Raising Crows in My Backyard

A couple of weeks ago I ended up with an injured crow in my backyard.  It had a severely damaged wing.  It was able to hop and walk around but completely unable to fly.  Soon I noticed a baby crow following it around the yard.  It too was unable to fly.  Putting two and two together I figured out that it was a mom or dad crow that was injured and the baby had not yet learned to fly.

I decided to do some research online - "how to help injured crows." I found a host of information with a list of suggestions.   One of which was to leave them alone - meaning don't attempt to touch them or cage them, but feeding them was OK.

I put a bowl of water out and began to feed them (Alfred & Hitchcock) bread and tortillas twice a day.  At first they squawked at me and a third crow even dive bombed me when I got close to the two injured birds.   After a few days of this I noticed a change.  The injured crows came out of their hiding place and other crows swarmed over-head whenever I entered the backyard.  They would squawk or crow until I threw them the goods.  The dive bombing had stopped.

I found out that crows never forget a face and will categorize a human as good or evil depending on how you treat them.  In other words...if you treat a crow badly it will hold a grudge and tell other crows that you are bad.  Seriously, I kid you not.  Read the study from Willamette University.

Its been two weeks and the injured adult and the baby have flown away...well, until I appear in the backyard.  Then they squawk and crow until I feed them.

The picture of above is of baby Hitchcock near the pool waiting for more tortillas!  My wife thinks I'm off my rocker.  I figure I'm just making friends in the neighborhood.