Crows

JohnChadwick

The amount of crows around is extremely high.

You actually couldn't catch/*Snip*/shoot the amount that are here.

Should some sort of predator birds be introduced to keep numbers of crows down somehow?




Mod note: Please leave out the illegal options.

Birdnuts

JohnChadwick wrote: »

The amount of crows around is extremely high.

You actually couldn't catch/*Snip*/shoot the amount that are here.

Should some sort of predator birds be introduced to keep numbers of crows down somehow?

- buzzards and kites take a good few, especcially in late spring when the likes of young rooks are leaving the nest and the BOP's own young have increasing food demands. A few Goshawks pairs have been reported at a few locations in recent years and are are powerful crow predators and actively hunt them. Peregrine Falcons too take a good few(especially in areas lacking pigeons).

- on the Curlew project I help out with we find ladder traps are best for getting big numbers, especially the most destructive member of the tribe ie. Hooded Crow

funkey_monkey

How are corncrake and curlew numbers coming along in general now across the country?

Birdnuts

funkey_monkey wrote: »

How are corncrake and curlew numbers coming along in general now across the country?

Remarkably a few dozen pairs of the former are hanging on in offshore islands off Mayo and Donegal. Capercaille a regular poster here hosts the only known mainland population left in Erris Co. Mayo. I believe he had 5 pairs last summer. Hopefully the new Corncrake scheme to be launched this year will improve that situation for bird that as recently as 1950 had 30k pairs in the country!!

The Curlew is struggling too with only about 200 known pairs breeding. Work by local groups is helping to stem the current decline but alot work will be needed to get the population back to where it was only 30 years ago @ 5k pairs

funkey_monkey

Birdnuts wrote: »

Remarkably a few dozen pairs of the former are hanging on in offshore islands off Mayo and Donegal. Capercaille a regular poster here hosts the only known mainland population left in Erris Co. Mayo. I believe he had 5 pairs last summer. Hopefully the new Corncrake scheme to be launched this year will improve that situation for bird that as recently as 1950 had 30k pairs in the country!!

The Curlew is struggling too with only about 200 known pairs breeding. Work by local groups is helping to stem the current decline but alot work will be needed to get the population back to where it was only 30 years ago @ 5k pairs

Can they recover from such a small baseline without without interbreeding issues - or does it not work like that?

Birdnuts

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Can they recover from such a small baseline without without interbreeding issues - or does it not work like that?

Well I think in the case of the Curlew the hope is that some of the wintering population will stay on to breed if the right conditions are created at project sites. In the case of Corncrakes its obviously more challenging as your dealing with a short lived bird that faces a tough migration to and from SS Africa every year. Which makes its continued survival on certain West coast islands for the last 40 years all the more impressive and provides some hope that they can expand from these sites to more mainland locations in the future. It will probably also help that the Scottish population has recovered to 1500 pairs in the last 20 years and that its been re-introduced to England in the last few years too

funkey_monkey

JohnChadwick wrote: »

The amount of crows around is extremely high.

You actually couldn't catch/*Snip*/shoot the amount that are here.

Should some sort of predator birds be introduced to keep numbers of crows down somehow?




Mod note: Please leave out the illegal options.

Are they getting into the sheds or is there just a lot of them about?

curiousinvestor

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Are they getting into the sheds or is there just a lot of them about?

I'm actually plagued too.. silage was white Sunday afternoon with Sh1te. Some days all d gates in 1 shed are covered qith them.
And magpies. There seems to be nothing but crows and magpies around.

hopeso

curiousinvestor wrote: »

I'm actually plagued too.. silage was white Sunday afternoon with Sh1te. Some days all d gates in 1 shed are covered qith them.
And magpies. There seems to be nothing but crows and magpies around.

Plagued here this year with crows too for some reason. Never saw anything like it before.

J.O. Farmer

hopeso wrote: »

Plagued here this year with crows too for some reason. Never saw anything like it before.

Not seen Alfred Hitchcocks film the birds then.

Bass Reeves

Crows have.no natural predators to any great extent in Ireland. Birds of prey will hunt other prey before crows as carrion is not as edible to them. There is no appetite for a large cull of crows ( there are about 5 types, common crow, rook, jackdaw, grey/ hooded, magpie.actyslly a Clough is a type of crow as well) until we get to that stage there is no answer. They actually have a huge effect on smaller birds and are a reason the population of these is struggling. Crows raid smaller birds nest in hedge rows during the spring taking eggs and fledgelings.

Since poisoning has become illegal (and I am not advocating it) the population has exploded. The reason poisoning was made illegal was because of the risk to other birds. However it's ban may have put other species at risk because of this. Only other real way of controlling them is shooting rookeries during March to May. However that may be illegal as well.

White Clover

There's a rookery here on the farm (a neighbour across the valley told me!). They never caused any bother until last summer/autumn. There could be 50 of them in a creep feeder when you'd arrive on.
I got one of those cage traps from McEoin in dingle. We caught over 100 in 3 weeks. It certainly helped but its another job to be done.

hopeso

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

Not seen Alfred Hitchcocks film the birds then.

