Activity #1 - I've been observing the family of American Crows in my area for several months. However, an added challenge for me is to be especially mindful of gazing at them for too long. My understanding is they find this threatening and I know they're watching me watching them! I caught their attention when they noticed me tossing peanuts to the California Scrub-Jays almost a year ago. They began approaching and watching me intently since summer of last year. Sometimes only the breeding male is visible, sometimes 2 of them, and other times 3 (which might include the female and helper). Once or twice, it's been 4-5. At this time, it's a treat to hear the breeding female's begging calls as we head into their breeding season. Activity #2 - Compared to the California Scrub Jays, the American Crows are understandably more cautious and slow to trust. The scrub jays (the male especially) boldly nab peanuts regardless of how I appear or whatever I'm doing that's out of sync with my normal outdoor activities. However, the crows have been alarmed by phenomena such as the sound of me dropping a hose nozzle on concrete and, another time, by my lower face being covered by a mask on a smoky day. Activity #3 -  Be mindful of, and eliminate, standing water in and around the yard, as this presents good breeding opportunities for mosquitoes. I make sure to vigorously disturb water in our garden ponds and change water in birds baths regularly.

Limit places where mosquitoes want to live.

I have been following the neighborhood crows here for the couple of years I've lived here, and I love when the juveniles start coming out and doing their baby-squawks, and seeing their parents and older siblings feed them! I started tossing them some dehydrated salmon dog treats, too, so they recognize me and come swooping down for a snack if they spot me. I love knowing how similar to us they are in terms of social and familial structures for survival. The allo-preening is so cute, I am going to keep my eye out for that now!

I saw a family of 4 crows taking a stroll around the yard. The adults looked to be enjoying each other’s company, while the youngsters followed behind. One of the young ones stepped on the other one’s foot, and the second youngster fell down.  Then he or she got up, trotted after the group, and stepped on the first youngster’s foot, and that one fell down.  It made me laugh.

We have breeding crows in our neighborhood here in Montana. Then in the winter, we have a large influx of wintering crows that have migrated down from Canada.  They have a huge presence in town here, with groups hanging around in various places, and communal roosts. It seems that your Ithaca studies have been on a resident population of crows.  I am curious about these crows that have migrated here for the winter - are they staying in family groups?  Has anyone researched these migratory populations?  I wonder about what kind of different strategies they have.

I live in central New York. I have been watching out my bedroom window a group of crows. How excited I became when I learned that they are indeed a family. They make me laugh with every observation.

I live in the Central Valley of California. Ravens are much more common in this area. I took this class to learn to distinguish Ravens from Crows.

We have moved to a new house / town.  The property has a huge front yard.  We do not have dogs so a family of crows (5) have taken up residence nearby and come to the front yard every day.  I love seeing them, and miss their calls.  I will take notes and watch them more closely in the coming year.

I live in EU so I can only speak for the crows I know which are the hooded crows (Corvus cornix). I want to report two observations of crows caring for a sick member.

•  I saw an adult hooded crow with a clearly broken wing in a private garden. I came back every day bringing him/her food, and I witnessed more than once another adult crow (at least one, I couldn't say if they were different individuals) that brought him/her food.
• As a wildlife rehabber, I hosted in my garden an adult hooded crow that was raised in captivity and was suffering from severe rickets, thus couldn't fly. A healthy hooded crow, another adult, started to visit my garden on a daily basis, taking advantage of the rich food variety I gave to the ill crow. Week after week they grew close, and they started preening each other and exchanging food. The healthy crow would sleep with the ill one (close to the ground). After a year or so, the ill crow died. It was completely out of the blue and the vet said there were probably congenital cardiac malformations involved. The healthy crow stayed around for a couple of weeks, cawing as for calling her partner, and slept were they used to roost together for many nights. Then, she decided to move on and now I rarely see her around, even though I kept giving her the same food.

