Anything but Common: The Hidden Life of the American Crow

`1.  Crows have just recently made a regular appearance to my home - so i am not sure about West Nile Virus impact on the area or perhaps the lacking of crows was a result of that?  I do not have a reference point - except that crows are now regular visitors to my home when a few years ago they were not..though i have seen crows over the years on other nearby points on the lake our home is located. 2. The crows i have come to know seem healthy and well, i will be looking out for any aggression - i have never seen infighting.

I've only seen cooperative behaviors, except for some deference about who takes food first. I thought one crow had a broken beak -- the lower half drooped and it disappeared in the winter. But its impressive that when a hawk is around, especially in nesting season, out little bouquet call up allies and about 30 arrive very fast to mob the hawk, including dive-bombing it.

As a point, I read the "caution" about the video and chose not to watch it.  Reading the description was difficult enough.  I have a very active imagination so decided to forgo the video.  I don't want to see "Crows" as anything but "interesting, intelligent" birds.  I'm glad you put the "caution" there. I've never seen any Crow who looked like it was anything but a healthy Crow in my local area.  I've also not seen any aggression between the Crows in my area.  That was a very disturbing story, both about losing the foot and the "murder" of Crow on Crow.  The one more positive note was that the Crows who lost a foot were able to survive and move on with their life.

I thought this section was very interesting and maybe... MAYBE why they inherited the hated name for a group of  crows ...could it be , that this behavior was witnessed by Europeans hundreds of years ago and hence the namesake? Unfortunate , yes...Do we know all the reasons or if a crow actually did this since it was not witnessed ? No :) Although I would suspect ,that if crows are smart enough to figure out ways to eat food when they are hungry, they would be just smart enough to know how to ‘off’ one who was in the way( whatever way that was).

The crows I’ve seen in my. backyard and the meadow behind it, in the Coconino National Forest, have sat on the roof top, on trees and on the fence watching younger birds eat.

About 10 years ago we had a crow with one leg coming to our yard along with a family of crows. Don't know if West Nile Virus played a role in this, or not. West Nile did not have a large presence in Mid Coast Maine that I know of. We called this crow Peg. Peg survived until about Mid Winter and then disappeared. I've observed a lot of territorial defense and skirmishing among the crows in our neighborhood, but this has always resulted in successful defense of territory with intruders backing down and leaving. The most aggressive and surprising behavior I've seen is when, one spring, a crow swooped down onto a young Grey Squirrel driving its feet into the squirrel's back, then very quickly and violently driving its beak into the back of he squirrel's head and killing it. It then proceeded to eat the squirrel.

I found this to be an interesting lesson. I continue to be amazed at how the lives of crows mirrors that of humans (and vice versa). As the mother of a son with special needs, I am delighted that the crows Ho lose their feet are able to be an active part of their community rather than shunned. Dr McGown has mentioned the West Nile Virus several times; I would like to hear more about it and its effects on the crow population as well.

We have a family of crows, parents and three young, who live in our area and enjoy visiting the corn we put on the ground under the feeders.  They look healthy and are enjoyable to watch.  Haven't seen any aggression among them.

This was horrible.  I could have done without this.  Don't include things like this anymore.  I would not want to pay for this horror ever again.

I do not often have crows come to my yard, but last year, in the late summer, a group of 3 showed up, I believe it must have been a mother, father and child, as they hung around our compost heap and were feeding the (very large) younger bird from it.  It was very interesting to me, as I had never witnessed crow family behavior like this.  Most of the time when I see crows, they are either flying in a large flock overhead, or I will see a few at a time, hanging out in the trees in the neighborhood, often on trash pickup day, seemingly talking to each other, and perhaps foraging for food.

1. Yes, crows are in my area. I live in North Georgia. I have not spent much time observing crows. Growing up in the South I was always told they were a nuisance. But I will be observing them more now and enjoying learning more about them.

I've added (below) 3 photos of crows I've been watching for years; the first, taken in 2016 shows "Gimpy" a female crow I had been watching for several years before this photo. I started putting out a morning treat of suet (or leftover protein) to my crows & Gimpy was always able to raise a brood of at least 2 babies. She had cleverly discovered that she could cling to a suet feeder & flap her wings while grabbing a mouthful - then getting water from the bird bath - she had a perfect slurry for her chicks. Second photo shows Gimpy in 2018 - white feather on right wing. Foot about the same. She and her mate lost their territory while we were on vacation so I don't know what happened to her. However, her  adult male son inherited the territory & had a chick with the same foot problem (although more severe). The chick disappeared after about 4 months - I'm assuming a victim of predation - he actually had difficulty walking with the deformed foot. I do not have a photo of him. This year  (2020) the same pair, occupying our territory (they share it with another crow family since the eating is so good) raised only one chick - he is shown in the photo, taken this year, in June - gaping & screaming for food ... Present crow grouping as of September of 2020 is 9 (4 from one family & 5 from the other). Enjoyed the information about the staph infection - did not know about this & I'm wondering if this is the problem ...

1.  The Crows in Montauk appear healthy.   However been seeing less off them this year.   Two noisy players must be clarifying turf. 2.  In SF, the morning after the roost, there was a dead crow on the street.   I did not see how it was killed, but it was pretty much in tack.

