“Hey Peanut Boy” was never a good name for a crow. Not even as a come-on line.
That was our first attempt to seduce the immediate members of our backyard crow family, usually numbering four. Our reasoning was simple. Crows like peanuts. Crows are super smart and can imitate voices. If we say “Hey Peanut Boy” to a crow as we’re tossing it a peanut, it will eventually solicit peanuts from us by flying up to us and saying “Hey Peanut Boy” and all our neighbors will think we have magical powers and a general freaky vibe. In other words, their suspicions about us would be confirmed.
Our crow family did like peanuts. We know that because as soon as we were out of sight they’d scoop them right up, and not a moment before. And if they truly were good mimics, they weren’t about to let on.
Years went by. We had, we surmised, one crow mommy, one crow daddy, a teenager, and one juvenile hanging out in any given year. We tossed them all peanuts. I believe it was the teenager that got the least respect. If all four crows were perched nearby and we tossed a peanut some respectful distance away, they’d all descend on it, but the teenager was the least aggressive. He’d hold back. If he did try to edge in sidewise, he’d get his head pecked, and I mean right now.
In fact, we could tell which one he was even when there were no peanuts involved, because he always had at least a little poop on him. Don’t even try to tell me birds can’t aim poop. I have seen them do it. I have seen our crows perch on the wire, calculate trajectory, clench, and nail Little Brother on the street below, right on the head. More than once. The poop-speckled crow never, ever got the peanut.
After several years I got my crow family to at least pay attention when peanuts were being tossed, but not lower themselves to the intimacy I craved. But then came breeding season, and they had to attend to their new-crow manufacture business. This involved mama and papa and at least one attendant from the previous year, and poor Poophead either got left out of the production or saw an opportunity to strike out on his own a bit because everyone else was occupied. All I know is one crow started approaching us a lot closer than the others.
When we were first seeking a personal crow attachment, we named our crows. Dickens. DooDah. Hey-Peanut-Boy. But we got tired. After a while they were all BooBoo. I can’t tell them apart except the one with the poop on his head who comes close. He is now Official BooBoo. And I don’t know if he’s a he. I might be misgendering, but BooBoo doesn’t care.
Now he gets real close. He shows up at the sound of the door opening and if I start walking he’ll follow along at my heel, and if I don’t have a peanut he’ll fly up and then do a swoopity around my head. A gentle feather-fluff at the ear. Not the terrifying crow dive-bomb when they’re protecting their nestlings on the ground, but a friendly wing-wash to say HEY! PEANUT LADY!
A few months ago he landed on the porch railing for his peanut, and I came outside, gently, and poked a peanut on the railing, and stepped aside and away, and he sidled up to it and nabbed it like anything, and then stepped back about two inches to hammer away at the shell. I’ve been shortening the distance. And finally, last week, I refused to put the peanut on the railing, and instead put it in my flat hand on the railing, and he didn’t fly away, and I did him the favor of turning my head in another direction, and—it took a good minute—NAB! He took it from my hand.
I am ecstatic. This has been a multi-year project. I just needed one put-upon dejected crow and some time. Next up: landing on my shoulder like a proper familiar, and the possibility of some enchantment in my favor.
https://youtube.com/shorts/5zkZ1HJvoFE?feature=share
Awesome! Congratulations, Murr. And BooBoo.
Thanks! Stay tuned.
Aw! You are so fortunate to be adopted by a crow! Please keep us posted on the doings of your crows. I hope that you get to semi-tame them the way Shawn Bergman did Canuck the Crow. (I still miss that blog.) They are my favorite species by far. (And that includes humans.)
We know you’re ambivalent about humans!
Great video! I think I’ve already shared my story about feeding steak bones to crows at the old family house. They never got anywhere near me, but apparently had a sentry posted in the area. The bones would be dropped and almost as soon as I was inside, they’d swoop in and grab them.
I tried crow luring at the rental house but no joy even though I then lived a few blocks away from a huge rookery. West Nile virus wiped them out. Decimation doesn’t begin to describe the carnage.
