Bird's on cows

[redheeler]

Just a thought , Back when I was about 10 , {early seventies} I remember when every cattle herd in the area used to have an equally large flock of birds always around them they would sit on the cows backs , sometimes from their shoulders all the way to their tail their backs would be black with birds then sometime in the eightys or so you didn't see this much anymore. To my recollection my grandfather dipped cows in the 60s--70s but we still had birds on their backs I don't mean the birds disappeared altogether, they just quit landing on cows. Later for a lot of years I never saw a bird on a cows back like that, for about 3 decades actually. Now I am seeing a few birds again sitting on cows during the summer, not as thick as before but there are some again. I wonder if it means the bugs are getting immune to warbex or if there is some other reason the birds are starting to come back to the cowherds

 

[Evans]

I dont know what their proper name is but we just call them cow birds. I have gazillions of those dark colored little birds that are about the size of a robin. There right tame and dont hurt anything.
I'm in L.A. Thats lower Alberta

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I think the products we used to use on cattle would hard on the bird, Roulene, Lyseoff Neguvon ect. were Organophosphates Basically a poison we put on the cows to kill the parasites. Today's products are much safer for the environment but not sure if they are as effective.

 

[redheeler]

Yeah, that's what I kinda think also , I don't think the stuff hurt the birds, they were still around . I just think it gave them no incentive anymore to sit on a cows back since there weren't any bugs to be had. As far as seeing cows with birds covering their entire back,, well it's just something anybody now under 50 or so probably really hasen't seen much of before whereas back then it was the rule rather than the exeption just remnicing about the changes in this business over time

 

[Alaska-Rancher]

I haven't gotten any pictures yet but last fall I had two bald eagles warming their feet on my cows back. Then every March during Raven nesting season Ravens would land on the backs of cows and pull chucks of fur off for nests.

 

[Faster horses]

I haven't gotten any pictures yet but last fall I had two bald eagles warming their feet on my cows back. Then every March during Raven nesting season Ravens would land on the backs of cows and pull chucks of fur off for nests.

I can't stand ravens. We have them and the other birds are afraid of them. They get the SSS treatment here.

 

[Alaska-Rancher]

They are huge up here and against the law to shoot as the natives consider them to be ancesters. They do kill as well as scavenge for a living.

 

[Evans]

Seriously, ravens are protected in your States? Wow. Only grizzley bears are protected here. Ravens are kind of spooky. If you shoot one and another one happens to discover the body. It will scream its head off and circle it in the air. It won't land or give you a rifle shot. Then it will come back with its buddies which can be twenty or 50 of them. They will circle the body and or me and scream there heads off of for days. Sometimes they think they are out of normal rifle range and they get a surprise. That shuts them up.
They will pick the eyes right out of new born calves. My cows hate them and will chase them if they land. Most get shot because you can here the cows bawling and running from inside the house. Ravens are smart. They know me and my trucks but other people there not worried about. They also like to eat those molasses protein tubs.

 

[Alaska-Rancher]

Yes and they are carved onto top of Natives Totem Poles