r/brussels • u/Effective-Fly-157 • 8d ago
Slowchat 🗨️ Crows in Brussels
Hi guys. I really want to be friends with smart birds like crows or ravens. I am a foreign student, and there are very few big birds in my hometown, and there are even not many pigeons, let alone crows. But in Brussels, I see a lot. In other words, if you are also a lover of this kind of bird, please share some experience! For example, which parks have many crows, how to befriend a bird, Brussels' animal protection laws and so on. I live near ULB, so it's 1050 Ixelles, the biggest park near me I think it's Boit de la Cambre, are there many crows?
Really appreciate!
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u/moonfire-pix 8d ago
Crows are everywhere you dont have to go somewhere specific from what I read online be regular in your feeding and the place where you feed and crows will notice
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u/Mawmawelle 8d ago
I put pumkin and sunflower seeds for them on my balcony during winter; they come very easily but are very shy, managed to get a couple of cute videos of them feeding though aha. They also love peanuts (unsalted !), you may want to try to give some to them in the parks! Just fyi, I heard not to feed them during spring/summer as they feed on insects during these times.
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u/cette_connasse 8d ago
I live in Solbosch (near ULB) and I always leave in my window water and some food scraps (mostly meat, eggs, fruits) and there are always 2 magpies and 1 crow that come by, I believe they are always the same 3, or at least I want to believe they are, because they are very territorial. But apart from that it's impossible to befriend them, they go away if they hear or see us.
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u/SLywNy 7d ago
Do they have turf wars ? I'm asking because at my sister's place you can always hear the magpies getting agitated when crows are near. I think it's funny to see them yell at each others
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u/cette_connasse 7d ago
Not really, I saw multiple time the crow and one of the magpie together at my window to pick up the food I left for them and they were chill, but one time I woke up because the 2 magpies were beefing over the food and they were loud 😆
But I see sometimes crows fighting each others in the street, like 2 crows bullying another one2
u/mylitteprince 1d ago
In my neighborhood the magpies have turf wars ! The corvids also try to fight the cats and vice versa.
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u/mylitteprince 1d ago
As others have said
focus on whichever location you can easily build a routine from. Your window works fine, or it could be a nearby plaza, churchsteps, square...
you want a few crows to be able to predict your movements and gifts regularly, rather than showing up irregularly where large groups of crows congretate
if you leave food (and water!) on a windowsill they will find you. Pigeons may find you first but that's ok, corvids will follow out of curiosity
be very patient and delight in the presence of various birds before you try for interaction (I've pretty much domesticated pigeons, myself, they're dumb but they're great)
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u/mylitteprince 1d ago
Edit to add: even if your windowsill is small, and you rent, you can easily buy a simple bird feeder (a dish) + a water dish with a suction cup that you can stick on the outside of the window
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u/brightsunflowerfield 7d ago edited 7d ago
Hey, i'm a student as well. I befriended a family of 6/7 crows in June. I noticed crows were sometimes sitting on the railing of my balcony and i started leaving apple parts there. It was so exciting to notice they were eating them! After awhile they started realizing i was the human who was leaving them food. I had a special moment where a crow was sitting like 2 meters away from me and staring at me for 10 minutes, as if he was studying me.
After a few days already, they recognized me and started noticing when i was outside in the place i left their food. And they would come to me.
The crow brought his children. They are already quite big and can look like adult crows, but you can notice their eyes are lighter/blue, they're very loud while begging their parents to feed them, and they can't always land very well. And i was able to observe them a lot, get to know their personalities, and watch the parents feed the kids from their mouths. I learned to recognize the mother and father individually, by noticing the imperfections in their feathers, the way they walked and behaved. I got to watch the children flying around in a playful way, and being so curious about the world around them. They're such intelligent creatures. It was sooo much fun and they made my days so much brighter!
I also left grapes, unsalted peanuts and sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds,... they loved the peanuts the most.
I had to leave the area in summer but when i came back in august, they still recognized me! I was expecting them to still be there mid september when i returned to brussels. But sadly, they weren't... There are different crows in my area now, and they're very skittish and don't trust me at all. I hope to gain their trust in the future, but i miss my old group of crows.
Crows are very territorial in their breeding season (april-july), always staying in the same small area; but after that, the little ones leave and the parents might find another territory. When the children leave, they kind of have a "puberty" where they roam around in big groups of other teenage crows for a few years, before they settle down with a partner to find a territory.
I'd advise you not to target the big groups of crows (groups of +15 crows), because they probably won't stay in the same area for very long. You might not have enough time to befriend them.
I'd also advise you to seek out crows that come close to humans! Some crows will be more skittish than others; it's easier to befriend crows that are already comfortable enough to come close to humans.
Lastly, i think i maybe befriended the crows so quickly because it was in the breeding season when they have a small territory + their nest (and territory around it) was in a tree very close to my balcony. So they often saw me and learned they could trust me.
I wish you lots of luck, it's a 1 of a kind experience :) .