If your yard has been overrun by crows and you hear caws from tree branches, it can be the stuff nightmares — or at least Hitchcock’s “Birds” — are made of. You have a murder of crows, and we can help you take back your yard. Here are proven strategies for how to get rid of crows.
How to Get Rid of Crows
Remove Food Sources
Like most wild animals that wander in, they’re looking for food. The Corvidae family are omnivores, but particularly fond of fruits, nuts, carrion, and seeds. However, they are not above digging through your trash looking for food scraps.
- Guard your garbage. Use trash cans with tightly fitted lids, or try the locking kind. Using bungee cords to keep them in place will keep critters out of them. While crows won’t open garbage cans as raccoons do, the crows will descend on the leftovers.
- Cover your compost. Use a closable compost bin, or only compost your leaves and grass, not food.
- Buy small birdfeeders. To attract songbirds to your yard, use feeders designed to keep out large birds.
Mount a tray roughly 6 inches underneath the bird feeder to prevent additional kernels from falling to the ground and attracting more wildlife, like skunks and squirrels.
- Put away pet food. If you feed your pet outside, keep an eye on them and remove the dish when they’re done, or feed them inside.
Harass The Harassers
Corvus are highly social animals, so they roost in large extended family groups. Shooing one bird won’t solve the issue, and multiple tactics will probably be your best avenue to a bird-free yard.
Crows congregate in large numbers in roosts and stay there until the beginning of spring when they return to their breeding grounds in late fall. For generations, roosting locations have remained consistent. The first use of one in New York was over 100 years.
A combination of removing food sources and “humane harassment” techniques when roosts start to form have shown the most success, according to the Humane Society. The goal is to disturb the crows, so they leave and find another place to roost.
If you give crows a place to roost among tall trees nearby and don’t disturb them while they’re there, they’ll leave more quickly.
- Make all the noise. Playing crow distress calls will help deter the bothersome birds. Additionally, you can frighten them away by using loud bells or fireworks sounds, or other noisemakers. Adding wind chimes can spruce up your patio and scare away crows.
- Motion-activated sprinklers and lights deter more than one pest, including birds, squirrels, and skunks. However, bright lights don’t work for crows. They’ll be drawn to your yard at night if the light stays on, but not if you install ones with motion sensors.
- Trim your trees. If you cut back the dead branches in nearby trees, crows will not congregate and instead look for another place to roost. However, by removing these branches, you are also eliminating locations for other small birds to lay their eggs.
How to Keep Crows Away
Photo Credit: PublicDomainPictures.net
Crows are super smart and observant animals that can also learn. Due to their rugged nature and long-term tenacity, they are difficult creatures to control.
Things used to scare crows should be moved around and combined with other tools regularly to avoid crows becoming familiar with them. What do we know about crows when it comes to keeping them at bay?
What Does Work
- Install bird spikes: Bird spikes (pictured above) are often seen on top of shopping malls as bird repellents. They are rows of spikes placed on fences and roof lines where crows can see them.
- Decoy crows: The fake dead crows you find around Halloween, hung upside down with their wings spread, usually work.
- Shiny moving objects: Crows can be startled by objects with reflective surfaces that move or flap in the wind. Hang old pie tins or recycled CDs, or add strips of shiny or bird tape together on a string as streamers.
- Motion-activated sprinklers: If it scares them away, it keeps them away. Sprinklers are helpful in Integrated Pest Management systems (IPM) for whole-yard protection.
- Bird netting: To protect plants, use bird netting. This can be draped over plants, suspended from a framework, or hung from wire.
What Doesn’t Work
Photo Credit: Pixabay
- Ultrasonic devices: Birds cannot hear ultrasonic sounds, so ultrasonic devices will not work.
- Plastic owls or snakes: While they work for a time, crows usually figure out that the animals aren’t real.
- Scarecrows: Who knew, right? Crows pass down knowledge and have learned that these aren’t real people. Ones rigged to move have shown some success.
- Poisons: Crows were killed with the slow-acting poison DRC-1339 in some communities seeking an immediate solution to the crow problem. When the crows were dead, the survivors did not flee the town. Simply put, less competition for resources allowed more of the following season’s young to survive.
Why Do You Have Crows Hanging Around?
Crows, ravens, and rooks are all members of the genus Corvus, which belongs to the family Corvidae. Most individuals are medium- to large-sized birds with a small, rounded head and a conical, extended beak.
Crows are found in almost any mix of woodland, agricultural, orchard, and residential areas in the United States. But why are they so keen on your yard? There are a few possible reasons.
- Food source: Crows are willing to feast on over 600 foods, meaning there are probably a few of their favorites on your property.
- Nesting areas: Crows roost up to 60 feet in the air, and tall trees are enticing places to build nests. Further, crows may also take your water feature for a river, which is a convenient water supply near their roost.
The Pros and Cons of Crows
While it’s unlikely you’ll find yourself hiding in a phone booth to escape a swarm of attacking birds or the general ruckus they can make, there are genuine problems and public health concerns regarding crows. However, crows are also helpful in some situations.
Pros of Crows
- Eat other pests: Crows are occasionally held responsible for animal-related garden damage. Crows congregate nearby to consume grubs and insects. The benefits of crows eating insects, grubs, and leftover grain may outweigh the minor drawbacks.
Crows are capable of eating up to 40,000 grubs, caterpillars, armyworms, and other pests in a nesting season.
- West Nile virus: Health officials use crows as an indicator species. Crows and their relatives are particularly vulnerable to the West Nile virus and will perish from the virus before an outbreak in humans is detected.
In Chicago, there was an epidemic of West Nile virus infections during the summer and fall of 2002. Authorities asked the public to report any dead crows to track the presence of West Nile in a new area. Know that crows don’t transmit the disease to humans.
Cons of Crows
- Predatory: Frequent nest predators, crows feed on eggs, chicks, and tired migratory birds. Crows preying on eggs has reduced the population of some smaller bird species.
- Histoplasmosis: The histoplasmosis fungus is common in the eastern and central United States. Bird droppings pile up beneath roosts, allowing the histoplasmosis fungus to enter the soil surface.
When disturbed, the spores become airborne and inhaled by humans. The majority of people do not suffer any negative consequences, however, those with weakened immune systems should take extra precautions.
FAQ About Crows
No. They are naturally curious and like to pick things up. Young crows often “play” with inedible objects, throwing them around like other kids.
Yes! New research by the Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, United Kingdom shows New Caledonian crows cache their favorite stick tools in “toolboxes.” They found that “New Caledonian crows … use two types of stick tools — hooked and non-hooked — which differ in raw material, manufacture costs, and foraging performance.”
Yes. While most corvids are blackbirds, some species of crow have white collars. Others have white spots on their feathers or toes, and some can be completely white, though not often.
When to Call a Pest Control Pro
Unless Halloween is your favorite holiday, and you don’t mind your home looking like a haunted house, having a yard full of crows is bothersome to many homeowners. Pest Gnome connects you to the best pest control pros near you to get rid of crows and other pests haunting your trees, yard, or home. With just a few clicks, you’ll get quotes in minutes.
Additional source: Humane Society
Main image: Bennilover / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
