stalker crow..help!

They also carry West Nile Virus.

CardBoxer , you and I could be great friends!  I also love birds.  I had a wonderful cockatoo when I was first married.  I loved that bird.  Then after I divorced and was raising my son, I started finding baby birds in my yard.  Starlings.  I know most people consider them pests, but we loved them.  We would feed them and when they were fully feathered, let them fly away.  Then one day we found two babies that were not yet ready to fly in my front yard as we were on the way to take my son to school one morning.  Of course, we had to bring them into the house and put them in front of the vent to keep them warm.  We fed those babies until they were fully feathered and capable of flying, just like all the others.  I kept them in a cage that I would put outside my upstairs window so that the mom bird knew they were alive and safe.  

When they were capable of flying (we tossed them between us to strengthen their wings) I wired the door of the cage open to let them go with the mom, who had remained around for the weeks that this process took.  I put the cage out of my window again.  One bird accompanied her to the tree in my front yard.  The other bird hopped around on the roof a bit, then returned to the cage.  I kept him for a few more weeks.  I took him outside every day to let him hop around the tree and get used to being outside.  His mom would fly to the tree and encourage him to follow her, but he wouldn't.  I guess he bonded with me instead of her. We named him Fluffer because he was a ball of fluff when we found them.  Fluffer lived with us for several more years.  He would fly around the neighborhood and return to fly into my bedroom window when I whistled for him.

That bird had so much personality.  He learned to mimic my house sounds - the squeaking of my cabinets opening, the noise the refrigerator made, my dogs barking, me telling my dogs not to bark, and the most annoying sound - the telephone ringing.  I can't tell you the number of times I was swimming laps in the pool and heard the phone ring.  I quickly swam to the edge and scrambled out of the pool to answer the phone.  No one was there.  Then I would see Fluffer sitting on the back of a chair and he would "ring" again.  I'm sure he had no idea that the noise would summon me from the water, but it sure felt like he was pranking me.  We would put out a big bowl of water for him to bathe in.  And he would steal things that appealed to him and stash them in one of his cages.  I wore toe rings and he was so frustrated that he couldn't get them off of my toes.  He would try, then get irritated and peck at my feet.  It was so funny.  When anything shiny was missing, we knew to go check both his flight cage and indoor cage.

He was put out every day to fly around the neighborhood.  I often told my son that he might meet a girl bird and not return and that we shouldn't be sad about that.  Then one day he didn't come to my whistle.  I got up several times that night to try to call him in.  This went on for 4 days.  I figured he wasn't coming back.  As much as I mentally knew this might happen, I was so saddened.  Then I was in the backyard to do some yard work and as I was kneeling down at one of the flowerbeds, I heard "hello" coming from next door.  I recognized that voice immediately. Fluffer!  He was in the neighbor's tree.  I called him and he came flying over to land in front of me. I immediately fed him because I had been worried about whether or not he was finding adequate food, even though I had been leaving a bowl of seeds out for him at my bedroom window.  He ate and I gave him his bowl of water for his daily bath.  He drank and hopped into the bowl to splash water everywhere with an enthusiastic bath.  My son was overjoyed when he came home from school to find Fluffer in his flight cage in the backyard.  We got so much enjoyment out of that little guy.  

There was one incident where I was washing dishes in the kitchen and Fluffer was outside in his flight cage.  Fortunately the cage door was closed.  I heard him squawking and flapping around and went to the door to see a huge hawk hanging onto the side of the cage trying to get at Fluffer.  I though just seeing me at the door would scare it off but it didn't budge.  I went back into the kitchen and grabbed a large cutting board.  I opened the door just enough to fit my hand out and used the cutting board to pry the hawk off of Fluffer's cage.  It took several tries.  I also tried hitting at the hawk with the dish towel from my shoulder.  It didn't flinch.  This entire time I was trying to get the hawk away from Fluffer's cage, Fluffer was pecking at the hawk's huge talons and squawking at it.  I was so afraid he would get caught by those sharp talons and be killed before I could get the hawk off the cage.  I stopped putting him in the flight cage unless I was home.  I was just thankful that he wasn't flying loose at that moment.

Fluffer remained with us for many years until he eventually passed away from old age.  So yeah, I have a deep love and respect for birds.  I would be befriending that crow, but I understand that having a child that young around a bird that big might be fearful.

When I was about 10, we had a crow die in our backyard.  It flew to the grass and just sat there.  Suddenly dozens of other crows came and filled the trees and electric wires around the yard, calling out to the crow on the ground.  That is what got my attention.  There had to be 100 crows gathered around the backyard, cawing and cawing at the bird.  Mom wouldn't let me go back there for fear of getting hurt and really, we had no idea how to help.  

The crows stayed for about a half hour while this crow on the ground became weaker and eventually died. As soon as it died, they all flew off.  It was instant.  They knew.  Of course, I was standing at my mom's bedroom window watching and crying because I couldn't help.  At dinner that night we decided the crow that died was the king and all the others were his subjects.  Mom did allow me to bury the king of the crows in our planter as long as I put on a pair of plastic gloves.  I made it a box and my sisters and I had a bird funeral for it.  It really impressed me that the birds knew the instant the bird on the ground was dead.  It had stopped moving many times, but was still alive.  How they realized it was actually dead and not just stopping like before,  I will never know.

okay girl, seriously? LOL.

thanks all for the lighthearted (mostly) thread!  

Except if you miss the crow will come back with their friends and get you.

True story.

We have a lot of crows in our area and I hate them. But I ignore them so they memorize my face and terrorize me.

I didn't think she was serious at all. I don't think anyone here is advocating for hurting animals really.  

and I highly disagree that they aren't a nuisance. Have you read this thread? About Tokyo? It's okay to say a scavenger bird is a nuisance, cause it is true you know for many many people.