The Urban Crows Blog

A recent scientific survey carried out in my back yard focused on Corvid food preferences. What foods do crows find uber tasty? The carefully designed experiment consisted of randomly throwing different foods onto our lawn and seeing what my crow buddies went for first. Bottom of the list: peanuts. They eat them if they’re there but given the choice between peanuts and dog kibble, the kibble goes first. Close to the top of the pile is any form of meat protein or raw fat – chicken, beef fat, bacon, chicken skin etc. But I suspect that what they really like best is a nice bit of cheese. Rather than stuff it into their crops to stash away somewhere for later, they’ll happily munch away on any cheese. No stashing that stuff.

Pouring with rain, 2 of my 3 regular visiting crows -moulting and looking particularly ratty- perched on the back deck waiting for a few peanuts. They get my attention with a low rolling clicking call. There were only 2 for the longest time but recently a 3rd has been edging its way in to the social group. Hard to say if it’s related but it persisted and appears to have been accepted by the pair, BUT it feeds last.

A short on line search threw this up (which makes total sense given the context I’ve noticed): “One of the more commonly heard non-caw crow vocalizations is a series of low-pitched rattling sounds or clicks, rather like the sound of a ratchet being turned rapidly, or a higher volume version of the chittering of a squirrel. These calls sometimes appear to be addressed to humans. They are also made by juvenile crows during their rambling vocalizations, by courting crows, during mock and semi-serious crow “dog fights,” and at other times. The context for the use of rattle calls often is when a crow is interested in something or someone – crow, human or other animal – but uneasy about approaching it too closely.”

“I bloody hope it’s not peanuts again”