I've had a pair coming to the yard for about two years now, once in a while there are three of them up to a high of nine for a few weeks last fall! I wish so much that I knew who they were to each other, though I imagine they are a family group. There has been a lot of very interesting behaviour from them, one usually stands sentry while the other ones eat, and they almost always leave something for the sentry crow to take at the end, which is cool. Last spring they vanished for April and May, I assume for nesting purposes. They returned in June with three babies, which were as big as the adults, but obviously babies from their behaviour. The babies were MUCH braver than my pair, venturing much further into the yard, spending much more time on the ground and hopping around and on everything. I guess since no harm came to them, they are all much braver now and spent a lot more time here. They even will wait in the tree if I'm going out to the feeders instead of flying away. This spring I still see at least one every day, and have seen three here and there, so I'm not sure what that means for nesting. The one in particular is much more comfortable around me. This spring too I have noticed more quarrelling among them, I assume this 'third' crow is the issue. It never seems serious, thankfully, but loud and with some chasing. I'm very interested in see if some babies will make an appearance. The crows are much louder than the other birds, and much more likely to stick around when I'm outside, they also are not at all bothered by our (senior) dog, unlike the other birds, and will still come to eat if he's out in the yard. I absolutely think they know that he is no threat to them. I have a bird bath that I deep clean weekly and change the water in daily in the summer to prevent mosquitoes. I also have started planting flowers that are supposed to deter mosquitoes, I don't know how true that is, but it can't hurt - marigolds, citronella mostly.

I have been observing and feeding a family of 8 crows for 3 years. I notice that every April, they stop visiting daily and come around less often, I’m assuming due to nest building, egg incubation and care of the babies. About 4-6 weeks later, they resume daily food visits, with new fledged baby crows in tow!

1. Some years ago, we had a torrential all-night rain. I went out to my garden the next morning. A pair of  crows were very agitated and the closer I got to my garden, the more frantically they called. I knew there had to be a youngster. Sure enough, I found him on the ground, cold and soaking wet, shivering and weak. I got a box to put him in, dried him off and coaxed some canned dog food into him. My 10 year old son was so excited, having always wanted a pet crow. I told him we could make sure this young one was well and strong enough to be released but he had to be wild and with his family. The next morning, after my son fed his little friend, we went outside. There were two crows calling up in the trees. I thought it could be the parents so my brave son got "his" crow and we let it out on the patio. Immediately, the two other crows flew down to it. There was the most uncanny conversation among the parents and fledgling. Quiet, un-crowlike clucking noises. And off they all went. Our young bird was indeed able to fly; he had only been unable because he was so cold. 2. When I was a  child, a nest of baby robins blew down during a storm. My mother took them in, conscripted us kids into worm-digging, and she fed them every two to three hours until they became a little older. And every day, there was a tapping on the kitchen window by two adult robins. She put the chicks on the lawn and the adults fed them for half an hour or so. This went on for a couple of weeks. So some other birds are as dedicated to their families and have the moxy of crows. 3. Keep the water in your pond moving with pump. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water.

1. Winter 2019, I lived in the second story of a kayak building. Many crows gathered on the balcony. Watching them one day, they would puff u their bodies, huddle close side by side, and droop their bodies over their legs. Couldn't even see their legs. Sometimes they'd regurgitate pellets... some preening.. 2. Way more social amongst one another and other animals. 3. ........plant more citronella?

where can I find a track of the "whining" tune a female crow makes when she is on the nest?

Last fall, there was a dead squirrel, probably roadkill, on the street right outside my house. In the morning, I observed a family of crows (about 5 individuals) feeding on it, and noticed like it was mentioned in this lesson that there was a sentry perched atop a tree right nearby, watching for danger. The family was there for a brief period before the sentry alerted them and all the crows flew away. They did not return to the carcass (I was working from home and observing and had my eye on it for most of the day), but much later in the day around 4-5pm a Turkey Vulture did arrive and finish of most of the carcass.

I have a family of crows that lives on my street. In the summer, they will hop around on the pavement and find bugs, which they will then feed to each other. It is so interesting to watch them feed each other and allopreen!

This applies to the family factor and touches West Nile.  We have a four year old American crow Loki. He was found at about the three week stage on the ground trying to survive. To early to be out of the nest the parents were trying to feed and care for him. Luckily for him he was found and brought to living skies wildlife rehabilitation center. I work with this amazing organization. We assessed his and he had a few things wrong. The worst being West Nile. I poorly set broken leg dehydration as well as very underweight. We managed to actually pull him through all of this. He was a very determined little guy. Point of story. Loki was found in my area of town and that's where we raised him. Occasionally one of his parents or older siblings would leave food by Loki as he played outside. To this day they still show interest in him and this year adopted a fledgling that was orphaned.

