Prevent Crows From Crowding A Garden Bird Bath With One Simple Fix

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Crows are among the most fascinating types of birds around. While they can arguably cause a lot of trouble, their intelligence and social skills are part of what makes them so endearing. You might not mind having a group of crows hang out in your garden, but these omnivores can also take over spaces where you don't necessarily want them. This includes birdbaths. It can be challenging to keep crows away from a birdbath entirely, but you may be able to reduce their numbers by limiting nearby sources of food, including making changes to birdfeeders.

While there are many good reasons you might want to attract crows to your yard, it's important to be aware that these large birds are known to compete with smaller songbirds. Crows may even attack fledglings and take eggs from bird nests, in addition to hanging out in commonly shared spaces, such as birdbaths and feeders. Their feeding habits can also cause them to leave behind crumbs and debris, particularly when they hang out as a group. Some crows have been spotted making messes inside birdbaths due to their preference for moistening their food in water before eating. Other crows might moisten food for their young in this manner. Needless to say, such behaviors might make it difficult to keep your birdbath clean and make songbirds too timid (or disgusted) to enjoy it. 

First, if you have a bird feeder in your yard as well, you might need to make some adjustments to it if nuisance crows or other wildlife are hogging the birdbath and scaring off songbirds. Crows often hang out in gardens and backyards because they've found a reliable source of food. In many cases, this can be your bird feeder.

If you still want to feed songbirds, consider investing in a feeder that is designed to keep out larger birds, such as the Woodlink Audubon Dome Top feeder. It's equally important to clean up any messes underneath your feeders, as these will also attract crows to your garden. You can also add in some seeds that these birds are known to dislike, such as millet, safflower seeds, and shelled sunflower seeds. Another trick to keep crows away from your bird feeder is to take it down during the times of the day when crows are the most active there, which will require some observation and trial and error. If crows keep leaving your garden empty-handed, they may stay away from other areas like birdbaths, too.

Birdfeeders are an easy target for crows, but these aren't their only sources of food near your birdbath. Compost bins and trash cans are other possible targets, so you'll want to make sure these are sealed to prevent access. Keeping pet food indoors also eliminates another feeding opportunity for these birds.

Limiting food sources may help reduce the presence of nuisance crows around your garden, but keep in mind that there's no way to 100% prevent these birds. However, if they continue to be a problem for the other birds at your birdbath despite your efforts, you can try taking other measures to deter them. Certain noises may temporarily scare crows, but you don't want to inadvertently scare off songbirds, too. To that end, you might try visual scare tactics known to work against crows, such as hanging pieces of Mylar tape around the garden. The key with crow management is persistence and to regularly change up your plans to keep them guessing.