by Brittany Redelico
Wildlife Services Intern
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| photo by Sara Eisenhauer |
Remember the nestling American Crow we had in our care earlier this summer? Well, I am happy to report that this (not so) little crow has moved on to bigger and better things.
When admitting a young crow (or corvid or raptor) at a rehabilitation facility like VINS, we are extra careful not to imprint the little one. Certain species of birds are susceptible to human imprinting, and extra precautions are taken to limit this possibility. We must wear masks over our faces and gloves on our hands so that these super-smart birds do not associate themselves with humans. We also provide imprintable birds with mirrors so they will feel as though they aren’t alone and will begin to identify with the species they see in the mirror. For the few weeks this crow was in our rehab facility, we did our best to help the little crow develop a crow-like identity.
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| photo by Brittany Redelico |
Our one concern with this crow was that he was not learning to eat on his own. For his age of five weeks, he should have been able to find, pick up, and eat his own food. Even after leaving a fresh dish of food for him several days in a row, he did not pick up on a self eating habit. This made us question his ability to survive and thrive in the wild.
We needed to come up with a better solution.
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| photo by Brittany Redelico |
Here at VINS, we work closely with rehabbers and veterinarians throughout the state, and we called around to find out if any other rehabbers were caring for a crow of the same age. Crows are social birds, and it is more natural for them to live in groups rather than alone. Our hope was that if we provided our crow with a social group, he would learn by example and begin to eat on his own – and it would gain him entry into his own “murder” (or “flock” of crows). After many efforts to find a “friend” for this crow, we found a rehabber in Addison , VT
We kept our fingers crossed for the well-being of our little crow. Apparently, all he needed was a bit of companionship with fellow crows, because he was eating on his own within 24 hours of meeting his new friends. We were ecstatic to hear that our plan had worked! We are so happy for this crow, and thrilled to see him succeed. He’s still in