Crow tapping on windows

Pique

I know! The title is strange but I'm beginning to understand how Edgar Allen Poe felt!

There's a big grey-back crow who is forever pecking at the windows in my house. Every morning, sometimes as early as daybreak, sometimes during the day. But it's every day. The windows are constantly filthy with crow spit (ugh) and he craps all over the windowsills. He;s even taken to pecking the sills themselves and half the paint is gone from some of them. He pecks at the door too. And he's started pecking the door mirror of my car now too! I wouldn't mind if it was a small bird but this is a big b'stard of a crow.
How the hell do I get him to stop. This has been going on for over a year now. I thought it was because he was seeing his reflection or something so i didn't clean the glass in case it helped. It didn't. Do I need a feckin falconer?
Freaked me out the first few times it happened (thought I'd see headless horsemen or something next lol) but now I'm just p'd off with it.

dball

would a black silhouette sticker of another crow scare him off landing near the window

worth a try, huh?

Mr.Crinklewood

Haven't read all of this, but your crow has history.

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2055283474

https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/crows-attacking-windows.53822/


My own fix would be a wind chime, though that could be annoying itself.

Re the car, can you push the mirror so its not sticking out?

macraignil

Neighbors when I was younger just hung up a plastic bag so it flapped in the wind and made a noise which they said scared birds away. Old CDs can be hung up as well to make a type of bird scaring device and also the tape from an old audio cassette can be stretched over a distance and makes a noise when the wind blows through it that seems to scare birds. The tape does disintegrate after a while but I found it was effective at keeping birds off my vegetables. If you wanted to be a bit more creative some sort of scarecrow could be constructed but I have read birds get used to them if they are always in the same position so one that can be moved about might be more effective. I'd also be inclined to throw a few pebbles at it to confirm it's not welcome around your house(avoiding breaking the windows if possible).

Pique

Good idea about folding in the car mirrors (so long as I remember to!).

I've heard putting a statue of a predator bird in the window might scare them. My Saturn V model certainly doesn't.
I've snuck up on the window he was tapping at on a few occasions to try to scare him off, but he returns.
No thanks on the wind chimes. I might try the streamers idea. Bloody house is going to look like there's a wedding on! (Crows are smart as hell though so I doubt it'll keep him away long).

If all else fails, I'll adopt him, like Brooks in Shawshank. Or shoot him!

giveitholly

I had the same problem and tried everything,the only solution was a Larsen trap

Pique

giveitholly wrote: »

I had the same problem and tried everything,the only solution was a Larsen trap

What am I supposed to do with him if I catch him? Drive 20 miles away and release him? He'd be home before me! And I'm not wringing his neck. It's a smart (yet seemingly insane) bird.

Oldtree

Sounds like the crow has a bit of a bad habit that needs breaking. I'd start with a barrier method

For the windowsills, I'd start with a couple of 2x4's in the shape of a window box (or any appropriately sized window box shape). I'd put green garden string lengthwise on the top, kinda like stringing a guitar, with 1 inch gaps. It won't like walking anywhere near that and hopefully stay away from the sills and windows. Start with one and see. If it manages to knock the boxes off the sill, half fill the box with stones. Could do somthing similar for the door or just hang some wind mesh on the door for a while.

I do somthing similar with vegetable beds that I've planted onions in, that the crows seem unable to resist pulling up the onions as they appear above ground, unless protected and it works well for me. Wind mesh for the sides of the box and string across the top. But at more wingspan widths.

The car mirrors can be irresistible to birds, particularly dominant bluetits seeing a rival in the mirror. You have the solution already, fold in the mirrors to break the habit.

david75

This was a lovely ‘problem’ to read about given boards being infected by trolls recently.

If you put some suitable food at the farthest point you can from your window you should be grand. There’s loads of lovely and scary history and old wives tales to do with a crow knocking on your window.

For now I suggest you don’t read any of that. Distract and deploy distraction for now. Best of luck.

Oldtree

Food distraction was to be my second line of defence .

I had awful problems with crows tearing my bird peanut feeders apart. Quite literally hammering away at the feeders until they smashed their way in.

I use an old square fat ball cage that is just right for crusts of bread, or any leftovers, and that works well distracting them from the feeders (which are now inside a cage of 2 hanging baskets) with other small defence (non lethal ) mechanisms as my crows are cute hoors and it's been an ongoing battle of wits for years.

I did notice that when a parent crow had a (rather large) chick begging for food a couple of springs ago, that the chick made a clicking noise. I make a similar noise when putting crusts in the square cage as a kind of training aid. If the crows are in the garden squawking, their reaction to the clicking when I'm putting somthing out for them is amusing, they all go very quiet.

Did someone mention Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"?

blackvalley

macraignil wrote: »

Old CDs can be hung up as well to make a type of bird scaring device ).

I suggest that playing the old CDs might be a better option . You could start off with something by The Eagles . That ought to scare him off , failing that you could try something by The Birds or Hawkwind. :cool: .

blackvalley

Perhaps you could lull him into a stupor with something by the late great Jim Croce