Elm Street locals say crows are wreaking havoc by zeroing in on a surprising target – car windscreen wipers.

A taxi driver, who regularly parks in the street, says he was puzzled recently to find his rubber windscreen wipers had been peeled off and left on the bonnet of his car.

He says his was not the only car  to be targeted with up to a dozen suffering the same fate in the past month.

The taxi driver says the cause of the damage had initially left him mystified.

It was not until one resident witnessed a bird in action that she and other residents in the normally peaceful street twigged.

“They’re hit and miss, they’re not there in the street all the time,” he said.

“I don’t know why they do it, they just do.

“They’re still doing it, but it is probably not the only place they do it.”

The problem has led some residents to cover up their wipers with towels and other household materials.

Theories on why the crows are attacking the cars are many and varied.

They range from birds being either hungry, mischievous or just plain bored, to viewing their reflection in the windscreen as either a rival or love interest.

Reasoning aside it would appear the crows' annoying fixation with cars might not be as irregular as most would think.

SuperCheap Auto Bendigo assistant manager Lauren Hyatt said the store often sold replacement rubber windscreen wipers to motorists who were the likely victims of crows.

“It does actually happen a fair bit,” she said.

“There’s even been times when we have cars parked at the back of the store and we get crows come flying down and I have had to shoo them away.

“I don’t know what it is with crows and windscreens, unless they are using the rubber for nesting or something like that.”