Bees vs. Crows
The latest tally: not enough bees, WAY too many crows.
You may have seen any number of news stories worrying over the decline of bees. No one has a definitive reason, but there is a problem they call "colony collapse disorder" that either is or isn't a serious problem, caused or not caused by pesticides, genetically modified crops, or malnutrition. Some people think the dwindling of the bees is caused by cell phones. In this scenario, the young worker bees fail to produce food for the hive because they spend all their time texting each other.
Anyway, it's a big problem if the bees poop out, because that means no strawberries, unless we find some other way to get all the plants pollinated, which I'm sure we would do because who wants to live in a world without strawberries?
So on the one hand, we have too few of something we really need - bees - and at least in my neighborhood, an enormous oversupply of something we could probably do without - crows. I don't know what the hell is up with these noisy little monsters, but they are bountiful this year. So bountiful - and did I mention noisy? - that I have seriously considered calling animal control. I think they are scaring away all the nice birds, too. We used to have a mockingbird every spring, and they little thing would sing his guts out every morning. I don't mind getting a wake up call from a mockingbird ("Mock. Yeah! Ing. Yeah!") but these crows are too much. What good are crows anyway?
I went to a page of "Frequently Asked Questions About Crows" and it looks like they are as big a pain to other people as to me:
- We have a pair of crows in our backyard that use our bird bath as a depository for all of the carcasses they find. There are various snakes and rodents in the bath right now. It is disgusting. Why do they do that?
- My 10 year old son keeps having crows trying to attack him. He will be out in the yard and they come swooping down on his head. H e has done nothing to them and he is terrified to go out side alone now. I have been out there and they have not bothered me. Please tell me what I can do.
- Since the crows came we don't have any little birds around anymore.
- We've got crows hanging out in our yard. How can we get rid of these pests?
- We have a pair of crows tearing our windshield wiper blades off our vehicles. We have no explanation for this activity or how to stop it. Can you offer some advice or comments on the behavior?
Do they make shotguns with silencers?
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