A Crow Funeral? You Gotta See This!

When I was a teenager I had an outdoor aviary with many species of tropical birds. One was a Mynah bird that I taught to speak. Friends would say, “Oh, Caleb is great, but crows can talk, too. You know they’re highly intelligent.”

And I’ve heard that “intelligent” thing about crows repeated on and off over the years. But what my friend Peter Shackleford at the McKinney Wild Birds was telling a customer as we were both checking out was on the verge of, to use a bird term, looney.

It seems that crows had been gobbling up all the seed at the customer’s feeders. She was at wit’s end, and she’d asked Peter what he would suggest. He went into the back room and came out with what looked like roadkill. A fake crow as limp as a rubber chicken, but covered with feathers. He told her to lay it near the feeders. He said the crows would associate that area with danger and would take their thievery elsewhere.

Peter is one of the best sales persons in the Wild Birds flock. He’s helped me numerous times, and I don’t know whatever would have possessed me to question him this time.

But I came right home and Googled “crow funerals.” Well, call me Bird Brain because this topic’s been covered by the BBC, the Audubon Society, National Geographic and now e-gardens.

Here is a fabulous short video report from Deep Look on Patreon that’s been flying around YouTube for 5 years. It’s been viewed by 2.7 million people. You can add 1 more to that list – me! This is just fabulous.

Yet another great reason I love to shop at Wild Birds Unlimited McKinney! Thank you, Peter, for the great topic!