.png)
Recently the crows have been a touch more reclusive. They're definitely still in the neighborhood but I'm seeing them less throughout the day. I still catch occasional glances of them, can hear their calls, and they're eating some of the food I leave out overnight.
Luckily, I just received a Google Nest camera from a good friend. This is the perfect excuse to go live with the GoCro cam and create a more permanent solution for dispensing treats.
First a little background - for the last week, I've been feeding them using a disposable aluminum baking sheet placed on a tv tray. I did this primarily so that the shiny aluminum would catch their eye AND because I had no where else to set it that the dogs couldn't get to.
I decided to mount a shelf to the side of our detached garage. This will keep it in sight, out of reach of the dogs, and the overhang should protect it from the elements.
Additionally, I wanted to create a dispenser system that would also act as a puzzle. Corvids are notoriously good at solving problems for food and I wanna test to see how intelligent mine are.
For this system:
The weight of the treats (peanuts and mealworms) holds the bottles upright.
The bottles can rotate freely around the dowel to pour treats out, but won't stay upside down on their own.
There is a screw-on stop on the end of the dowel to keep crows from simply knocking the bottles off the platform.
I used velcro cord wraps around the mouths of the bottles as opposed to string so they are easier to grab and a little more obvious as something to be interacted with.
I kept the aluminum tray on there with a few of the treats loose to show the crows that the whole setup is meant for them. After they discover it and get used to coming there for treats, I'll remove the aluminum tray.
I've trained the Google Nest camera on the platform and set it to record any movement on the platform. As I get clips, I'll be able to post them directly on here and create compilation videos of the best bits.
Comments