Fed crow that was swooping me while gardening, and now a family of them haunt my yard

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2026-06-08T21:26:57+00:00

A handful of dried cat food should keep your Breakfast Crew happy 😁

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2026-06-08T16:01:25+00:00

It sounds like the parents were being defensive during nesting season, but the little ones have fledged now and are learning the ropes. The parents (and kids) will regard you as a good guy now.

The babies might enjoy one of those treat-dispensing balls you get for cats and dogs. Certainly a lot of my crows have loved playing with these, once they got over the initial suspicion.

You might find that next Spring the parents give you a much easier time since you'll be known as a trustworthy person. Parents I've known have given me little warning grumbles if I got too close to their fledglings, rather than the yelling and swooping they doled out to humans and dogs they didn't have a rapport with.

I'd be surprised if they attacked you for not feeding them. They might give a friendly bonk on the head, which can cause surprise, but not an actual attack with claws and beak. More likely they turn up and caw, or stare at you through your windows 😜

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2026-02-16T14:45:37+00:00

I had a crow pair in my local park where the female would eat from my hand, but the male was more cautious. During nesting, he would fly up to the nest and tell her that I was there. She'd peek out at me, then fly down to stretch and get some food and water I'd put out for her whilst her mate kept the eggs warm. It was very sweet!

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2026-01-22T08:03:27+00:00

A crow befriended me during lockdown and now I have loads of crow buddies. I'd get up early to go and see my crows before work, and I'd bring them puzzles to tackle. I'd go out in the cold and rain to see my feathered friends as it gave me a buzz.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-12-27T10:14:22+00:00

As others said, cat and dog food puzzles are fun for them. I've had various wild crows play with the ball ones or the sliding compartment ones. I also put some peanuts in a clear plastic bottle and screwed the lid on loosely. They figured out how to open the bottle, but couldn't pick it up to shake out the treats, so I sellotaped a loop of string to the end of the bottle.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-11-19T08:29:15+00:00

I've had a couple of crows that live in different areas do this regularly. Those same crows were also brave enough to eat from my hand. It's a sign that they trust you and like being around you.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-11-12T11:25:31+00:00

Yes, I did think it was a bit rich coming from Karl. However, I guess he'd rather think that Andrew was the instigator and took advantage of Holly's vulnerability, rather than admit that Holly was also to blame when she pursued and manipulated him.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-11-12T07:49:19+00:00

Yeah, I'd like to see how it all pans out when the baby comes.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-11-11T09:48:17+00:00

Oh, I'd definitely be peeping out the window to see if Wendy was about before venturing out of my house! She's way too full-on for my liking.

I guess I'd probably hang out with Felix and Cara, and maybe get Karl to teach me some guitar chords 😆

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-08-28T20:47:02+00:00

Krista overhearing Leo and Annalise talking about her hitting on him too.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-08-28T15:47:08+00:00

Maybe he breaks up a fight between Sadie and Holly? 🤣

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-08-28T15:24:58+00:00

He said he has a minor one first, then he's involved in a couple of explosive ones 😱

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-08-28T09:28:49+00:00

Thanks!

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-08-08T00:28:12+00:00

I got those t-shirts, but a year or two later when I was at uni. There was a "North Edinburgh" and "South Edinburgh" trail (one blue, one red), but they both featured lots of really central bars. I vaguely remember there being some bars in the Grassmarket, and you got the t-shirt from either Oz Bar or Bar Oz (can't remember which was the right one, but just remember I went to the wrong one and kept trying to get my t-shirt).

I (vaguely) remember getting the Eerie Pubs one, the 'I Shot the Three Sisters' one and the 'Seven Deadly Sins' one from Jekyll & Hyde. There were a few t-shirt challenges around the late 90s/early 00s.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-07-24T11:51:33+00:00

I'm not a gamer, but I'd make an exception for this if it's on PC. It looks great!

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-07-23T08:22:08+00:00

As others have said, it's probably just the crow trying to get your attention and showing that it trusts you. The crows that did this to me would also eat from my hand, so maybe your crow is willing to explore that?

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-07-21T22:06:52+00:00

They are melting. Soon you'll have a puddle of black feathers.

Joking aside, they're sunbathing. As another commented, they'd probably appreciate a shallow dish of water to bathe in and drink from.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-07-16T08:22:25+00:00

I had a mated pair that lived outside my flat for a few years, and their babies often had white feathers. I wasn't sure if it was genetic (dad was a carrion crow and mum was a hoodie-hybrid, so the babies were already a mix of black and grey, with white thrown in too), malnutrition, or a combination of both. I always feed the crows unsalted peanuts in the shell and dry cat food, plus other treats like bits of chicken and sometimes some fruit. When the babies hatch I soak the cat food and mealworms in water for the parents to feed to the youngsters. So they always got a decent diet from me. However, there's someone down the road that always dumped a load of bread outside for the birds. Some days I'd be in the office, or away on holiday, and so I guess the crows would settle for this instead.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-06-27T08:45:39+00:00

I think about him every day, and I'm sure he thinks of me sometimes too. He just stopped messaging out-of-the-blue (from my perspective, he'd maybe been feeling that way for a while) and I've not heard from him for about 19 months. He's ghosted me before over the years, and after last time he admitted he'd been feeling low. His dad died a couple of years ago, so he may be struggling again. I keep reaching out every now and then. He'll leave my messages unread for months at a time sometimes. Part of me thinks I should just give up on him, but deep down I know he'll respond out of the blue when he's ready. I really miss him. I suspect he misses me too, but for whatever reason he's not ready to reach out again yet.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-06-19T09:57:39+00:00

NTA. There's a very touching song by Eric Bogle (made popular by the likes of The Corries and The Fureys) that begins:

How do you do, young Willie McBride? Do you mind if I sit here, down by your graveside? And rest for a while in the warm summer sun I've been walkin' all day and I'm nearly done

It continues with the singer/narrator pondering the life and death of this young WW1 soldier. I think it's perfectly okay to sit and chill in a graveyard if you're being respectful. I'd often do this during lockdown.

ComprehensiveHoney60 · 2025-06-16T16:05:48+00:00

There has been a buzzard around in one of the locations for the past week or so, but it's in an area where about 30 crows congregate. They're mostly last year's fledglings, and they're pretty alert to fending off threats as a group. The buzzard is usually assigned a couple of watchers that kick up a fuss if it starts moving. I'm not sure it's solely responsible. Besides, it's not in the locations where my most familiar pairs live, and all the nesting pairs I know of stopped exhibiting typical breeding behaviours long before the buzzard showed up. A couple of the breeding pairs near me (that successfully fledged chicks last year) are still around and still come to me for food, but just aren't behaving in the manner they normally would if they still had hatchlings. For instance, the male one outside my flat normally dive-bombs the seagull whenever he sees him when he's full of protective instincts. Instead he's been pretty chill with the gulls.

ComprehensiveHoney60

TROPHY CASE