A problem for the birds

[+CYNICALifornia]

I have a cache that I placed few months ago, but every time it is found it is on the ground (it is hidden in a tree branch).

 

I've seen a crow perched right by my cache and am a bit suspicious of this bird. I believe it is removing my cache and tossing it to the ground.

 

And Ideas that do not involve hurting the bird or moving/disabling the cache?

 

Thanks!

~Tom

[AZcachemeister]

Better Camo?

 

Crows and Jays are very clever and curious creatures, and I wouldn't doubt it is your culprit.

Maybe it considers the tree 'HIS'?

Try moving the cache to another tree, and be sure it isn't in the least bit shiny.

[+gmcpower98]

I have seen one in a tree that had a wire attached to it and the other end to the tree!!

[+WatchDog2020]

glue a bunch of feathers to the cache and give him a new Girlfriend

[+TropicalParadise]

I have a cache that I placed few months ago, but every time it is found it is on the ground (it is hidden in a tree branch).

 

I've seen a crow perched right by my cache and am a bit suspicious of this bird. I believe it is removing my cache and tossing it to the ground.

 

And Ideas that do not involve hurting the bird or moving/disabling the cache?

 

Thanks!

~Tom

 

Without moving the cache and if the bird sets up a nest, the constant traffic could hurt the poor birdie .

[+wiseye]

A loose fitting wire tie should do it. You also might want to change brances.

[TermiteHunter]

"Did you get permission from the bird?" Must be private property.

[+EraSeek]

Black-hearted thieves~

 

The story of The Song of the Wood Thrush cache.

 

A number of years back, early on in the era of Geocaching, one of the ‘first best’ caches I found was one by Steam. The cache was called Plane Cents and was near the Anacortes Airport. This cache fits in the best category due to the fact that it was the ‘first best’ antibox I ever found, and still ranks up there because of the creativity and quality and thought that went into it. It was a foreign coin exchange, I suppose one of the first, but what made it great was that it was a nest in a tree. A handmade nest, I’m sure, with an unusual nest egg in it. The egg was a bundle of coins and log wrapped up in purple paisley fabric and tied together in the shape of an egg. Now, this cache was plundered, and plundered again and the cacher gave up the sport of Geocaching rather angered.

 

Now jump ahead a couple of years. I was reading a book on birds and migration. It described how starlings will take over an active nest, kicking out the eggs, and making the nest its own. Cowbirds, being even nastier, will kick out the owners eggs, lay their own eggs it their place, and the nest owner ends up raising the cowbirds brood rather then their own. Now crows simply steal and eat the eggs: I was reading in my bird migration book about how there’s been a sever decline in the songbird population due to deforestation and forest fragmentation in the wintering grounds, the breeding grounds and on the migration routes themselves. The book was saying how exposed the nests are. That crows hunt nests along the edges of the forest but won’t penetrate into deeper forest. I put the book down and went out back to weed my small corn patch, and along came this big old crow and landed in a small cedar behind the fence. A moment later out of that same tree a robin came complaining. Then out of the heart of the branches came the crow with a robin’s egg in it’s beak. Off he flew with the mama robin chattering behind. I’d never witnessed this before nor had I known that crows even did that before I’d read about it in my book mere moments before. One of those bizarre things.

 

Now jump ahead to the present. I originally place the “Song of the wood thrush” cache back in the trees, off the cemetery property, but when doing so someone showed up in the woods and not being seen I quickly left. I roamed the cemetery for a bit and came across a secluded section that also had a bit of a birders theme to it, as there were wind chimes and feeders, and bird houses on and near the graves. I thought my nest would fit well here and I found some ginkgo trees well away from any individual graves and I attached my nest to it with 6 plastic eggs and a bison capsule in it. We had a windstorm that night so I checked on the cache and 3 eggs were missing. I glued 6 eggs back in the nest with silicon adhesive, but the next day the eggs were gone and the capsule on the ground. Humm. I repeated my fix, I don’t know how many times, but the same thing happened. By now I’d figured out it was those crows hanging about. I’d fix the cache, and someone would find it hours latter and it had been partly or fully robbed. I put rocks instead of eggs in the nest and again the same would happen. So my solution was to sew the eggs into the nest with monofiliment line. They again messed with it, but the eggs remained. I had anchored the capsule to the branch with fishline and placed it in the cache, but the problem remained that the capsule was always going to get pulled out and dangle from the branch. I didn’t want this, and by this time I was feeling guilty about miss-use of the cemetery and my frequent visits, and I moved the cache back into the woods.

 

I have since realized that Steam’s cache Plane Cents may have been robbed, but not by cachers. Yes, those darn crows!

[+The Hornet]

And Ideas that do not involve hurting the bird or moving/disabling the cache?

Shoot the bird

 

Should be quick enough not to hurt it and your problem disappears.

[+StaticTank]

And Ideas that do not involve hurting the bird or moving/disabling the cache?

Shoot the bird

 

Should be quick enough not to hurt it and your problem disappears.

 

This was my idea as well!

[+Unkle Fester]

A loose fitting wire tie should do it. You also might want to change brances.

...and you could put the wire on the cache too...

[+Kit Fox]

I was FTF on that cache, and I think it was the desert wind blowing the Joshua Tree around, which caused the cache to fall out. Shooting the bird wont work because the cache is within city limits, in full view of a residential area.

[+Boots...]

Not to mention that the crow is a native bird. As such, it enjoys federal protection. I don't believe that there is a hunting season on crow, but if there is, you'd still need a license...

[+Boots...]

Double post. oops.

Edited December 21, 2008 by Boots...