DEAR JOAN: We have a Chinese elm in our front yard that provides beautiful shade for our driveway, but the crows have moved in and are leaving droppings, creating a messy area to walk through to get the newspaper.

Do you know if putting a dummy owl in the tree will discourage them? We have a catalog offering one that is battery operated; when it senses a presence, it activates, makes a noise and even moves its head.

Bud Born

Bay Area

DEAR BUD: Crows are exceptionally smart, but your mechanical owl may work if you move it around in the tree.

Crows have lost their fear of most scarecrows.
Crows have lost their fear of most scarecrows. (Paul Schmid/Seattle Times)

I'm sure it will startle the crows the first few times it goes off, but they will soon figure out it's nothing that should concern them. Moving it every few days may make the crows think twice.

I've also heard that hanging a fake, stuffed crow upside down in a tree or nearby will dissuade crows. The fake bird will probably be cheaper and as Halloween is approaching, easy to find in stores, so you may want to try that first.

I have no idea why it would work, but I have a couple of testimonials. I recently learned, much to my surprise, that when a crow dies, the other crows have something of a memorial service for their dead comrade. They will caw and gather in large numbers around their fallen friend.


Hanging the fake crow smacks of playing on their senses of superstition, which I think is a purely human invention. Perhaps the crows just don't care to be around humans that would do such a thing.

Let's try an experiment. If you have crow troubles, try the fake bird and then write to let me know if it worked.

DEAR JOAN: Have you ever heard of a cat catching a hummer? I get a kick out of watching the neighborhood cats waiting for a meal of them on my feeder, always to no avail but fun to watch.

Roger Miller

Union City

DEAR ROGER: I've seen cats snag hummingbirds out of the air. The really good hunters can do that, and the more the cats sit, watch and try, the better they will get at it, especially if the birds are older or not as healthy.

If any of the cats are feral and are counting on catching birds for their sustenance, it is in their best interest to improve their hunting skills. If the cats are well-fed house cats, they may hunt because it's in their nature, but not eat the birds.

Unless you want to see carnage under the feeder, you may want to discourage the behavior.

DEAR JOAN: I have had good success keeping rats away from my produce with a spotlight hooked to infrared motion sensor. When motion is detected the light is switched on for one minute and scares the animal away.

I built my own device but have recently seen similar devices in a catalog. Two items at use both light and ultra sound to repel animals.

There are also devices that use only ultrasound. I don't know how well those work but my light has nearly eliminated my losses.

Bruce Skov

Bay Area

DEAR BRUCE: I'm told ultra sound doesn't really work, but the lights make sense.

For those who want to try it, just be sure your lights aren't directed into your neighbor's windows.

Contact Joan Morris at Read the Animal Life blog at