Or ravens. Or whatever they are around here, in fact. I am told by this article that crows and ravens react well to peanuts, still in the shell; and I’m gonna test that.
Why? Because corvids are cool, that’s why. And very smart, so it’d neat to have some hang out while I’m having my morning coffee. Crows are perfectly capable of getting along with humans, and they’re not going to be eating any of my crops, so there’s no reason not to be neighborly. And yes, I imagine that I’m over-romanticizing this, but it’s a free country, what-what?
Probably Grackles. Nasty birds when I was a kid they always raided the nests of other birds and tossed the hatchlings or eggs out or broke the eggs. I’ve actually seen a group them chasing a red tailed hawk thru the neighborhood.
Interesting sidenote, none of the hatchlings I found on the ground ever had feathers, either the the feathered hatchlings were tough enough to drive the Grackles off on the “Day of Doom” or they could cry loud enough to call Mom and Pop back to to nest. Sidenote Two, many of the hatchlings showed signs of predation {i/e., parts missing}. Grackles are opportunists they will eat anything even smaller birds. So if your wife likes Orioles or other small songbirds I’d think twice about it.
I have another raven story for you. Did not see this, but was told this story by a man who bred ravens and owls for the Penna DER.
You know what a Nutty Buddy is? Ice cream cone with chocolate shell on top with peanuts in the chocolate? This guy would have a Nutty Buddy after lunch and one of his ravens would fly up and land on his arm to share it with him. It would sit there and carefully peck the nuts out of the top of the NB without knocking the ice cream off of the cone. When it was done, it would wait until he was finished eating the rest before flying off to its perch.
Because apparently ravens think it’s just rude to up and leave the table before your host is finished their meal.
Don’t know much about the other corvids, though.
I had a friend who had nursed an injured crow back to health. One day while it was still recovering, it got its beak on a small paring knife. It then proceeded to chase the other animals (cat, dog) around the house (on foot, not flying) while brandishing the knife.