10 Proven Tips On How To Attract Crows To Your Yard
Table of Contents
How To Attract Crows?
Crows are well-known for their intelligence and interesting facts. The birds are very unique and known for their quirky habits. However their sound is not melodious and sound raucous, but the birds are very intelligent.
However most people consider them a very nuisance, but they are also very beneficial, such as they help in pest control and urban cleanup. Attracting crows in your yard is not very simple because crows are not typical visitors, however, you can attract crows in your yard with the help of habitat, food, and patience.
i. Provide roosting ground
Crows are very social animals and they observe almost everything around them. So if you provide them with a roosting place, you can attract them to your yard. Generally, crows like horizontal roosting poles and other structures like poles.
If there is not any pole or tree present in your yard, you can improvise by erecting your own. Several existing structures including fence posts, trees can be used as their roosting sites. You can install your pole and attach a crossbar on top of the pole.
Crows found the poles as a perfect settling place because they can observe from the poles better. Crows require various places to sit, rest, and communication with their mates.
The behavior of a crow is very excitable and they are large-sized birds, so the perching places should be up to the demands of their behavior. You can attract the birds with help of old-fashioned birdbaths.
ii. Install a birdbath
If you are trying to attract any bird in your yard, installing a birdbath is an essential step. All the birds need water for cleaning and drinking, so it is very important for all birds. Similarly, crows also need water.
Crows require water for their basic needs such as bathing, drinking, eating, and maintenance of feathers, but they do not use water for cooling off the summer season. During the summer season, the birds descend to your yard, and during winters, they return because the resources become limited.
Larger bird baths are more preferable by crows. You should make dark, long, and slightly deeper than the birdbaths made for other birds, especially songbirds. Crows belong to the family Corvidae, and like other members, they also store food.
The birdbath is a popular choice for crows. Crows also need water to dip and dunk their food so that the food becomes moist and then they take the food for their family members.
iii. Remove all noise
Crows do not like random noises and become spooked by them. They leave such places where they get disturbed by frequent noises. So, if you want to attract these interesting birds in your yard, you should keep all the noise sources away.
They can spook by several sounds such as swinging in the breeze, bells, and whistles and they may return from your yard. You should not add any sound sources in your yard such as bells, wind chimes, whistles to make your yard comfortable for crows.
You can observe the things which may disturb or spook crows in your garden if you are aiming to attract them. As discussed above, crows are very intelligent and opportunistic, so they observe places and won’t return to a place where the environment is skittish.
Crows usually try to find stable food sources in any habitat and peaceful environment. You should not add anything in your backyard garden that seems like a threat to crows. You should keep away the wind chimes and other noise-producing substances.
iv. Place some decoy crows
Crows generally follow other crows in their habitats and roosting and feeding grounds. The birds are highly social. You can consider placing some decoy crows around your yard, this seems like a crowd and crows attract towards it.
Other crows also follow the crows feeding and roosting in the garden. The birds are very curious for investigation and also visual. Ideally, you should set 3 to 4 stationary decoys and one moving decoy in your garden to make them fool.
The birds are incredibly clever and will not become fooled with a stationary decoy. Setting decoys is a perfect method to attract passing flocks in your garden. If you want to invite new feathered friends in your garden, you should set your decoys in a friendly group, where they seem to feed and forage together.
v. Lure them with crow calls
Crows make various calls for communication with other members as well as other birds. So, if you can lure them with crow calls, they can be fairly fooled by such calls if done in the right way.
The sound caw caw caw is one of the familiar voices of crows, which they make to call their family members, and so alert them about the presence of any potential predator. Besides this, many other calls are used by crows for different purposes.
Some examples are attention call, rally call, and distress call. There are many devices available in the market that emit various calls, for example, an electronic caller, and a traditional reed caller.
These crow callers are also used by hunters to attract crows by making loud crow noises. The crows become curious and go to investigate the location. The best time when crows quickly respond to calls is during the mornings and late evenings.
vi. Tempt them with the right food
Crows are not much picky and eat almost everything, which they found. But you should provide the right food. However, the step may have some errors because they can be finicky.
You can observe the food you left for them and if you don’t find any bite, consider that maybe crows do not like the food or they want to eat something different. At starting, leave something, which they observe as they were flying overhead and become interested to take a closer look.
Crows like peanuts in the shells and the nuts are also perfect for them but the nuts should be unsalted. You can offer them other foods, once they feel comfortable, and start visiting your place for food.
You can offer them a variety of foods to attract them as they enjoy a wide variety of food. you can offer them fruits, nuts, eggs, popcorn, pasta, and even cat and dog food. the food should not have a large amount of filler and additives because they are not healthy for the birds and also for pets.
Offer food with the low phosphorous brand. Other foods are chicken and duck eggs, chicken meat and fat, and bird seeds, which you can offer them. Junk food is also loved by crows by it is not healthy for them. So prefer to offer healthy food, which they can find in nature.
vii. Create a feeding routine
It is not quite enough to simply put out a food source. The crows can find the food source but it does not ensure that they will come back to your yard. It is important to put out the food daily at the same time so they make a feeding routine.
This method increases their probability to revisit your yard because the birds are very intelligent and curious. The birds are highly intelligent and learn your schedule if you stick to one. You should follow a routine by putting food out at the same time.
Crows learn the schedule and timing of when they can expect food in your yard. If you establish this rhythm for interaction, it helps them in building trust and they come back in your yard. Crows prefer to find a regular source of food because it will fulfill their needs and they have to work less for searching food.
At starting, the food will be eaten by squirrels and other birds, but keep patience so that crows can find a food source. Until the birds become comfortable with you, stay away from the food, but make sure that a crow can still be skittish after years of friendship because it is their nature.
viii. The location of the feeder is the key
The location of a feeder is the most important factor for attracting birds. Crows are not much picky and eat almost everything that they find in the ground. And if you want to attract them, they need to find the food source at first.
Place your feeder in such a place, which is visible from the sky and crows can see it while flying over. Once they find your feeder and find it comfortable, they come with the flock and enjoy the treat that you have provided them in your feeder.
You can choose a tray, bench, or an empty birdbath for putting food for the crows. These things are perfect due to their durability and size.
The birds have a large size so put the food in a feeder which is sturdy enough and also rugged so that they cannot destroy it. You can use old concrete bird baths for this purpose. The baths are large in size, stature, and durable.
ix. Start a compost bin
Crows are omnivorous organisms and they are known to visit compost bins in search of food. in compost bins, they find fruit and veggie scraps, discarded food and eggshells, and other things that provide them food options.
So, compost bins are the best feeding stations for these omnivorous birds. You can also start a compost bin in your garden, where you can use kitchen waste and other organic materials to change them into organic material.
This will attract crows in your garden, as the birds visit composting bins for garbage and other household wastes. Crows can also rummage through your garbage bags to find anything which they can eat. The birds find compost bins as an alternative source of nutrition.
x. Keep your pets inside
If you want to attract crows in your yard, keep your pets such as cats and dogs inside and away from the yard. Crows do not visit any yard if any pet is present there, especially at feeding times.
However, they feel safe with smaller pets such as rabbits, hamsters, and gerbils but large and predatory pet animals such as cats and dogs can prey upon the crows when they come into the ground for feeding.
These pets can destroy your feeder and contaminate the food you left for crows and also scare the crows away from your yard. You cannot attract crows in your yard if you have any predatory pet that roams outside in your yard.
You can also make a separate area by fencing and supervising your pet when it is roaming outside. You should also provide a safeguard for your new feathered friends and also provide freedom to the pets such as dogs and cats to be outside.
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