I’ve tried blue jay luring here. They also have sentries. I used to hear them calling when the seed went out to the feeders. But the rats moved in and feeding ended. These days I sometimes have jays soliciting water, but they don’t swoop in until I’m inside.
The jays here (scrub jays) seem way quicker, more aggressive, and (dare I say) smarter than the crows. All they are is smaller, or they’d be eating the crows’ lunch. Oh wait: they routinely eat the crows’ lunch.
We used to put bread out for them. When I saw one perched in a tall conifer half a block away I’d hold a slice up and wave it so the crow could see it. There was a pair that showed up regularly (only when we were indoors). One was missing a leg, and the other stood guard while its companion ate. But then the plague of rodents came (it even made the national news) and we didn’t put out any more food, just suet in a hanging cage, and hummingbird nectar. Now we see only the hummingbirds, the lesser goldfinches at the fountain, and the occasional robin, junco, western phoebe, california towhee, spotted towhee, scrub jay, or woodpecker.
Thanks for reminding me to buy suet!
I haven’t seen any rats or rat sign (scats and burrowing) in some time, but I’m sure they’re around.
Crows are rare here for some reason. I don’t see or hear them.
I made a freight run to Utah a few years ago and saw increasingly more ravens the further west I went until it seemed that they replaced the crows. One was hanging around a hotel parking lot in Nebraska. I brought it out a machine made pancake that I didn’t want. The raven checked it out from a safe distance but didn’t come down for it even when I was far away from it.
Jeremy, this is what we’re reduced to. We wave bread at crows. We need love so much. For what it’s worth, I love you all. Please feed me peanuts. Bruce, your raven has a more discriminating palate than we are led to believe.
Wow! That is a lot of patience. Great video. Congratulations on your crow seduction.
You take your successful seductions when you can get them.
I saw a video of a guy training an octopus to play the piano of his design. I’m sure you’ll be able to get BooBoo playing the oboe, with time.
Piano, maybe. Crows are famously inept with reeded instruments.
i questioned real or AI on that one. I question everything now, sigh.
A friend in West Linn puts out cut up hot dogs for his crows. I worried about the sulfates, but they seem to thrive on junk food.
They call to him if he’s late getting them out, but so far they don’t take food from his hand.
Have you seen the videos of the guy who feeds, like, a hundred raccoons at once on his back deck, using hot dogs? I believe I gave you enough to google, there.
If they can deal with carrion, I’d guess they could deal with sulfites, but I don’t really know anything about allergies among crows.
Great post and video. Murr the crow whisperer!
We have a “murder” of crows that congregates in different locations in our neighbourhood (<Cdn spelling). One group tore up a lawn feeding on grubs. They'll also flock in a big Douglas-fir tree behind our house yelling at each other until they decide to fly off together.
Years ago, there was a crazy crow on our street that followed our kids home from school, scolding them and hopping along power lines and flying from tree to tree.
We get Steller's Jays at our feeder. They're noisy but fun to watch.
And gorgeous! We have Steller’s jays five blocks from here in either direction but not in my yard, where I’ve seen one only. It’s a matter of Doug Fir density. I’ve already written about the lawn-tearing of crows–a recent event! Now, almost all lawns are completely torn up. The chafers they’re going for appeared only about eight years ago. It’s one way to persuade people out of their lawns, but probably won’t work.
What an achievement for you both! Well done 👏🏻
Why thank you. I thought it would be easy, but crows aren’t as biddable as I’d thought.
I have a few crows that I feed peanuts to. Not enough of them to call a murder but they can be noisy when they want peanuts. They won’t even go down to the lawn to pick them up until I get back in the house. We find shells sometimes in the bird bath and our neighbor’s mother pulled up sprouted peanut plants in their yard. Unexpected for sure, but I guess the squirrels get some peanuts the crows miss and then bury and forget them. Congratulations on your success!
I’ve had two peanuts sprout. One even flowered, but we did not achieve new peanuts.
Crows are wary. I saw them sit in the tree and watch the BlueJays gobble the peanuts up.
Them jays will get the peanut if a crow so much as glances away.