SINGAPORE, May 31 \u2014 In trees across Singapore, plastic crows are playing dead \u2014 and it\u2019s all part of a bold new strategy to outsmart some of the smartest birds around.<\/p>\n
According to The Straits Times, these lifeless-looking decoys, strung upside down from branches, are part of a National Parks Board (NParks) trial aimed at shooing off house crows, a highly intelligent and invasive species known for their noisy gatherings and the occasional aerial ambush on unsuspecting pedestrians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effigies are placed at roost sites and positioned to resemble dead crows,\u201d How Choon Beng, NParks\u2019 group director of wildlife management, reportedly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aim is to create a perception of danger and encourage the roosting crows to disperse to other locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
It might sound like a scene from a Hitchcock film, but it\u2019s rooted in science.<\/p>\n
Studies from the United States have shown that crows, unnerved by the sight of one of their own hanging lifeless, tend to scatter \u2014 sometimes for good.<\/p>\n
Back in 2005, researchers from the US Department of Agriculture\u2019s Wildlife Services tried the same trick in Pennsylvania, where up to 40,000 crows once roosted.<\/p>\n
By suspending crow effigies from tree branches, they managed to break up the massive gatherings over two winters. The tactic worked well \u2014 at least for a while.<\/p>\n
In Singapore, NParks has deployed 15 plastic crows at eight known trouble spots since late 2023.<\/p>\n
The effigies typically hang around for about two weeks at a time.<\/p>\n
One was spotted in April outside Katong V mall, complete with a sign that reassured passers-by: \u201cThis is a plastic crow. Please do not be alarmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a response to growing public frustration.<\/p>\n
NParks received nearly 7,000 crow-related complaints annually in 2023 and 2024, with gripes ranging from screeching wake-up calls to full-on bird attacks.<\/p>\n
One of the most notorious incidents occurred in Bishan in early 2023, when at least 10 people were harassed by dive-bombing crows in under 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
Crow aggression typically spikes during fledgling season between May and June, when adult birds become fiercely protective of their young. It\u2019s also when the calls for intervention grow louder.<\/p>\n
Effigies are NParks\u2019 latest addition to a broader, science-based game plan. Other measures include nest removal, food source management, habitat tweaks, and, in some cases, trapping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE, May 31 \u2014 In trees across Singapore, plastic crows are playing dead \u2014 and it\u2019s all part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[62901,62899,70,2143,62900,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-146215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-choon-beng","9":"tag-national-parks-board","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-singapore","12":"tag-tree-branches","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114601254214964774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}