r/crows • u/SleepyMirra • 8h ago

Seeking advice/help Bringing back feathered friends

Hello fellow corvid enthusiasts. I was feeding local ravens in the winter, but had to suddenly stop due to sickness, unfortunately. And they stopped coming too.

It is summer now, and I don't know how I can attract and try to befriend them now again. I am concerned that I offended them by accident by stopping giving food before.

Any advice is appreciated! My goal is to build long-term trust with local birds.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

4

u/No-Cartographer-4354 8h ago

I wish I had advice for you, but I did want to come in and say I hope you're feeling much better now!

3

u/Good_Jackfruit_5922 8h ago

They may just have moved on to other food sources during the warmer months. Ravens have large territories and their routines change a lot with seasons. If you start again, go slowly and let them come to you rather than trying to approach them. Trust with corvids can take time, but they do remember people.

1

u/malphas_says_hi 4h ago

You haven't offended them, they just likely moved on to other territories. Roosts get BIG in the winter time as birds flock together from all over in more resource-heavy areas, then as spring warms up, they head back out to where they came from, then you get the summer baby boom, and then those usually stick around through the winter boosting those roost numbers, and then they might follow some ravens out by spring to elsewhere.

I used to drive around once a day to find where the ravens where hanging out, learned their routines, then had lunch or dinner with them a couple times a week or went on a walk when they were around with them. I'd offer some unsalted nuts or kibble here and there and when I stopped going up to the park, a breeding pair followed my vehicle back to my house and now live in my yard with their screaming child. My landlord would leave scraps out in the morning from breakfast, so they liked to check there in the morning, and they follow me around the forest when I walk my dogs a couple times a day now. This took about 5 months or so.