Crows!
A beautiful Memorial Day weekend, a cool camera, and some fun with crows--what could be better?
We set up the NovaBird camera to catch the notoriously skittish corvus brachyrhynchos (which, as far as I can figure out, means big black bird with very large beak). Not having any scraps or leftovers to tempt them with, we chose instead to use some "emergency", store-bought, vacuum-packed bluebird pellets. Hawked as "irresistible to bluebirds," the remainder of the bag has been languishing in the garage for a month now, as the bluebirds are either too smart to eat junk like this, or they're nowhere in the neighborhood these days. Ah well.
However, crows, being crows, aren't so particular about what they eat, so we figured we might as well see just how un-choosy they are. We put a generous portion of the nuggets (and really, they did look quite disgusting) on the crow tray, set up the camera, and then hightailed it back to the house to lurk and watch.
Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, we heard the familiar "caw-caw-caw" call that signifies that one of the gang has discovered food! He was, in fact, a brave soul. Not even waiting for his feathered fellows to join him, he cautiously scoped out the territory by skulking below the tray. It took him a while to resign himself to the fact that the camera was there, but he finally worked up the nerve to jump and flap his way up to see just what it was he was investigating.
Having reassured himself as to the relative safety of the area, he decided to chow before his buddies showed up.
He made several trips before he was satiated, but once he had eaten his fill, he perched for a moment on the tray and gave a long look at the camera, as if to say, "I see you there, and I know exactly what you're doing."
And then he flew off. Which only proves that crows really will eat anything.
See you by the sunny feeders!
Mrs. CapeCodAlan
We set up the NovaBird camera to catch the notoriously skittish corvus brachyrhynchos (which, as far as I can figure out, means big black bird with very large beak). Not having any scraps or leftovers to tempt them with, we chose instead to use some "emergency", store-bought, vacuum-packed bluebird pellets. Hawked as "irresistible to bluebirds," the remainder of the bag has been languishing in the garage for a month now, as the bluebirds are either too smart to eat junk like this, or they're nowhere in the neighborhood these days. Ah well.
However, crows, being crows, aren't so particular about what they eat, so we figured we might as well see just how un-choosy they are. We put a generous portion of the nuggets (and really, they did look quite disgusting) on the crow tray, set up the camera, and then hightailed it back to the house to lurk and watch.
Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, we heard the familiar "caw-caw-caw" call that signifies that one of the gang has discovered food! He was, in fact, a brave soul. Not even waiting for his feathered fellows to join him, he cautiously scoped out the territory by skulking below the tray. It took him a while to resign himself to the fact that the camera was there, but he finally worked up the nerve to jump and flap his way up to see just what it was he was investigating.
Having reassured himself as to the relative safety of the area, he decided to chow before his buddies showed up.
He made several trips before he was satiated, but once he had eaten his fill, he perched for a moment on the tray and gave a long look at the camera, as if to say, "I see you there, and I know exactly what you're doing."
And then he flew off. Which only proves that crows really will eat anything.
See you by the sunny feeders!
Mrs. CapeCodAlan