How do I keep crows off my bird feeder without harming them?

The short answer

• Crows feed mostly on the ground. Stop ground and tray feeding, rake up spill every evening, and take corn and peanuts off the menu for a few weeks, and the feeder stops being worth the trip.
• Size does the rest. A crow weighs 311 to 623 g, seven to fourteen times a 45 g cardinal, so a weight-activated feeder set near 70 g keeps cardinals and shuts out every crow. Left at a squirrel setting near 500 g, it lets a light crow feed.
• Trash, food scraps in open compost and pet food bring crows to the yard before they ever find the feeder. Lids, morning trash pickup and indoor pet feeding are part of the fix.
• Plastic owls and fixed decoys stop working once crows learn they never move. Moving, varied and combined deterrents last longer, and a motion-triggered sprinkler adds a physical cost.
• Crows are federally protected. The depredation order in 50 CFR 21.150 covers crop, livestock feed, health, structural and listed-species damage, not a bird feeder, so trapping or killing crows to protect seed is not allowed.

Take away the food a crow can reach from the ground, then let size do the sorting. An American Crow weighs 311 to 623 g, according to Audubon, which is seven to fourteen times a cardinal and more than any songbird you are feeding. A weight-activated feeder set to close near 70 g shuts every crow out and keeps the cardinals. Clear the spill under the feeder, close the trash and bring the pet bowl in. Trapping and killing are off the table: crows are federally protected, and the rule that allows permit-free control does not cover a bird feeder.

Two answers circulate. One says crows are pests you can shoot or trap. The other says they are protected and nothing can be done, so buy an owl decoy and hope. Both are wrong in the part that matters. Crows are on a federal depredation order, but its conditions are about crops and damage, not seed. And there is plenty you can do, as long as it starts with the food rather than the decoy.

What brings a crow to the feeder#

Audubon's account is direct: the American Crow "feeds mostly on the ground, sometimes in trees," and is "opportunistic, quickly taking advantage of new food sources." Its diet runs from insects and carrion to "garbage, eggs, and young of other birds, seeds, grain, berries, and fruit." The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management (ICWDM) adds that garbage is a primary food in urban areas and that the plant part of the diet is "particularly corn."

Two habits make a feeder easy to find. In fall and winter crows gather into communal roosts, and ICWDM reports flocks flying 6 to 12 miles out from a roost each day to feed. They also "quickly learn to associate specific noises and symbols with food," and Indiana DNR notes they can recognize individual people. A yard where the same person fills the same tray at the same hour is teaching them the schedule.

So the order of work is: food on the ground, food in the yard that is not birdseed, then the feeder itself.

Size settles the hardware#

The crow is not close to any feeder songbird. That is the opposite of the cowbird problem, where the pest and the cardinal overlap in weight and no setting can separate them. Here, the gap is huge. The catch is at the other end of the table: a crow overlaps a gray squirrel.

A wire cage is the other mechanism. Our cage comparison uses 1.5 in mesh standing 4 in off the feeder. That mesh passes chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and finches and stops a 45 g cardinal, so a crow at seven times that weight has no way through. The cost is the same as always: the cardinals and jays go too. The 4 in standoff was set for a squirrel's forelimb. We have not measured a crow's reach through mesh and no source we read states it, so if you see one pulling seed through the grid, add distance with a second, larger cage around the first.

What crows eat, and what the feeder can deny them#

Our preference data has no crow row. The nearest relative we track is the Blue Jay, the same family, and we use its row as a stated proxy alongside two western jays and the birds you are trying to keep.

Top top-tier favorite Yes eats readily Some takes occasionally Rare rarely No not a feeder food

Read the sunflower row carefully. Crows damage commercial sunflower crops, so sunflower hearts are not a seed crows ignore. A tube feeder with short perches and the tray removed works because a crow cannot stand on it, not because of the seed. The same goes for the slit ports on a nyjer feeder. Safflower is the seed change that helps, and cracked corn and peanuts are the two to pause.

Then the ground. Rake the seed under the feeder every evening, take the open platform feeder down for a few weeks, and do not scatter seed. A walking bird that finds nothing on three or four visits drops the stop. That clean ground also stops the rats and mice that a crow-friendly yard tends to feed.

The food that is not on the feeder#

Most yards with a crow problem have a second food source, and it is often the reason the crows arrived. Humane World for Animals lists "trash, food waste in open compost, pet food and food put out for other wild species" as crow attractants. Indiana DNR's trash advice is specific:

1. Keep lids tight, and fasten cans to a post so they stay upright.
2. Put cans out on the morning of pickup, not the night before.
3. Never leave bags out without a can.
4. Compost yard waste only, or cover the bin.
5. Feed dogs and cats indoors, or pick the bowl up as soon as they finish.

Do this alongside the feeder changes. A yard that still has an open bin will keep crows coming back, and they will keep checking the feeder on the way.

Why decoys stop working#

Plastic owls fail here for the same reason scare devices fail on a hawk that has learned the yard: a threat that never moves stops being a threat. Humane World for Animals says birds "aren't fooled by plastic owls and inflatable snakes for long," and that effigies which move realistically "may work for a little while." Indiana DNR says visual scare devices "can help move crows to another location, though the relief may be only temporary." ICWDM's advice for crows is to "vary the location, intensity, and types of frightening devices," and it notes that crows already used to people "may not respond" to clappers at all.