Of course not....Sure I haven't showered since I seen Psycho

ESetter

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Crows have.no natural predators to any great extent in Ireland. Birds of prey will hunt other prey before crows as carrion is not as edible to them. There is no appetite for a large cull of crows ( there are about 5 types, common crow, rook, jackdaw, grey/ hooded, magpie.actyslly a Clough is a type of crow as well) until we get to that stage there is no answer. They actually have a huge effect on smaller birds and are a reason the population of these is struggling. Crows raid smaller birds nest in hedge rows during the spring taking eggs and fledgelings.

Since poisoning has become illegal (and I am not advocating it) the population has exploded. The reason poisoning was made illegal was because of the risk to other birds. However it's ban may have put other species at risk because of this. Only other real way of controlling them is shooting rookeries during March to May. However that may be illegal as well.

Crows magpies cannot legally be shot unless they are causing damage and I think a derogation has to be got from the EU to legally shoot them. Its ridiculous because they are a plague at the moment. Magpies grey crows and the humble rook cause untold damage to the small bird population in the springtime.

alps

We have a bin full of oats to feed to dry cows on the run ip to calving, but had to stop due to the invasion.

If it was mixed with molasses and silage through a feeder, would they pinch the molasses soaked oats from the mix..

Birdnuts

ESetter wrote: »

Crows magpies cannot legally be shot unless they are causing damage and I think a derogation has to be got from the EU to legally shoot them. Its ridiculous because they are a plague at the moment. Magpies grey crows and the humble rook cause untold damage to the small bird population in the springtime.

I wouldn't put Rooks in the same category as Mags or Hoodies in terms of damage to other birds - they are more an issue for tillage farmers in terms of their preferred diet. In any case the best way to thin out the former is via ladder and Larsen traps. The Curlew project i work with got funding from the NPWS for ladder traps and they have been very successful at reducing the Hoodie population on the project bogs. We take between 100-150 every year. I was friendly with the local gamekeepers of the Blessington Game club when I lived there for a few years and they deploy several of those traps over a large area and get up to 300 every year!!

ESetter

I would agree that the rook causes the least damage to other small birds but they do take eggs from nests. They make a fair mess of silage and meal bins though.

Nekarsulm

Full nests of magpies and Greys got a great easy run of things this year, what with the ban on shooting ( later overturned) and the general travel ban.
Larsen traps best for those two species anyway, almost impossible to "catch them out" otherwise.

Capercaillie

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Crows have.no natural predators to any great extent in Ireland. Birds of prey will hunt other prey before crows as carrion is not as edible to them. There is no appetite for a large cull of crows ( there are about 5 types, common crow, rook, jackdaw, grey/ hooded, magpie.actyslly a Clough is a type of crow as well) until we get to that stage there is no answer. They actually have a huge effect on smaller birds and are a reason the population of these is struggling. Crows raid smaller birds nest in hedge rows during the spring taking eggs and fledgelings.

Since poisoning has become illegal (and I am not advocating it) the population has exploded. The reason poisoning was made illegal was because of the risk to other birds. However it's ban may have put other species at risk because of this. Only other real way of controlling them is shooting rookeries during March to May. However that may be illegal as well.

Shooting rookeries also leads to a lot of collateral damage like blasting long eared owl nests as well.

Mad_maxx

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Crows have.no natural predators to any great extent in Ireland. Birds of prey will hunt other prey before crows as carrion is not as edible to them. There is no appetite for a large cull of crows ( there are about 5 types, common crow, rook, jackdaw, grey/ hooded, magpie.actyslly a Clough is a type of crow as well) until we get to that stage there is no answer. They actually have a huge effect on smaller birds and are a reason the population of these is struggling. Crows raid smaller birds nest in hedge rows during the spring taking eggs and fledgelings.

Since poisoning has become illegal (and I am not advocating it) the population has exploded. The reason poisoning was made illegal was because of the risk to other birds. However it's ban may have put other species at risk because of this. Only other real way of controlling them is shooting rookeries during March to May. However that may be illegal as well.

Mod Note.

We neither allow nor advocate illegal activity here. We've covered this subject in the last couple of days in a thread you were involved in. Shooting Crows nests is illegal. There is no way around that ( that I'm aware of) Take this as your final warning on the subject. Thanks. GC

camz09

Is there anything more relentless than a jackdaw? Holy ****, I just realised recently we have an open soffit at the front of the house, the vent probably got broken from strong wind or whatever..anyway just realised a couple days ago some birds are trying to get in with a twig in tow. I would hear them around 7 am landing on top of the roof and cawing but didn't really bother me until I hear them tiptapping and scratching on the wood on the open soffit nearby. It's on the side of a bedroom we don't use which probably explains why I didn't notice until now. Took a look at the attic and saw what they gathered, a couple of leaves,some patchy grass/moss and twigs. Looked everywhere if I'm missing a nest and there doesn't seem to be one. Trying to cover the soffit for the moment until the maintenance guy comes in on Saturday and they are relentless. Help! What should I do? Leave them be? Are there any clues I can look for to see if they're in the middle of nesting? I just can't see anything unless I hire somebody to get into the "nitty gritty" of the attic/roof/vents(?) Just want to make sure before we get the soffit screwed shut.