Hi Willie,

First off, I hope you and your family never kill any crows. Outside of mosquitos and flies, I can't think of anything that I would want to have gone simply because of it doing what it evolved to do. Yes, crows can be bullies, and they are nest predators, but there are bigger bird bullies, and crows have to worry about other nest predators themselves (ravens...).

Anyway, on to the question: it has always been my understanding that it was illegal to kill gulls and crows because they are scavengers. That is what I was told as a kid, and it made sense: without gulls and crows, there would be dead animals, trash and offal everywhere! We need those scavengers! Matter of fact, one of my friends feeds all of the crows in his neighborhood, for one reason: they help him maintain one of the cleanest neighborhoods in the city! He feeds them enough to keep them around, and the rest they do on their own.

I hope that you and your family can rewad books like "Mind of the Raven" by Bernd Heinrich, or perhaps one of the books by John Marzluff, who is a Professor at the University of Washington. Both books will educate you and hopefully, change your mind about these incredible, intelligent creatures.

Cheers, and thanks for feeding the other birds, but please don't be too harsh on the crows - be harsh on the humans who have made things very easy for crows. And realize also that crows are one of the few native species that has actually been 'helped' by man (others include Purple Martins and Wood Ducks).

Brett A. Wolfe
Seattle, WA
m_lincolnii at yahoo.com

willie peters <willielad at yahoo.com> wrote:
Around the xmas dinner table, the topic of crows came up. At least half of the group puts out bird feeders, but there was no love expressed for possibly the most intelligent bird of all! In fact, it was announced that it was now legal to kill crows again and most seemed more than happy about that!!
Is this correct, are there no protections for crows? I always have mixed emotions about this increasingly common bird. A great respect for it's intelligence, but a fear over it's impact on the rest of the birding populations!
Any info or thoughts appreciated.
Williebbb

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