Caw and Effect: When Crows Become My Chicken Bodyguards

Crows will warn chickens when predators are nearby “cawing” in rapid succession. I heard a murder of them going off this morning and stepped out on my porch to investigate. I could see them flitting about through the trees, darting back and forth to corner a red-tailed hawk. Taking a seat on the steps, I watched as they chased the hawk off my property and out of view. I could hear their chatter along with the occasional frustrated screech from the hawk echoing through the mountains for quite a while afterward. My plan worked!

Much to Dennis’s dismay, I have been feeding the crows and probably other hungry forest creatures, black oil sunflower seeds, wild bird food, and nuts to help them through the winter. While perusing a local thrift store a few weeks ago, I happened upon a wooden crow call. When I heard the crows coming to eat, I blew into the mouthpiece, attempting my very best impersonation of a crow. Every single one of them flew away in a flurry of black-winged panic. Dejected, I headed back inside to research where I went wrong. Loud caws in rapid succession signal other crows that danger is in the area. Humans, dogs or predator birds will cause crows to sound the alarm. Although accustomed to seeing me, my rapid “caws” (sounding more like quacks to me) alarmed my new friends, driving them deep into the forest.

Further research revealed that no one knows exactly what various crow calls mean. Crows from different regions display various ways of communicating with each other, but none are exactly the same. There are too many variations to crack the crow language code. Before I feed them in the morning, I blow one time into the call. Hard and loud, like a crow who knows what she’s talking about! My new friends start circling over ahead, communicating with each other, waiting for me to place their breakfast on the stump in the clearing above our home. They won’t come down very close to me and if the dogs are with me, they even stay farther away. Once I walk away, they swoop in and gobble up my offerings like a high school football team at a pizza buffet. I don’t have enough time to hang out with them and experiment with the call as much as I want, but their fierce protection of my free-range chickens, easy prey for many hungry forest predators, pleases me.