept a certain distance, letting the pigeon eat everything, as they watched from their perception of safety. (Too close and it didn't matter if I looked away or not, they wouldn't approach, unlike the pigeon.).
Those crows watched other animals eat near the shiny objects but didn't do so themselves. Their caution outweighs observed novel convenience.
Crows are not afraid of shiny stuff. They HATE unknown objects. At least objects of a certain size. You could have put whatever big thing in the food box and they would have been extremely distrustful. The collection of metal objects may just be too much. I would have put one small piece next to the food box.
I am friends with 15+ crows whom I feed daily on my balcony. Most of them do not mind picking up food from 10cm next to me (given I look in the opposite direction), one or two have taken food from my hand. I do not really have an opinion on this question. During the four years of our close relationship they (I guess) have made me just one present (I noticed as such): a beautiful peace of metal (no idea what it is), looks like copper.
Crows (assuming they are similar everywhere) do not really like peanuts. I made some experiments a while ago. Their most preferred (kind of) nut is cashew. By a huge margin. In winter many of my crows prefer cashew even over meat. The next best ones are walnuts / Brazil nuts, almonds, hazelnut, peanut. Everything without shell. My spoilt brats would not even take peanuts without shell any more. Some even give me a disappointed stare when they see only walnuts in the bowl... They like peanuts and (much more) walnuts for storage, though. Nuts are a bad food while they are feeding their nestlings. During that time you should switch to meat, fish, eggs, and/or insects. 🖤
The animals at night are particularly interesting. Thanks
Crows are intelligent birds really! 🐦♥️💙
I think the objects have catch a glare from sunlight. Making it a curiosity to them.
There was a news story a few years ago (Vancouver?) about a knife wielding crow and a follow up about how it's offspring had similar tendencies.
maybe they're jaded enough to know its bait?
Some crows do like shiny stuff. One visits the shiny metal chimney pot on the house opposite - it almost attacks it. At first i thought it had lost a friend down the chimney but on speaking to the owner, nope - it just likes to come and bash and pull on it with its beak like it's gonna take it home one day if it just keeps trying. It wakes us all up early with the noise!
In my experience with crows and ravens, they are often shy of something "new" for a while, maybe even days. No surprise they preferred eating the peanuts in the shell. Nothing can be inferred from that really. I agree with one commentator that said "the CD was too much". Also, instead of putting it all in a bowl, spread it out on the ground or on a surface. Overkill, visual overload perhaps. Hours of testing don't mean a thing with these smart creature. Days and weeks of it would provide better data. Thanks for trying!
I’m getting ready to put out a crow feeder. Will they bother my other smaller birds and their feeders? Will the squirrels invade and take over? Thanks for your help!
I have crows that come to my platform feeder daily and I know they would be afraid if they saw something different on or by the feeder! They are very suspicious creatures. I have also been feeding them for years and I have yet to have them bring me any gifts lol!
Are they more suspicious OR curious?
@@mddell58 I would say both!
😃Nice video
Agreeing with you, crows in general are not interested in our shiny objects, except for those who were exposed to share time with humans 😊
I’m attracted to food, too! 😂😂
In the UK it is Magpies and Jackdaws.
Oh, well... I was hoping to attract crows with a shiny-handle bird feeder.
I guess the handle won't matter much, as long as I fill the feeder with peanuts...
Interesting!
I have many crows 🐦⬛ on my property along with fowl I raised and stray cats that I adopt ! For some reason several months ago I decided to google information on crows and I looked them up on TH-cam too . The information I learned was that to get crows to trust you , one must leave them small shiny things because they use these to decorate their nest ! It also said to feed them every day at the same time and to talk to them so they can remember your voice . Well I did all that and even ordered beautiful gold plated dime size buttons that have crystals in 12 different shiny colors ! Totally lovely ! I also decided to add cashews to their peanuts and sunflower seeds ! Well today is May 9th Thursday 2024 2 1/2 months later and the crows eat up the nuts but the shiny crystal buttons , they totally ignore ! I have put them around their food trays and my roof top and nothing ! They don’t take anything and still fly away when I try to befriend them ! So as far as I am concerned the story that crows 🐦⬛ like shiny things is a made up lie ! A total myth ! New subscriber ! 👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰😊😊😊⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍👍👍
A visit to any crow’s nest will show cigarette pack foil woven into it. I saw a crow’s nest that featured the arm of a red flannel shirt as its lining.
thanks for this i try use just top of beer can tabs yet no i wish was true yet always lies have to find out hard way
Because they think it’s food.
My crows like cheezzits
I tryied to attract them with chrome chains, keychans, cat food, fish and an enbalmed crow that a friend gave me.
After 20 min there were 50 crows in the air, screaming for 10 min, everyone looking at me, but none landed :(
I will try peanuts and no chrome
How did that work put last year? lol
Birds are big on mourning ceremonies. If you've ever seen a dying or dead bird of almost any kind, you'll notice there are plenty others in the trees nearby chirping and cawing away. They likely saw the presumably dead, unmoving crow, and were doing exactly that.
The only other variable I can think of, is, did you make the shiny objects available at the time when crows were mating and nest building?
