Ive got a few comments about crows,They were a royal pain in my ass!I'm in Southern Md(Calvert Co) and two summers ago I started all of my annuals indoors in jiffy plugs, within one week of planting them crows pulled every one of them out of the flower beds, I watched them do it, They pulled tomatos from the vine and let them lay, and they pecked holes into just about every lope I had, I witnessed this also. I tried everything possible to keep them from coming around and NOTHING worked! One day I was talking about this problem with my wifes 86 year old grandmother who was born and raised on a farm, and still works her farm to this day and she said get a dead crow and hang it up wherever your having a problem and they will stay away.I thought to myself yeah right ! old wives tale.Well about a week later after watching them ruin some more veggies I had enough! I got a dead crow and I put him within sight of my vegetable garden and laugh if you will but about an hour later there must of been 15 crows in the woods within sight of the dead one going nuts they would not come near it but they sure raised hell for a good hour or so! and guess what no more problems that year. I will do so again if needed. I am a wildlife lover at heart and dont promote the killing of animals unless needed, and I wouldent recommend this method if you have any close neighbors. Sean.

Barb, I also live near Rock Creek Park (Mt. Pleasant neighborhood, about 3 blocks from the zoo) and my experience mirrors yours. Crows were a very prominent feature when I moved into the neighborhood 4 years ago. They made a huge racket and woke us up at dawn every morning. Over the next 2 years they virtually disappeared, presumably due to West Nile virus. Only in the last year do they seem to be returning.

Well, I live out in the country between DC and Baltimore and I have observed no shortage of crows or blue jays. A flock of jays (I have counted more than 10 at times) frequents my bird feeder, but the crows remain satisfied with acres of corn and soybean fields and do not bother my meager garden. Just a few days ago I was marveling at the enormous flock of crows flying across the sky with no end in sight.

The Washington Post did a great article on them earlier this year - it make me re-evaluate how I perceived them - they are very smart. After reading about them I didn't mind them as much as before. But the darned crows ate more of my veggies this summer than I did!! I finally got smart and covered everything with netting and that kept them away from the garden.
Also I have lots of bluejays around (well based on the feathers I have found - maybe 3-4 less with Champ the fierce hunter cat around).

We had quite a few crows this year and last.They nest in the wooded part of our property.about 2 weeks ago I heard them fussing went to look they were harassing an owl.

We have a few crows and bluejays that hang around the neighborhood at large. At my house, their target---for better or worse---is my border collie's outdoor food bowl, not my garden! If Sam doesn't eat every last morsel of her hard food (what I call cereal) at breakfast, she spends the morning chasing the big birds who want to nab the remaining bits in her bowl. It's an all-natural, very healthy dog food (which is why my if-she-were-human-she'd-be-a-McDonald's-addict canine doesn't scarf every bite). I figure if eating Sam's cereal keeps the crows and jays satisfied and away from my plants, it's worth a few pennies a day! Now, if I could just get the birds to pick off the slugs for 'dessert'.........

No kidding Kathie!

Actually, I hear crows, and sometimes see them in flocks flying, but haven't actually had them in the garden in large flocks.

I do have two cats who hunt (go Champ!), but to my knowledge have never gotten a crow, and only 1 or 2 bluejays over the years. What I do have (and I count myself very lucky) is owls. I think they're Great Horned Owls. I have never seen them, but I have heard the "whooosh" of their wings when they're hunting, and of course the calling. (I keep the cats in after dark, for sure)

So get an owl!!

They are all up here. :)

Hundreds upon hundreds will roost in certain spots and return to that spot at dusk every day... and don't have a car parked beneath them. My sister has some woods surrounding a creek at the back of her property and this summer, I saw what had to be at least 20 bluejays attack what may have been a juvenile bald eagle because he was in "their" tree.

Oh Rats!! Crows!! On Kodiak they destroy every tulip and dafodil as soon as they show color. Potted plants are pulled up by the roots. A real pain in the posterior.
Well, I have been warned. When I get to MD I shall be prepared to continue to do battle with Crows.
What about "West Nile"? Is it a bird virus in general, or just large birds like crows and jays? How about blackbirds?

As you can maybe tell by the responses, crows are only sometimes a problem, so I guess it depends upon where you bought your new place. You'll probably have to worry more about deer.

I've linked at the bottom a good site with info on the virus, which I now read has not hit Alaska.

Here's a link to an article about it:

(old) Wash Post article

and here's a link to a site listing the birds most vulnerable to it:

(old) USGS Press Release

Here is a link that might be useful: Wildlife Disease Info at NBII

Barb Thanks so much for posting the links to those informative sites. We have a large nesting population of SandhillCranes here in interior of Alaska.
They rest at a place called Creamers Field, just a few blocks from my apartment. I love watching them and hate to think of disease further depleating their numbers.
There are also many people here with horses. Sounds like the Cranes could become the vector carrying WNV to Alaska. The world seems to be becoming smaller and smaller. Well, it is info I will be thankful for when I reach MD but I hate to think of the disease reaching AK too.

When we first moved to McLean, we had a flock of crows here and they really disturbed us--not only were they noisy, but they dive-bombed our trash cans and were generally a nuisance. But one day an amazing and sad thing happened--one ended up getting electrocuted very loudly somehow on the electric wires going up and down our street. We haven't seen a crow since that happened three years ago.

The crows were pretty quiet through the summer and I'm glad to see them back this fall. Despite their predation on songbird nestlings in the spring, I love crows, second only to ravens. They're just fascinating birds.

