Questions about American Crow /raven behavior

[kmcz...@aol.com]

 

I observed a group of 6 American Crows near the intersection of Copper Gulch Rd and Reed Rd (Fremont County), this last weekend while at our property, picking at the roofing material of an old trailer. They were pulling small things off and tossing it around, not eating it or flying off with any of it. It was getting hot out and I did not see that they appeared to be feeding on anything underneath - they did this for about 15 minutes until a raven flew over and sent them flying off. 

 

I also had been forwarded an email earlier in the spring about what appears to be raven trouble (not sure of county location):

 

 We have a problem at the cabin with crows/ravens.  I think it's ravens because they are so big.  During the winter, we saw that pieces of the screen from two small east facing windows in the loft were being torn.  I thought it was some critters needing screen for their nests.  But then some neighbors saw the birds ramming the windows and tearing out the screens.  They even took a video of it for us.  The screens are now totally gone, and the windows are filthy.  We went to the cabin yesterday and spent the night - which we haven't done in a long time.  A terrible racket woke me up this morning about 5:30.  I thought it might be a bear on the deck, but the dogs weren't barking.  It was those darn birds attacking the windows! 

Now, I do not know if the above mentioned windows being "attacked" were the screenless ones, or if these windows still had screens in them. 

 

Any ideas on what may be driving the behaviors of these Corvids?  I noticed the roof vents on my own trailer look like I can see some daylight through them, but I am not sure whether the crows are the culprits or just UV and age; but would appreciate strategies to protect the new ones I plan to put on if the crows visit. 

 

Please respond off list.

 

Thanks,

 

Kathy Miller

Colorado Springs, CO

kmcz...@aol.com  

 

[SeEtta Moss]

 We have a problem at the cabin with crows/ravens.  I think it's ravens because they are so big.  During the winter, we saw that pieces of the screen from two small east facing windows in the loft were being torn.  I thought it was some critters needing screen for their nests.  But then some neighbors saw the birds ramming the windows and tearing out the screens.  They even took a video of it for us.  The screens are now totally gone, and the windows are filthy.  We went to the cabin yesterday and spent the night - which we haven't done in a long time.  A terrible racket woke me up this morning about 5:30.  I thought it might be a bear on the deck, but the dogs weren't barking.  It was those darn birds attacking the windows! 

Kathy-

I suspect the corvids attacking windows/window screens part of your question is essentially the same as the one asked about cardinals attacking windows--they see their reflection and are fighting the other 'bird'.

This is from another birding site with comments on birds attacking windows:
"We too have had these attacks, but this year it is a big raven and a couple of turkey vultures in Southern California. They've taken out the screen on 4 of the reflective windows so I don't think the bird screens mentioned earlier will do. We've tried the reflective streamers, but they just tear them off and peak until they have bled on the windows and frames. We're going to try to research changing the windows from the reflective glass back to regular glass since these are the only windows that attract this sort of attention." 

So apparently both ravens and Turkey Vultures (that is a big surprise) have torn off screens to get at windows with their reflections.  Interesting that this person was using 'reflective windows.' 

In addition to Cornell site the Sialis.org site has a lot of suggestions for window strike problems.

SeEtta Moss
Canon City
http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com