1.No, but I think I saw a song sparrow wit a missing foot, other than that no, I haven't seen any sick  birds. 2. Generally I have not seen any aggression except for some playful chasing.

Several crows have been coming to our upstairs deck next to the kitchen for about 3 years and calling loudly until we throw out scraps for them. One has an deformed right foot. The foot is bent at the ankle and points backwards. Of the three crows that come it is the tamest and also the most aggressive when it comes to getting to the food.

In the Northwest corner of NJ... 1. The family of crows in my yard do not have the foot disease. One of the family members has a missing tail feather or two. I have no idea what happened or when, but I don't remember that last year and I believe it's the same family. 2. I have not noticed any specific aggression outside the normal play and vying for bits of food.

I live in central NJ, and for as long as I can recall, there are usually two crows around that look healthy.  There are no signs of aggression between them.  They never seem to be far apart.

I have been feeding 2 crows peanuts for a couple of years. This year they have their first brood. When they arrived at my house they brought other family members to protect their young from the malicious attacks of nesting mockingbirds, grackles, starlings, redwinged blackbirds and cowbirds. I have to admit those mockingbirds were vicious and fast.  I am assuming the accompanying crows were there for that purpose. I also assumed there would be a single offspring for some reason. Now, a good 5-6 weeks later I see a flock of 6 leading me to believe they had FOUR babies.  They are big and beautiful and LOUD.  Since they haven’t mastered opening the peanut shells they simply scream at their parents who seem overwhelmed. Hopefully they get it soon as I’m expecting complaints from neighbors, lol. I wish I knew where they slept at night. Another point of interest is that I live right on the beach so I get to watch these crows are get lessons from their parents on foraging in low tide.  Don’t know what they are eating but I think they are hunting small crabs.

I have a question about West Nile:  earlier in the fall I came across a red-tailed hawk in the woods, which appeared to have a broken leg.  I rescued the bird and brought it to a local hospital.  They determined that the bird had contracted West Nile.  They administered drugs, but it was too late and the bird died.  A few weeks later I was speaking to a rehabber, and he wanted to know if they took a blood sample to determine the state of the bird, because, he said, lead in the water can have the same impacts as West Nile.  Is this true?  Also, does your research group test birds that have died in order to determine if the birds do succumb to West Nile?  Could some of the crows be dying from lead in the water?

1. Over the last few years, our family seems to be stable and healthy.  The five who we believe are the nuclear family are joined on occasion by one, two or three other birds when the feed.  We have seen no dead crows in our four acres.  There are tall pines on 1.5 acres of ours and parkland on two other sides with tall trees.  We haven't observed the nest, but suspect it is in our patch. There has been no evidence of any disease in our crows (though other birds - cardinals, goldfinch and sparrows have shown eye disease, which killed a few). 2. We have a cooperative crew here, and the territories seem to be large enough (sq.miles) that fights have never been evident.

I live in Southern California and have a healthy population of crows that I see regularly above and around my property.  About a year and a half ago I first observed one crow with an injured leg - it was bloody and dangling.  I did not see how the injury occurred.  Over the course of a week or so the superficial injury healed but the leg continued to be unusable for this bird.  Because he is physically so different from the other crows he has become a recognizable individual and my partner and I refer to him as Gimpy.  We still see him frequently and though he continues to have one unusable leg he appears healthy in other respects.  He never lost his foot, so I suspect it is not the same foot disease that Dr. McGowan describes in this course.  It is clear that Gimpy has trouble perching with only one good leg, so he likes to hang out on my deck railing which allows him to rest on his belly and offers him a good vantage point across the valley near my house.  I have also noted that he is a bit of a loner.  I regularly have between 3 and 8 crows that forage in the grass under my bird feeders.  Gimpy keeps his distance from the other crows and only forages here when the others are not around.  I have not seen any direct aggression towards Gimpy nor between any of my crows. I often see the crows "dog fighting" with each other, especially when there are strong winds, but this seems more like play fighting and a way to develop aerial skills rather than aggression.  It's so much fun to watch!

I've never seen a crow here (Seattle) with a foot problem, but I wasn't aware of this problem until now. So, will keep my eyes open! I haven't seen aggression. Mostly, they are talking to each other, caw- cawing at each other. Or, seeming to care for each other. About a week ago at my feeder, I did see a Junco that seemed to have an injured foot, or at least was limping. Haven't seen it since, however.

We do not see many crows anymore here in Guelph,Ontario.One however  has become my neighbors best friend.I have never seen a crow with an injured leg& was surprised to learn they can survive such an injury.Very interesting lesson!!

1.  The crows in my area do seem to be healthy.  I must admit that before this course I didn't observe crows with the same attention I did "my" other birds.  I have never seen evidence of the foot disease shown in the video, nor of WNV ( perhaps due to local campaigns discouraging opportunities for mosquitoes to breed, like uncovered water containers ). 2.  I have not observed aggression between crows, more banding together to ward off a perceived threat, like with a hawk or owl.  I do feel that since I don't see large gatherings of crows in town where I live, the crows I do see are of a more family-oriented nature.