Old Time Crow Tales and Facts

CROWS

Cranky is the Crow

BY George Heinold

Except Donald Duck, no American bird has developed a personality equal to that of the crow. Yet the crow lacks beauty, charm, grace, song, deadly beak, and talons. Cunning along has made him the Capon of the cornfields, and with as many foes, man and beast, as the coyote, he is not only here to stay, but everywhere to stay-except that he has no claw hold in South America.

Stories of corvine mischief, raffishness, and perverse humor make the eagle and the humming bird drab by comparison. What eagle ever swooped into a farmyard and made off with a set of false teeth? What hummingbird or blue jay ever broke up a golf game by stealing the ball? Recently a pair of the black scoundrels ruined a day's ice fishing in Connecticut by pulling up the fisherman's tip-lines, and robbing the hooks of bait.

The crow is against everyone. The feeling seems to be mutual. Gamekeepers, sportsmen, farmers, and the Great Horned Owl denounce him, shoot at him, and attack him-the owl, because the crow disturbs his daytime sleeping!

About the only thing that can fool a crow very long is another crow. When corn is planted in straight rows, the crow finds a kernel, and goes right down the line. When it's cross-planted, he digs only where the marker lines intersect.

One noted crow hunter tried all his tricks without success.

“Why not get a line on where their roost is?”

I suggested. “ I know where their roost is. It's in a public park - no hunting!”

The apparent mob tactics of crows are actually strategies. Insolence and clamor are a means of defense. In union there is strength. Said Henry Ward Beecher: “ If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.”

Once, on a back country trail, I came on two crows diving and picking at some creature on the ground. One would lunge and retreat, whereupon the other would dive in to attack. This went on for minutes. When I walked closer to the scene, I was astonished to find that the slick pair of gangsters had successfully engaged and killed a copperhead snake nearly 3 feet long.

There are nine different corvine species in the United States, six of which are known as crows, and three as ravens. The common crow, a bundle of supreme arrogance, is the “haranguester” we most generally know. He stands about 16 inches high, and his gathering is-of course-called a “cawcuss.”

While the crow undoubtedly prefers stolen food to other kinds, much of his diet actually benefits man's activities. A government biologist has estimated that a family of crows would destroy 38,000 harmful insects during their nesting period.

Last spring I watched a pair of crows nesting. They wedged a twig nest in a tall tree near our house, and lined its interior with horsehair and grasses. Soon the nest held six eggs of mottled green.

When the young hatched, both parents worked hard to keep them fed-crushed insects, shreds of field mice, downy young songbirds, and choice frogs went into the bill of fare.

After about three weeks, the doting attitude of the parents changed. Arriving at the nest with a tidbit, the parent refused to yield it, but perched some feet away on a limb, tantalizing the youngsters. One day, after about an hour of this, a young crow got up his nerve and hopped to the parent's limb. He was promptly rewarded with the tidbit. This process went on till all the youngsters had hopped from the nest with a flurry of frightened wings.

When the nesting and training period is over, crow families gather in small bands, which gradually coalesce as colder weather comes. There is now a move toward warmer climates, where crow cities are established. Some of these have been known to harbor as many as 200,000 birds.

Sportsmen for years have endeavored to popularize crow shooting as a sport with a three-fold purpose: the protection of agriculture, the increase of game and songbirds, and, as no closed season exists to preserve the crow, the development of an excellent off-season gunning sport.

The crow is wary. Decoys, such as live, stuffed, or mechanical owls, are used to lure him to the blind. A crow call is generally used. There are phonograph records to teach the hunter the best crow jargon.

Skilled callers can imitate distress, discovery, attention, and rallying calls so effectively that their efforts blacken the sky. They can also reproduce the calls of young crows in nesting season.

The oddest and certainly the most unorthodox crow caller I've ever seen was a cantankerous old parrot. Dubbed John Silver, the parrot was placed on the lawn one warm summer's day. The family's pet black cat was in the house on a cushion, and all was peaceful until John Silver spied a crow in a neighboring lot. At sight, John employed his bilingual talent to heap scorn and abuse on the crow. Out-classed, the crow summoned assistance. Soon the field resounded with the blasts of the crow chorus, and the commotion did not subside till John Silver's mistress came out to investigate.

Thus John's personal differences with the mob won him an audition as a crown caller, a trial that turned out so favorably that his master used him as a decoy by placing the parrot cage in strategic crow territory. John's fervor increased with each shot. He shook his cage in his rage, hurling invectives as the crows stormed about him. Finally, after four seasons of raging, John Silver was seized with a fit and perished from the earth.

Some birds charm with their plumage, others with their song. The crow, however, is typed as the pariah of the bird kingdom. Nevertheless he lives a full life on a full stomach. He's a wise guy-and he has a lot of fun.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOUR OLD TIME TALES OF THE CROW OR SOME INTERESTING FACTS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AT borntobeoutdoors@gmail.com AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO INCLUDED THEM ON THE PAGE.