The pattern is clear. What lasts adds a real cost, like water, or changes often. Anything that sits still teaches a crow that it is harmless. And none of it works while the food is still on the ground.

What the law allows#

Crows are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Two federal rules make exceptions, and neither is a feeder tool.

The first is the depredation order, 50 CFR 21.150, the same order that covers cowbirds and grackles. It lists the American, Fish and Northwestern Crow. A private citizen may act without a federal permit only where crows cause serious injury to agricultural or horticultural crops or livestock feed, a health hazard or structural property damage, or to protect a federally, state or tribally listed species. Each calendar year, nonlethal methods come first: the order names netting, flagging, trained raptors, propane cannons and recordings. Birdseed you put out for wild birds is not a crop and not livestock feed. Anyone who does qualify takes on daily trap checks, an annual report on FWS Form 3-2436 by January 31, and every state law and permit.

The second is crow hunting, 50 CFR 20.133. States may set seasons, but no more than 124 days a year, never in the peak nesting period, and only with firearms, bow and arrow, or falconry. No traps. Crows may not be taken in Hawaii at all. ICWDM adds that shooting kills few crows relative to the numbers involved and works as dispersal more than reduction.

Live trapping and release is not a way around this. The trapping rules sit inside the depredation order, so they apply only when one of its conditions is met, and a feeder meets none.

Where this page stops#

• United States federal law only. We did not check Canadian rules, and both rules defer to state law on top.
• Ravens are different. The Common Raven is not on the depredation order's list, so its permit-free route does not apply to ravens.
• The food ratings are a proxy. They come from jay rows, not a crow study.
• Nesting season matters. Crows nest February to May (Indiana DNR) and take eggs and young of other birds. During nesting season, a feeder that draws crows also draws them past your nest boxes.

For the rest of the dark birds that arrive in flocks, the starling page covers the introduced one, and the problems section has every other visitor.

Frequently asked questions#

What bird seed will crows not eat?

No source we read lists a seed crows refuse, and our preference data has no crow row. The nearest relative we track, the Blue Jay, rates nyjer as not a feeder food and safflower as taken only occasionally, while corn and peanuts are top-tier. Treat that as a proxy. In practice the feeder does more than the seed: nyjer in a slit-port tube and sunflower hearts in a tube with no tray give a crow nothing to stand on.

Is it legal to trap crows that are eating from my bird feeder?

No. Crows are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 50 CFR 21.150 lets private citizens control them without a federal permit only for serious damage to crops or livestock feed, a health hazard, structural damage, or to protect a listed species, and only after nonlethal methods first each calendar year. Seed you put out for wild birds is none of those. Crow hunting seasons under 50 CFR 20.133 allow firearms, bow and falconry only, never traps.

Do fake owls or crow decoys keep crows away?

Not for long. Crows are wary and fast learners, and a model that never moves becomes furniture. The Humane World for Animals guidance says birds are not fooled by plastic owls for long and that realistic moving effigies may work for a little while. It names one exception that usually works: a fake dead crow hung upside down with wings spread. Move any deterrent every few days and combine it with removing the food.

Will a squirrel-proof feeder keep crows off?

A weight-activated one will, if you set it low. An American Crow weighs 311 to 623 g, and many of these feeders arrive set to close near squirrel weight, about 500 g, which a light crow does not reach. Turn the setting down to close near 70 g, about 2.5 oz, and every crow shuts the ports while a 45 g cardinal still feeds. A 1.5 in cage also stops crows, but it stops cardinals too.

Why are crows suddenly at my feeder in fall and winter?

Because more of them are moving through. Crows gather into large communal roosts in fall and winter, and ICWDM reports that flocks fly 6 to 12 miles out from a roost each day to feed. A yard with seed on the ground, an open trash can or a pet bowl on the porch is an easy stop on that route. Crows also learn quickly to link sounds and routines with food, so a regular morning refill becomes a signal.

Sources and further reading

1. 50 CFR 21.150, Depredation order for blackbirds, cowbirds, crows, grackles, and magpies Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School Crow species covered, the five conditions for permit-free control, nonlethal methods first each year, trapping and reporting conditions, state law on top
2. 50 CFR 20.133, Hunting regulations for crows Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School State-set seasons of no more than 124 days, no hunting in peak nesting, firearms, bow and falconry only, no take in Hawaii
3. American Crow, Guide to North American Birds National Audubon Society Length 16 to 21 in, weight 311 to 623 g, feeds mostly on the ground, omnivorous diet, winter roosts, Northwestern Crow now treated as the coastal population
4. Crow Biology; Crow Damage Prevention and Control Methods Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management Daily flights of 6 to 12 miles from roosts, garbage as a primary urban food, learning, habituation, ultrasonic devices ineffective, lasers short-lived, vary frightening devices
5. American Crow Indiana Department of Natural Resources 17 to 21 in, recognize individual people, nesting February to May, trash can measures, visual scare devices give temporary relief, motion-triggered sprinkler
6. What to do about crows Humane World for Animals Trash, open compost and pet food attract crows; plastic owls fail; moving effigies work for a while; dead-crow effigies; move and combine devices