Crows. Magpies. Jackdaws. Rooks.
Jays.
All are "crows" of different sizes, shapes and colors.
The one thing they have in common is they are very intelligent birds of opportunity.
Crows are scavengers and predators...that clean up road kill and any other dead body...I guess that is a good thing for the public works department.
But the crows intelligence gets them in trouble and is why crows are often called pests...and need quick pest control.
- Crows rip open plastic garbage bags and scatter the trash that you placed in the bag on the road side waiting for trash pick up.
- Crows raid bird feeders and eat that expensive seed you put out for songbirds.
- Crows raid farmers grain crops and even eat small young lambs at times.
- Crows usually roost at night together by the millions creating health and nuisance problems with their droppings and their constant never ending...NOISE.
- Crows do stupid things like hoard their food (dead animals) in bird baths and crows tear the rubber wipers off car wiper blades. Why? Who knows but they sure become a pest fast when they do stuff like that that irritates the heck out of us.
So what can you do about these crows who hide behind a number of aliases?
1. USE VISUAL DETERRENTS: Use decoy owls, balloons with big eyes on them, Mylar tape that blows with the wind...but you must move them often because the crow is smart and quickly figures out your game.
2. USE SOUND DETERRENTS: Use sounds to scare them. A propane motion activated sound cannon, or buy a CD especially designed to scare them away, firecrackers, horns...but the chances are you will scare off your neighbors before you move that crow population away.
3. USE ROOST STOPPERS: Use sticky substances, electrically charges wires, tall bird spikes, sticky tapes...all these things make it hard for the crow to roost and all these different alternatives can be purchased on the internet.
4. USE NETTING: Netting blocking their roost, or covering whatever they have been attacking will do the job...if you can put a net over it.
5. SHOOT THE CROWS: Hunting permits can be obtained to shoot crows that are a nuisance or a health hazard under rules as defined by the Federal government.