During my first few years as an Animal Control Officer, I learned how much I didn’t know. For example, every spring I would start getting calls asking me to save songbird nests from either cats or crows. We didn’t have a cat ordinance so I decided one spring I would take on crows.
I figured I needed a way to frighten crows in the neighborhoods complaining about them. I found a tape online called The Death Cry of a Crow. Surely, that would be my ticket to frightening away the crows resting in the trees.
When the tape arrived, I drove my personal truck to the scene because it had a nice stereo system. I opened both doors and started the tape. Sure enough, it sounded like someone was choking a crow inside my truck. I sat back and watched. Well, first doors of homes in the neighborhood began to open as people came out to see what was going on inside my truck and then flocks of crows began diving at it.
I had seriously miscalculated the response to the tape. Fortunately, no one called the police, but I knew that I had to get out of the neighborhood before someone recognized me. It was a small town and I didn’t want to be in a position in which I was front page news trying to explain what I was thinking.
If you ever get the urge to drive off crows, keep in mind that crows will flock to help another crow. Lesson learned.