 I have been following crows in my backyard in Andover Ma for 5 years. It started with a couple, this year there are 8.  They call me from the tree. Occasionally a hawk will appear and they rally together to shoo him away. I do put food out, in the hopes they will come close, but they are very skittish. 

1 &2.  After taking this class - this summer when i am in our weekend home (where there are very recent population of crows who regularly use my property as a stomping ground) I will watch and observe more diligently.  Since these crows are very new to our home this past summer - i have been struck more by their comings and goings. What I have seen is that crows seem to be - for lack of better words - organized.  They move with purpose, they communicate quite often and seem to have a regular and purposeful set of activities which they engage in.  Almost a schedule.  For instance - there is lawn time for insect eating, there is the large half dead tree time, there is sit on the dock time - I have no idea what they are doing at the crack of dawn but it is quite loud.  I think their communication is quite remarkable because even now i pay attention when i hear them making a fuss to see what is happening!  I can’t wait for summer to see them in action - with more information under my belt to make meaningful observations. 3.  Clearing out and dispersing any areas of standing water is the best mosquito prevention i know of.  

I've been watching and feeding crows un Rockport MA  since the big snow of ?7years ago; I had to crawl out over a snow bank to give them bread that I made into balls in my fist. In the spring I noticed they soaked their bread in the bird bath -- and experimented with a crab shell that just turned putrid so they did not try that again. I was interested because a neighbor over the hill -- not far "as the crow flies" -- had raised an injured crow on bread soaked in water and let him/her loose .. I wondered if he/she taught the behavior to offspring. Our little group have continued to do that ever since. We variably see 2, then 2+3/4 or as many as 7 as the summer goes on -- this year siblings noticeably supported a weak nestling as it negotiated branches. They share food by placing a sentinel that calls to the others to join the feast. They know my call when I feed them, recognize me when I walk around the garden (by demanding more food) and I even think they know my car ... Recently a small crow has appeared intimidated by a handsome large one, but follows him/her deferentially to share food --are they going to pair off?

I walk my dogs almost daily in a park near my house.  For two years there was a crow that was clearly sick or disabled in some way, as I never saw it fly and it was missing feathers.  When ever I saw him/her while I was walking with my dogs the others crows would fly over and protect the one crow and usher it away from us.  I was always busy keeping my dogs away  from them so did not study it as much as I wished I had.  I was amazed that it was able to live so long with what ever issues it had, but clearly its family protected it.

1. There is a family of crows that often hang out in my neighborhood. There are probably around 9 individuals. I usually see them foraging together in the road, and they are quite loud and excitable. Other times I will observe 1 or 2 of them watching me in the garden, and they will be very quiet, they will then fly away as if to report to the others. 2. They are so smart and social. I once saw 3 crows playing with a dead rat in town. One would fly up high with the rat, drop it, and then another would swoop in, catch it and fly up. Most birds I observe seem to either be looking for food, staking territory, or wooing a mate. Crows, ravens and other corvids really seem to value doing things just for the sheer fun of it. 3. We can take steps to make sure there is no standing water in our yards, as well as other measures to decrease mosquito populations.

After this lesson, I am going to actively look in my neighborhood for a family of crows. (Also, I am delighted to have a new word in my vocabulary: allopreening!)

1.  There is a family of  about seven crows that lives behind my yard in the wooded area.  They often fly and forage for food together and rest on our trees.  I notice a lot of cawing between these crows - and the cawing takes on a rhythmic pulse which seems to be a form of communication, much like Morse code.  Next, other crows respond in the same rhythm and then will take an action, such as fly to a meeting place.  I have never seen any other birds communicate in such a fashion. 2.  Other birds do not communicate the way crows do with rhythmic sounds that mean something.  I do see other species of birds in flocks or with mates, however, but they don't seem to have as much of a personal interaction in the same way crows do. 3.  We can keep down the mosquito population by making sure we eliminate areas of standing water on our properties whenever possible.  Mosquitoes breed in standing water.

A California Mockingbird dive bombing a crow who was too close to the nest. (Sacramento CA)