I put a small shiny earring in the food bowl to see if they'd take it... I'd always find the object on the ground. They didn't want it.
Magpies love shiny objects! They don't call them camp robbers for nothing.!!😉
Try shiny side out aluminum foil. And blue shiny things like glass marble type stuff
I think it may be Magpies and not Crows. There's a Magpie that's attracted to a bit of shiny metal on my satellite dish. It perches on it and pecks at it when the sun shines off it.
Yes, I was brought up with the idea that it was magpies too. Our house backed onto woods and my Mum used to warn us not to leave the upstairs windows open if we had anything shiny on the window sill. Having said that, I've never seen any birds with shiny things in their beaks.
@@rosiecesareo8092 Some birds take shiny things into their nests to impress a potential mate, but I'm not sure if it's magpies.
For some reason the crows/ravens around me like marbles. Go figure.
Ohio, Holmes County. Never see them take anything shiny. I have left shiny things out also and nothing taken. But I have trained a few not to caw next to home. And when that doesn't work I place a Styrofoam Crow upside down in my window to upset them.
In Japan, CDs are used to scare away crows and other birds.
Not crows, but what looked like maybe a magpie, anyway it was black and white, carry off a military canopener (P38) while I was in an apc (M113) on training in Australia back in the 80s or 90s.
Like Bower birds they may only care about shiny and colorful objects during mating season when they live to attract mates. Of course, I'm totally ignorant about this subject. Just Guessing
I read things that are too reflective, they get spooked. I'm guessing the cd is the culprit
Have you bright colors? I would be interested if they are attracted to colors. I think I saw somewhere that marbles were part of a gift exchange with humans friendly humans they trust.
Test small blue shiny objects. We lost a key with a blue bottleopener attached to the same ring. It was the only key to a closet. Had to buy a new door. My wife forgot the key on a table outside just for fifteen minutes. We investigated the disapering with neighbours, but the only explanation is a bird stealing the key to decorate a nest.
For my yard, the crows chased away the hawks and owls so then there was nothing to decrease the rat and mice population. Very sad.
Maybe the CD was a bit too shiny and oversized... reading the comment about how crows avoided the lady's silver plated feeder.
A little shine catches their eyes, too much might keep them at bay!?!
You should retry this with a smaller, pickable items.
I think the CD may scared them.
Tried what you did with shiny things
.and NOPE..no interest!!! There it is!!!
I always heard it was magpies attracted to shiny objects
I would probably do one shiny thing at a time. A whole bundle looks like a trap.
still hard to get them to where you like feed frustrations an all just be paitent
I think the CD is too big of a shiny object. Just put out very small objects and see what happens.
I put a quarter out with their food and they took the quarter.
Crows here generally prefer meat and would reject peanuts . Not adverse to stealing car keys !!?
to the crows those are yours
Honestly, I think your "test" was flawed. You collected a bunch of stuff--especially things like that fork and some of the other long pointy things--that greatly resemble the sort of things that would comprise a trap. Think about what a snare or leg-hold trap looks like. There is always a string or chain (like the one you had in the tray), a lever with some sort of counterbalance (like the fork or the screwdriver you had in the tray) and bait (like peanuts). Crows are incredibly intelligent. They aren't going to go anywhere near something that looks like a trap to them. Also, when they find shiny things, they aren't usually collected together and placed in a tray like some sort of food offering. They will find them singly--like a dropped coin, or ring. If I were conducting this experiment, I would first set up my camera where I wanted to observe activity. Then I would go back in the house and wait a few hours. Then I would put a few coins in my pocket and go about some routine business in the yard--like filling the bird feeders. While engaging in this activity, I would pull out a Kleenex or something from my pocket (where the coins are located) and "accidentally" drop one or two in front of the camera. Crows watch us carefully, (I know this from personal experience.) and will see everything you are doing. They will be much less suspicious of this ordinary activity than they will be of a tray full of very dubious objects placed in their way for no apparent reason. If you don't believe me, try it.
I see some flaws in your experimental designs. That said ur recommendations that do work are just as anecdotal but I'm desperate and will try anything
Cd was too much , try again with no cd or fork only small trinkets
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Did you try to scatter the shiny objects on the ground away from the container ?
Did you try smaller shiny objects ?
Nope nope nope
So your theory could be false information
Thank you
I have been feeding crows for about 4 years now
I heard doves are afraid of CDs, so maybe other birds as well. Try without it.
OH MY GOD, STEALING FROM YOUR KIDS.
I think you had too much stuff there and some things intimidatingly big for the crows. If you try using one small shiny object about the size of a dime or a ring, I think you'll have better luck.
It looks like a trap😅
not on crows test it on raven
Are they attracted to your car? No… too big. Put a single coin or small piece of jewelry in a NOT shaded area.
Can't just throw shiny things out there, learn before you do it.
They are not human.
Thanks for the info; I thought the one crow was my Aunt
Are you sure?
@@angeldream1 If you have declaired yourself a crow, no.
No! That steal all the time and bring you stuff back. All the time. Keep your dog out of that area! And but the feeders higher off the ground. Yes these cd so a no no