The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Anything but Common: The Hidden Life of the American Crow › A Real Murder of Crows
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- Do the crows in your area appear healthy? Have you seen any evidence of foot disease? Did West Nile Virus have a significant impact on the population, to your knowledge?
- Have you ever noticed any aggression between American Crows, or are they generally cooperating, maybe taking care of each other?
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I don't get the chance to see the crows here close enough or for long enough to know. But this had me wondering, is there any chance this came from the leg bands? Some imperfection or contamination? Incorrect placement? Just wondering if that was looked into.
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I ahve never witnessed aggression between the crows in my area, nor have I noticed evidence of foot disease. The latter would be difficult because the crows here (in upper Manhattan, New York City) tend to stay very high up, in the tallest trees and on the roofs of tall buildings. I almost never see them walking around on the ground. I do like the idea of the collective trem being a "Bouquet of Crows." They are beautiful!
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#2. Just the other day, my husband noticed a group of 5 or 6 crows. Then a second group of about the same size showed up. He said that the first group drove the second group off, so I assume there was some aggression involved. I told him that they were probably family groups and the first group was defending their territory. I have not seen any crows close enough to know if there was any deformity and have no idea if the crows were effected by the West Nile virus.
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i have seen deformed wings but that doesn't stop them at the feeders , sometime they seems to hog the feed at feeder or especially if food is on the ground.
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I have been feeding a group of crows for twelve years. I live in Northern Arizona, about 7 miles NE of Flagstaff, AZ. The crows appear to be healthy and I've never seen them fighting with each other. I've not noticed any injuries. In general they cooperate with each other. If I'm late with the food, there are usually one or two crows who have been assigned to let the others know when I put the food out. They don't usually eat any food before the rest of the crows arrive. But they start calling loudly when I put the food out. Sometimes one will fly off and get the others if they don't come soon after being called. A few years ago a family of Ravens showed up. There are 5 of them but initially a pair came and then a couple years later, there were five that were sometimes here together. The crows give way to the Ravens who eat some food for a while and then leave long before all the food has been eaten. I've seen squabbles at the food dish occasionally among the crows, but nothing that looked serious, and I've not seen the ravens do that, nor have I seen any squabbles between the crows and ravens. I wonder how the crows that are left to notify the others know they have been assigned to this duty. In the fall I notice the crows look ugly - they are probably molting - but it is the feathers around their heads that look the worst. Their necks start to look scraggly. In winter we get the biggest groups - sometimes up to 40 crows. In spring the number of crows drops off drastically, and in summer they bring fledglings to our house. I'm enjoying this course.
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Wow! What a great opportunity to be able to feed and observe such a regular group for so long. If you live near Flagstaff, is the elevation there 6,000 ft, or so? I live in the oaky foothills of Northern California and haven't been fortunate enough to see such activity. Our elevation is about 800 ft. The valley floor, which is less than 15 miles away, is regular territory for flocks of crows. I wondered if the difference in elevation or type of habitat could be a reason for their scarcity here. There are so many other birds that can be seen regularly here and through the migration season. Sitting on my porch any time of day and I can enjoy observing numerous species, just no crows.
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I have never witnessed fighting to any great extent or foot problems with crows though have seen this in other birds.
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The number of crows in my area appears diminished but I may be noticing a dispersal due to the winter. I have not seen any one legged crows but West Nile Virus is definitely in my area according to our state DNR. I see that our crows are always competing and fighting for scraps of food. Pairs may cooperate but not larger groups. Not much feeding of birds goes on in my neighborhood and we are far enough away from corn fields that more than one family may not be supportable.
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1. This section solved a mystery for me. A one-legged crow used to visit my yard regularly. I called him Bill, not knowing for sure that he was male, but statistically I was probably right. I met Bill after his foot had already fallen off and healed. He hopped around the yard and got along as well as any other crow. He was in a family of three: mate and helper perhaps? One year the family group had two offspring and the five of them would visit the yard daily for peanuts. I wondered how Bill had lost his foot, and I finally know. 2. I have most often seen crows cooperate, but I did witness some territory disputes between a nesting pair and some neighboring crows last summer. Lots of flying and darting at one another in the air. One of the crows, the mating male, I thought, had a ragged appearance and appeared to be missing some feathers as the summer went on.
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The crows I have observed in my area do appear to be healthy. I had no knowledge of foot disease before this course. If I were to see a crow missing a foot, before this course, I would have thought that it was the result of a collision with a car or some other mechanical event. I have no knowledge of West Nile Virus infection the local population here in western North Carolina. I have observed aggression between the crows of this area. In fact, I have observed much raucous calling and chasing through the trees, signs of territory protection or invasion. Occasionally I have observed pairs of crows very close on a perch possibly allopreening.
