We live in a fairly wooded area with large populations of birds, all
kinds of birds, including a bunch of crows. The crows like to sit on my
shop gutters or roof peak, dropping their crap on my truck (and shop)
during their travels. We don't have any open garbage around the place
that would attract them.
We do have a large wild bird feeder in the back yard that attracts all
kinds of birds, squirrels, a duck, and the cat. Sometimes these dirty
crows will land on the ground and eat the stuff that falls off the
feeder. We recently had a new drainfield put in (where the feeder is)
and the grass is gone in this area now. I suspect this makes it easier
for the crows to pick up the seed in dirt?
Even with this feeder issue it seems strange to have such a large
population of crows. I've got to believe they are getting their main
food source from somewhere else, maybe the neighbors have garbage out or
something [shrug]. I'm not sure what, if any options I have here.
Obviously we would like to keep the wild bird feeder and all the other
critters it attracts, but the crows have worn out their welcome. I'm
pretty sure even if we eliminated the feeder the crows would still be
around.
I probably couldn't get away with discharging a rimfire firearm in the
neighborhood, but I could probably use a stout pellet rifle. The shot
would have a safe backstop in that I would be shooting down from my deck
towards the ground at about a 20' shot. However, I'm not sure how I'd
dispose of the bodies. I believe here in WA there is actually a crow
season so I'd probably have to get a license. I just wonder how really
effective this approach is going to be though. If I knock off a couple,
are the rest of his buddies going to leave town? I kind of doubt it.
How about the old scare crow effect, does that have any merit?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Wayne
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