I love crows. We moved to Maryland 10 years ago, and we'd always have one nesting in the big tree outside our bedroom window. When West Nile hit, they disappeared and I haven't seen one in our neighborhood since. I hope they come back. We do see the occasional blue jay at our feeder, though.

We have a few crows here and lots of Jays. I love watching the birds. This morning I have cardinals, juncos, Carolina wrenns,
titmice, chickadees, and of course the blue jays at/under the feeders.

We had several crows that one of our neighbors liked to feed. They all disappeared a while ago. Now i see one occasionally. I haven't seen Blue Jays either. but I have bluebirds, cardinals, catbirds, white throated sparrows, Titmice, Juncos, etc. and their numbers did not decrease, though I started feeding rather late. The Blue Birds I see when thry go for the berries, and I have planted a lot of bushes just for the birds.

At any time in the morning you can hear, somewhere, some crows calling to each other. yesterday, I stopped what I was doing to walk out to the road to see if I could see what owl or hawk the crows were mobbing and harassing, as they were raising such a ruckus. This is a give-a-way as to what is happening. I don't know how the big birds ever get peace enough to raise a family.
In Camden, New Jersey, by the Cooper River, hundreds have established a roost and head for it as night falls. An amazing sight.

I have huge family groups of crows here, & have seen them carrying nesting materials into my woodlot (tall mature hardwood trees), so know that they are nesting right around here as well.

While it irks me because I also raise horses & West Nile does frighten me, I don't have any standing water immediately near & am more concerned about mosquitoes than I am from a crow to horse transmission.

While they do raid the suet from my birdfeeders during really bad weather, so far they have left my garden alone - although probably because I cover everything with floating row covers as much as I can. (This also keeps both deer & woodchucks away from my crops as well - don't think they like the waving white fabric.)

(Blush) I've been reading books on crow behavior in the hope of finding a way to lure them in closer. I never seem to find roadkill when I want it! :)
A small group live somewhere nearby and perch in two evergreens across the street, but hardly ever land in my yard.
Of course, turkey buzzards were my favorite birds growing up. Hmmm...am I a budding goth gardener?

Put up a plastic owl or hawk where they can see it. Instead of being afraid they may gather around and 'mob' it like they do the living ones. I always check when they are raising a riot and sometimes get a glimpse of some hawk they are tormenting. I keep hoping its an owl, since I hear several sorts but rarely see them. I certainly do question why anyone would purposely attract crows,though.

Bogturtle...you made me laugh out loud! I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm willing to feed anyone that shows up in my yard (even one particular dog that seems to enjoy coffee grounds, go figure). I've always liked crows, but maybe it's because I don't grow very many veggies or (seemingly) anything they are interested in eating. My folks in the country think little of crows and would rather the crops be left alone.

I believe I may be able to borrow a plastic owl from my grandfather... I wish I had owls close to home myself, but have to admit crows never kept me up at night. They just laugh during the day!

I live in Fairfax and yes, we had a great number of crows and they all disappeared around fall/winter 2002. I had assumed that it was West Nile virus because this was when it was getting so much coverage in the paper about how it affected crows in particular. But I found out that it wasn't West Nile. As you may know, in the fall and winter crows form huge dense flocks for roosting at night, and there was one enormous community roosting site in the area that all the local crows commuted to and from each day. I forget where it was -- somewhere in Arlington/Alexandria, I think. The local government poisoned them for being a nuisance.

The crow population has started to rebound now; I am seeing some in the neighborhood again. I like them even if they do tear the garbage open on trash days. They have personality.

"The local government poisoned them for being a nuisance."

How exactly did they accomplish that without poisoning Lord knows what else? Do you know by any chance? Just interested.

We have no shortage of either crows or blue jays here in the Laurel Highlands of PA. I put bread, pasta or other goody out in the morning and within minutes there are crows in the yard, they must post a sentry to watch for me. The jays love peanuts, we put them in the platform feeder each day and they are gone quickly.

I love having the crows around, they act as the guardians of the feeder, chasing squirrels and making sure that the hawks are held at bay. I enjoy watching and listening to them interact, their society seems to be highly structured with many different calls and duties assigned. I love the crows, they are welcome in our yard. We have ponds and water gardens, I also have several lotus pots with standing water in them. I too am concerned about mosquitos and have used dunks for the almost 10 years that we have had the ponds. They won't harm birds or critters sneaking a drink but they will put an end to the larvae.

POULTRY OWNERS--TAKE NOTE Okay, so we all know that crows are noisy, they tear up trash and ruin gardens. As an owner of poultry, I suppose that crows may even steal eggs at times. However, I just witnessed the most amazing thing! I heard one of my chickens screaming, looked out the window and saw a hawk landing on her back! But before the hawk could get a grip, a big crow flew down and knocked the hawk lose! My favorite little white hen took advantage of the opportunity and made her escape. (Hurray for the crow!) Besides the things we don't want crows to harrass, crows certainly love to harrass squirrels and hawks!

I enjoy watching crows. They are incredibly clever birds. I don't like that they can be so aggressive towards smaller birds and animals and I've even seen them catch a small bird in flight but I guess that's just part of nature.
Karyn

I like crows, too. I am SO glad your little hen survived!!! I am partical to chickens over crows, hawks are fabulous, but stay in YOUR OWN AIR!
I like the fact that crows and vultures (beautiful!) take care of road kill before I get out there and have to be sad about it.

I'm so glad your lilte hen is OK. Feed the crow.
Christine

West Nile virus took care of most of ours. Blue Jays are ok though, as are cardinals, at least where I see them. I finally got several male cardinals after 13 years of gardening and organicacly in the last few. The hummers seem to be ok too.