Weird encounters with crows?

They are highly intelligent, and seem to pass on the wisdom from elders to the youngsters.

Years ago we bought a small farm that had laid fallow for a number of years and had 'accumulated' a large crow population. They thwarted our efforts at farming by methodically walking the corn rows, pulling up the newly sprouted plants and stripping the remaining part of the kernels. (Among other stunts)

After much frustration, my husband was given some advice by an old-timer at the feed store. He said to kill one crow and hang it on a post or tree limb where the other crows could see it. The other crows would recognize it as a warning and leave our field alone.

Even though it 'violated' our 'live and let live' policy, we shot one and hung it on a tall pole. After a considerable 'caw-fest' in the surrounding trees, they left. Not only did they stay out of the garden, they would fly AROUND our entire pasture area!

It has been almost 25 years and they have just gotten to the point where one will occasionally land in the garden or yard. They usually land in the pasture, walk up to the gate and look suspiciously toward the house. So it would seem that the warning was passed on to the younger generation.

Originally posted by The Bear Man

Originally posted by Azraels_Bride
I was riding on my bike one day...on my way to school
and on the side of the road there was a crow. And you would think the crow would fly away if you approach them with your bike, but instead the crow went right in front of me, in front of the bike so I drove over it!! I could hear the bones say CRACK! .

:'( Thats mean... but hey.. do what you gotta do and if the birds ok its ok ^_^

I dont know if I'd want to be the one running a bird like that over >.> They dont forget much

mean? I didnt do it on purpose, I was trying to avoid the bird but it ran in front of my bike!!!

This isn't a scary encounter with a crow, but it happened-belief or disbelief rests with you. About three to six years ago, my mother brought me to the nursing home she was working at at the time. Well, every thing went well until night when she went out for a ciggarette break. I was out talking with her and she threw her ciggarette on the ground. Next thing we know a stupid crow came down and picked the ciggarette up by the FILTER and started smoking!!!! I'm not kidding, I'm dead serious-this crow sat there puffing it's neck up and down and smoke was coming out of it's beak. It didn't stop until the filter burnt it, then it left. You can only imagine how hilarious that was for bothe of us.

A few times crows have been in a tree, and dropped a bone near me. Actually, I dont think I ever saw the crows. I just think it was crows. *nods*

All i know is those birds better not trip while im ridin on 25's and drinkin a 40 yo, i run em over. But in all seriousness, If birds were trying to attack me, i would be afraid that I would contract some odd disease, since crows eat carrion. And, it would hurt if a horde of 1000 crows landed on my head and started to scratch me.....like the movie birds

There was recently (a month or three back) a show on one of the learning-discover-pbs channels.
It was all about Ravens and about two hours long. Raven's are officially the smartest bird, crows being their cousins carry similiar traits but it is the Raven that rules.

This film shows, among many amazing things, that Ravens like to play, rolling down snowy hills, riding the backs of pigs...and other funny tricks, simply for the pure fun of it.

There was so much information in the show, my mind was blown.
Ah Here it is. Nature: Ravens
You can get it on VHS...wish they had a dvd.

I don't have any interesting stories...but maybe I can attract one with the bird feed and shiny string I have. Had some cool birds visit back in New Jersey, have to attrack a few new friends here in Colorado before the bird flu comes to claim them.

Awhile ago a friend of mine had a dream that she was lying in bed with her boyfriend and a crow was trying to get in her window (I cant really remember the specifics) Anyways, a few weeks ago her boyfriend died in a car accident. When she went to the site of the accident there was the biggest crow she had ever seen right in the same spot where her boyfriend's body was when he flew out of the truck. Weird eh? It might be a coincidence, but I thought it was worth jotting down.

Interesting replies here, guys.

In 2004, I woke up at around 6 am, due to an enormous amount of birds shrieking in my backyard (my window was closed too). I looked out my window, and my entire backyard lawn had been covered my crows. My backyard is more than an acre in size, and I can gurantee you that every foot of it had atleast one crow on it. It was pretty frightning, considering that the only birds we see around these parts are song birds, and very few of them. What's even stranger is that they were only on my lawn, and not one had been on my neighbor's. After half an hour, they left, and all was calm again.

It didn't happen to me, but....

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."