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The crows in my neighborhood appear healthy and I haven't seen any cases of missing feet or avian pox. West Nile may be having an impact since I've found two dead crows in the gardens of our retirement community. Did not examine them closely - one was pretty decomposed. In 2020 there was a crow's nest in a tree near one of our tall buildings and I was able to watch the nesting pair come and go, start feeding, and eventually raise 3 young almost to the point of fledging. One appeared dead on the ground below the tree, young enough to still have growing feathers. Another later fell (or was pushed?) out of the nest and was on the ground, lying on one side with the wing underneath it in an unnatural position. The parents were very aggressive to humans approaching. It died not long afterwards. The last young managed to fledge and even get across the street to a street lamp, where it begged. The following day it was no longer there so I can only speculate. Many of the local crows ate bread scraps that someone was dumping in the parking lot nearby and I (also speculating) think the parents of the nest I observed might have been providing poor nutrition to their brood.
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1) the crows here (pa) seem very healthy plus we feed them suet. no evidence of a foot disease--but wasn't really looking; west nile seemingly had little to no effect to my knowledge. 2) no obvious aggression other than with raptors or a grey squirrel to two. they seem very familial toward each other.
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1. They all seem healthy to me. I haven't noticed (or looked for) and foot missing. I don't know how the virus effected my current area. I wasn't living here at the time. 2. No aggression noticed between them, just harrassing other raptors.
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The crows around here appear healthy. I have not seen sick crows, though I have seen others sick. I now realize how familiar I am with the crows around our house. They must be a family. Though I’ve seen them chase the red tail and others, I’ve never seen them be aggressive to one another. But, now with this course, I have more to watch for and more to look forward to!
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1. The crows I observe in my neighborhood of the UAE do appear healthy, despite diets of an apparently higher-than-average proportion of leftover junk food. I have introduced peanuts, and although it is obviously not their favorite food here (Eggs and french fries are!) they are cleaning the ledge of the peanuts more quickly now than before. Looking more closely for it, I noticed one case of swollen foot on a visiting crow the other day, but I have never noticed limping crows before. In contrast to the healthy and sleek appearance of the crows that visit my ledge, I have noticed some rock pigeons with avian pox. 2. I have seen/heard crows fighting on two or three occasions, over the course of 12 years here. I would guess these were due to territorial disputes. I remember someone in a neighboring apartment dumping water on some crows to break up a fight. Crows tend to have a bad reputation here as in other countries. ... However, this crow made the local news because other crows had been seen feeding it and keeping it company while it was injured. It was welcome good publicity for urban crows in the UAE because past articles depict them only as villains and invasive pests.
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I have not notice any crows missing a foot in my area. No fights either.
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I have seen some crows with tumour-like growths around their eyes and on their feet. But it didnt seem to affect their behaviour (they were still assertive around other crows when going for food). i visit a group of crows several times a week, and have done for several years. Some of the crows i know are the same as i can recognize unique physical or vocal characteristics. I have seen them to be largely cooperative with each other. Occasionally they will get in a spat, the worst of which is usually one crow getting briefly pinned to the ground by another crow, screeching like hell to get out. After one such episode, 3 other birds from the flock actually took chase to the aggressor bird and flew after him for quite a distance away. Another time, the victim bird was quite upset after having been pinned for several seconds. He flew away to a log, where another crow flew right up next to him, almost nuzzled him, and sat close in silence for a long time (probably 10 minutes). It was as if he were providing him comfort.
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answering question # 1, I feed crows in our yard, I have tried to see how they are doing, I have not seen any foot problems. I did see the crows already at the feed chase off another crow. I haven't been able to discover anything else with the crows.
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1. The crows in my area do appear to be healthy.Personally, I have not seen evidence of West Nile Virus, but have been made aware through a wildlife rescue that Avian Bird Flu is highly contagious and on the rise in our area. 2. I have not witnessed agression between crows. The group I observe is a family group that is often times hanging out together and running off a red tail hawk that lives in the area.
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I have never seen a serious fight between crows , although i have seen American crows drive away Fish crows . When I see crows flying high and being quiet , they often turn out o be Fish crows .
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Crows now appear to b healthy in my area of sSt. Louis , MO. Some years ago, when WNV was around , I saw crows that looked very sick . sSome staggered, some allowed people to come too close , some appeared to be blind . I saw some carcasse. There were far fewer crows . At the same time I noticed that groups of Fish crows replaced them.
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1. I have not seen any evidence of foot disease or the impacts of WNV on the crows. 2. I have also not witnessed any aggression between crows. They appear to be cooperative with each other.
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That was really interesting. Years ago, a crow would visit me regularly , for peanuts and peanut butter. He had one foot. I always thought that he might have been attacked by a predator, or had some genetic deformity. Now, I’m pretty sure that disease was the reason that he lost his foot! He continued to visit me for a couple of years. Then, one day he was gone. I never saw him again. I’ve never seen aggression as it was described, but that “un-banded female” was pretty wild!
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