CROWS as Pets? Don't Even Think About It!

Van Gogh - Wheatfield Under Threatening Skies with Crows - Photo: Wikimedia

In Van Gogh's "Wheatfield Under Threatening Skies with Crows," crows are shown in the middle plane of the painting, like an ill-fated force, between the menacing skies and the grain. True, the crows have an eye on the grain, but they are also unpredictable and playful. Although they act as if they do not even recognize the existence of a human nearby, these birds are always well aware of their surroundings.

I had never thought of crows as pets until I entered the office of someone my husband knew and found a big black crow sitting on her head. This lady was an animal lover and a licensed pet care-giver; she had found this crow hurt and had healed him back to health.

She told me, even though she let him free in her backyard, the crow came back to her. She never kept the crow locked in a cage; although there was a cage with the door removed in her house. She always left a window open and the crow was free to come and go as he pleased. This lasted through the summer.

At the end of the summer, the crow disappeared and probably became a member of a flock, then migrated, because that's what crows do, and keeping them locked up is against the laws of nature. It might have been sad for that lady to see her pet leave since that crow was so bright and loving, but because the lady was so knowledgeable on the subject, she understood.

Crow - Photo   by     wolfpix   (cc)

Never think of a crow as a pet; you should not even attempt to get, catch, or buy one. To start with, under the Migratory Bird Act, it is illegal to hold a crow and a permit is very difficult or impossible to obtain. Should you, however, find a young nestling crow thrown out of its nest and if you live in the middle of a wilderness, you might try to nurse the bird to adulthood, with the understanding that he will one day leave you.

If you find a hurt wild bird and don't know how to attend to it, take him to a vet or someone licensed in bird care. Around where you live, if you don't know anyone qualified for the job, call your state's wildlife authority or find an Audubon center close to you. You can do so on the website http://www.audubon.org/, by entering your zip code.

Helping out an orphan crow is easy because crows will eat practically anything. A good basic diet for such a bird should contain bird vitamins and calcium, oatmeal, hardboiled egg-yolk and some ground beef to make up for the insects most birds are so fond of eating.

If the bird is very young, he'll need to be handfed. Don't be afraid to put your finger gently inside its beak, since baby crows eat from their mothers' beaks. By the time the crow is six weeks old, he'll feed himself. Give the bird enough space to fly, like a room. When he is strong enough, leave the window open, so he can fly away and live his life as nature intended it to.

Crows belong to the family of corvids and they fly in large flocks around the cities, suburbs, and the countryside. Magpies, jays, cloughs, nutcrackers, and a few other birds are related to crows. Most of the crows are black but there are blue, purple, brown, gray, and albino crows in existence.

Crows, as very intelligent animals, are known to mimic human talk and engage in games among themselves. Better yet, they have proven themselves to be too smart to be afraid of scarecrows.

With their unpredictability, crows have encouraged human imagination and have placed themselves inside many myths. Yet, like humans, they possess their own kind of culture or lifestyle that deserves to be respected.

By Joy Cagil - Article Source: EzineArticles

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The Ugly Looking CROWS

American or Northwestern Crow adjacent to the Burke-Gilman Trail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Crows are very common birds most frequently observed in the sky. They are actually passerine birds belonging to the genus Corvus and family Corvidae. Their body size may vary from small pigeon to large wild raven. They are the inhabitants of temperate regions except for South America. The genus was described by Linnaeus for the first time in his 18th century work Systema Naturae. The name of the genus has been derived from a Latin word meaning raven. Fossils of crow have been obtained in Europe in large numbers but their relationship with most prehistoric birds is still unclear.

Common Raven, Australian Raven, and the Carrion crows are always blamed for killing weak lambs as they are often seen feeding on the dead animals no matter how that animal died. They are also known to imitate human voices just like the parrots. They are often trained to speak and are very valuable birds in East Asia as they symbolize good luck. They are also kept as pets by some humans. In the United States, they are legally allowed to be killed around the months of August to the end of March as during this time they become a nuisance also acts as a vector for a number of diseases. It is believed that crows first evolved in central Asia and then radiated towards North America, Europe, Australia, and Africa.

They are known to produce to produce a wide variety of calls for communication. They are also known to respond to the call of other species. They show remarkable features of intelligence. Crows have a special place in literature and mythology. According to the popular legends in Europe crows especially the Ravens are considered as the harbingers of death because of their dark ugly looking black colored body, big size, and horrible look. It is believed that they feed on the carrion even of humans too. In mythology also crows symbolize spiritual aspects of death. Crows have been observed hovering around the cemeteries. In Hinduism, it is believed that people after death become crows and will come to eat in the form of crows to pick up the food. In Mahabharata, a famous battle is known that was fought between the crows and owls. It is also believed that if a crow attacks a human ill omen will gather around that person and will bring bad luck.

Crows are also susceptible to viral attack. The American crow is susceptible to the attack of West Nile virus. This disease has been recently introduced in North America. This disease is very fatal and the American crows die within a week after getting infection only a few are able to survive. The virus is spreading at a faster rate. Two American species are considered to be endangered because of habitat destruction.

Wildlife needs our attention otherwise our beautiful animals will be lost forever.

By Navodita Maurice Article Source: EzineArticles

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