Edgar Allan Poe

As you may or may not be aware, the poem continues, he is freaked out by the tapping, sad over some lost love named Lenore. He hears some rustling, gets mad yells at the visitor and opens the door to see no one but darkness. He yells Lenore! (perhaps rocky style ADRIAN!). He hears the knocking at the window thinks it is the wind he flings open the window to make sure and in flew a Raven and sat on the door. 11 verses later the poem ends "Nevermore!"

He calls the Raven ""Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil--prophet still, if bird or devil!" a few times.
The poem is just something I thought should be mentioned on the topic of crows/ravens/big scary black birds

Indeed,
when I was heading home I took a shortcut through the graveyard.
There were many crows, but one of them followed me from tree to tree.
I looked at it and then the crow flew above me, I walked faster and jumped over the fence. Then checked if the crow was following me but, it wasn`t.

Was pretty freaked out because I had just seen Omen xS

I saw a video on yahoo that looked pretty much like what happened in my yard, except it happened with crows (lots of more crows than birds in the video), and through out my entire yard. Here is the yahoo video of the birds:


video.yahoo.com...

reply to post by piersploughman
That was a Rookery. Crows have a central camp or Rookery that accomodates hundreds of crows -all sitting very closely side-by-side. They are all silent and one will drop suddenly to the ground as if paralyzed. The Rookery moves as one crow - a flat opaque cloud of crows flying .almost touching each other . The Whole Rookery relocates to greener pasteurs this way .

I see nothing unusual in the OP or in any of the replies. Crows and ravens (and their smaller relatives like jackdaws, magpies etc) are probably the smartest and most complex birds, along with parrots, and thats probably why they creep people out so easily- one expects birds to act like city pigeons or chickens, not to appear clever and complex.
I know of people who has kept crows as pets and they report that the birds love watching TV and learn to mimic human speech.

I have never had a crow say "Hello" to me, but I did have a macaw greet me like that one day in an aviary. I knew it was most likely trained to do so but still, it can be quite a shock when you enter the aviary and a macaw hanging upside down from the aviary roof suddenly bids you welcome with human words.

I've alwayse had crows in my neighborhood but sometimes they appear in a very large murder filling the trees and the roof of my house.

The first time was in 2008 when my dad died and I had surgery for cancer 7 days later.
The next time was in 2010 the day an idiot drove into me on my motorcycle nearly killing me.

It's not just me, my neighbors noticed the crows too and mentioned it to me without me bringing it up.

I have noticed birds acting in almost "pack" orientated manners on a few occasions in the last few years. What i mean by this is if one bird moves off the rest follow, im guessing this is just an extention of thier flocking urges?

Having a partner with a bird phobia causes you to think the birds are always out to get you though

Well if they fly directly over your head then they're trying to poop on you. NO JOKE!!! So be careful.

Originally posted by thiopental sodium
Crows are among the most intelligent and confident birds. This combination makes them perform strange things. They have the ability to quickly learn and adopt new habits too. Other than that, I don't see any of the posts as indicative of anything paranormal or out of the ordinary. Crows DO do unique things compared to other birds.

This video is great.

thechive.com...

Originally posted by zero_snaz
It didn't happen to me, but....

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."

Edgar Allan Poe

As you may or may not be aware, the poem continues, he is freaked out by the tapping, sad over some lost love named Lenore. He hears some rustling, gets mad yells at the visitor and opens the door to see no one but darkness. He yells Lenore! (perhaps rocky style ADRIAN!). He hears the knocking at the window thinks it is the wind he flings open the window to make sure and in flew a Raven and sat on the door. 11 verses later the poem ends "Nevermore!"

He calls the Raven ""Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil--prophet still, if bird or devil!" a few times.
The poem is just something I thought should be mentioned on the topic of crows/ravens/big scary black birds

Speaking about the intelligence of crows. Here is a link to a video that shows a crow trying to retrieve a treat. She starts with a straight wire and realizes she needs to make some adjustments to it.

Tool making crow.

I haven't had strange encounters but my neighbors pointed something out.

When my dad died and I went in for cancer surgery(both happened within 7 days), and 2 years later when I almost died in a crash there were very large murders around my house.

Several neighbors that don't like each other or talk to each other pointed out they knew something was wrong because of the large numbers of crows in our trees, but not their trees.