lizardjasper
Well-Known Member
A friend of a friend had a pet crow once (Australian Raven, but we call them crows. They're the ones with the bristly chin feathers, and their call is an "ark" and a gurgle). This was many many years ago before the EPA had anything to do with anything. They raised it from a baby, and it used to follow the kids up the road to school, then fly home. Come school out, it would be waiting there at the gate to walk them back home. He used to warm them about snakes, and any other dangers that might be about, and it was as loyal and as friendly and as intelligent as any dog could have ever been! He lived to the ripe old age of 20 human years!!
I also have another friend who is a WIRES bird carer, and she's had many baby crows, and hundreds of magpies (and peewees and tawny frogmouths to name a few). One crow I remember became very tame, and loved sitting on my sholder while I was visiting. He kept looking me in the eye, and his eyes were that beautiful blue colour!! He kept croaking whenever he wanted a bit of my bread, and he was so beautiful!
We have a family of magpies that live with us (in the garden). They bring around their babies every year, and we feed them, they take the food from your fingers sometimes. They never swoop us, but they swoop everyone else who walks past our yard, which is pretty funny to watch)! One day I heard this car alarm, and it was really close, so I went outside and there was the mother magpie, calling away! I sat there and listened for ages, she could mimick a crow, a butcherbird, a noisy minor, a car alarm, what I think was an electric saw, a cockatoo, and all kinds of other birds I can't remember. It was amazing!!
I've known magpies to be tame after their 2nd year. The males go a little wild, but the females are better. Many years ago, before I was born, my parents found a baby magpie who was extremely tame. He adopted them and would sleep inside a little box every night, and wake them up singing in the morning. Eventually Mum got pregnant with me and they couldn't keep him anymore (don't ask me why, I wasn't born yet!) so he went to live in a nearby wildlife park where he became one of the "teachers helpers" to teach people more about native wildlife. Here's a pic from an old slide we've put on the computer.
You could always become a WIRES volunteer, caring for birds, and reptiles!
That way, if they called you up and said "we've got..." and you didn't want to take care of it, you wouldn't have to.
Or you can always go raid a nest...watch for the parents though, and wear a full protective body suit!!! I've been swooped (and got a nasty head wound) by magpies when I was young, and even a couple of crows while trying to pick their fledging up off the ground
I also have another friend who is a WIRES bird carer, and she's had many baby crows, and hundreds of magpies (and peewees and tawny frogmouths to name a few). One crow I remember became very tame, and loved sitting on my sholder while I was visiting. He kept looking me in the eye, and his eyes were that beautiful blue colour!! He kept croaking whenever he wanted a bit of my bread, and he was so beautiful!
We have a family of magpies that live with us (in the garden). They bring around their babies every year, and we feed them, they take the food from your fingers sometimes. They never swoop us, but they swoop everyone else who walks past our yard, which is pretty funny to watch)! One day I heard this car alarm, and it was really close, so I went outside and there was the mother magpie, calling away! I sat there and listened for ages, she could mimick a crow, a butcherbird, a noisy minor, a car alarm, what I think was an electric saw, a cockatoo, and all kinds of other birds I can't remember. It was amazing!!
I've known magpies to be tame after their 2nd year. The males go a little wild, but the females are better. Many years ago, before I was born, my parents found a baby magpie who was extremely tame. He adopted them and would sleep inside a little box every night, and wake them up singing in the morning. Eventually Mum got pregnant with me and they couldn't keep him anymore (don't ask me why, I wasn't born yet!) so he went to live in a nearby wildlife park where he became one of the "teachers helpers" to teach people more about native wildlife. Here's a pic from an old slide we've put on the computer.
You could always become a WIRES volunteer, caring for birds, and reptiles!
That way, if they called you up and said "we've got..." and you didn't want to take care of it, you wouldn't have to.Or you can always go raid a nest...watch for the parents though, and wear a full protective body suit!!! I've been swooped (and got a nasty head wound) by magpies when I was young, and even a couple of crows while trying to pick their fledging up off the ground
