The Crow Buster – A Translucent Piece of Plastic That Keeps Crows at Bay
A Japanese company that has been developing crow repellants for 15 years claims that its Crow Buster, a translucent piece of yellow plastic, is more effective than any scarecrow. Crows are auspicious omens in Japanese culture, but in day-to-day life, they can be quite pesky pests. Notoriously intelligent and highly adapted to both rural and […]
Spanish Town Experiences Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ in Real Life
For the past five months, the people of Pravia, a town in Spain’s Asturias Region, have been under constant siege from flocks of crows who mindlessly attack their homes and vehicles. The town of Pravia has no less than six crows proudly displayed on its historic coat of arms, so it’s safe to say that […]
Researchers Find That Birds Are Using Anti-Bird Spikes to Build and Protect Their Own Nests
A team of Dutch researchers has discovered that magpies and crows are using metal spikes designed to keep them away from certain urban areas to reinforce their own nests and keep intruders at bay. Scientists have known for a while that magpies and crows are some of the most intelligent birds in the world, but […]
Swedish Startup Trains Crow to Pick Up Litter in Exchange for Food
Corvid Cleaning, a Swedish startup specializing in training crows to pick up litter in exchange for food, claims that its program could save communities a fortune in cleaning costs. According to the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, over a billion cigarette butts are left on Sweden’s streets every year which represents about 62 percent of all […]
Indian Man Claims He Has Been Harassed by Crows for Almost Two Years
They say crows have great memory and never forget those who have wronged them, and the story of an Indian tractor driver who claims to have been constantly attacked by crows ever since they saw him pick up some of their hatchlings, a year and a half ago. Mohanan, a tractor driver from Ambalavayal, a […]
Murder of Crows Has Attacked Man for Three Years After One of Their Young Died in His Hands
For the last three years, a man in India’s Madhya Pradesh state has been living a real-life daily nightmare inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Birds’. Every time he walks out of his house, he gets attacked by a murder of crows. The strange thing is the birds only target him. Shiva Kewat, a daily wage labourer […]
Dutch Startup Wants to Train Crows to Clean Streets of Cigarette Butts
Alarmed by how many cigarette butts littered the parks of Amsterdam, two Dutch designers came up with an unusual plan to train crows to pick up the butts and trade them for tasty rewards. Industrial designers Ruben van der Vleuten and Bob Spikman originally considered using robots to clean the streets of cigarette butts, but […]
Japanese Professor Claims That Crows Respect Written “Do Not Enter” Signs
When a friend and “crow expert” told Katsufumi Sato to hang some “do not enter signs” on the outside of a building to keep pesky crows a way, the Japanese professor thought he was only kidding, but after three years of employing the bizarre strategy, he says it works perfectly. Sato, a professor of ethology, hanged […]
8-Year-Old Girl Feeds Neighborhood Crows, They Thank Her with Gifts
8-year-old Gabi Mann, from Seattle, has some very unusual friends who shower her with gifts almost every day. Ever since she started feeding her neighborhood crows, they began returning the favor and bringing back all kinds of trinkets. Gabi’s unique relationship with the neighborhood crows began in 2011, when at age four, she was prone to […]
Recycling Tokyo Crows Build Their Nests Out of Coat Hangers
Crows are known to be highly intelligent birds, and it looks like they can now teach us a thing or two about recycling and stealing. The Asian Jungle Crow, a large-billed crow, actually builds its nest out of coat hangers that it steals from people’s homes! Crows make use of pretty much anything they find […]
A Fascinating Story of Exploding Toads and Clever Crows
In April 2005, a small pond in Hamburg, Germany became the center of a great mystery, rather repulsive in nature. A documentary film made on the phenomenon reported: “About 1,000 dead toads were discovered lying around the edges. Their bodies appeared to have exploded. Eye-witnesses said they swelled up to about three-and-a-half times their normal […]