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Friday, October 19, 2012
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 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 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 ad 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 sometime 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 - Safe, Humane and Effective
As fascinating as these intelligent birds can be to watch in action, there are times when they become a pest, as well as times when they are beneficial. Crows are helpful when it comes to getting rid of road-kill on our roads, highways and Interstate system. Animal carcasses are picked at until light enough to be carried out of the path of passing automobiles. But these birds are usually considered a pest when they come into contact with humans and structures not built as bird houses. Damage from crows can be tremendous in areas of agriculture as well as health hazards and other damage around people, buildings, airports and many other such areas.
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