A Murder Most Fowl

[Smercury44]

I just love crows. They’re so smart! Studies show they have a great memory and can teach other crows.



In this one the vending machine only works with a specific size of paper. The crow remembers what size is required to make the machine work, and fashions a piece of paper to get its treat. It remembered the tool required for the job and was able to recreate that tool without the original as a template.



And of course, crows love to play!

[Yonadav]

That's pretty amazing. I especially loved the crows dropping nuts in traffic to crack them, and then waiting at the crosswalk for the signal to change.

[Dom]

One day I was in the cafeteria at the University of Davis and there was a crow sitting on a ceiling lamp. It would wait for people to get up, then swoop down, pick up some leftover, and eat it back on the lamp. Then it got a big piece of something and sat on the lamp facing the door. The door was a sliding door that activated when you stepped on the pad. The crow waited for someone to go out and swooped past them.

[Smercury44]

Aw and crows giving gifts!

[Yonadav]

Aw and crows giving gifts!

Those crows are 'gift conditioning' that little girl to keep her serving them.  

[TheGulegon]

I just love crows.

Uh huh

Show ContentSpoiler:

[Smercury44]

I just love crows.

Uh huh

Show ContentSpoiler:

Yes this is also a very good crow

[outtathereligioncloset]

So I imagine pretty much everybody knows that a "group" of crows is a "murder." But do you know what a flock of flamingos is called? (No cheating by looking it up!)

[Dancefortwo]

If only crows had a nicer song.  I hate that "caw" sound.  I read that crows take over the territory of other birds, particularly songbirds, and drive them elsewhere.

[Vera]

[Gwaithmir]

Ever since the early 1980's I have been feeding at least two families of crows almost every morning. They have become so accustomed to having breakfast here that they frequently wait in the trees next to my house for me to emerge with a bowl of table scraps. If I'm not out the door by 7:00 a.m. they begin cawing for their food. They especially enjoy the mice I catch in traps set in the pantry.

A few of the crows follow me to the Transfer Station on Saturdays and will perch on the electric lines or the fence in back of the bottle bin where I work. I occasionally remove edible garbage from customers' recycling tubs and toss it to the crows. They will swoop down for their meal even though I'm standing only ten feet away.

A couple of months ago I had a thrilling experience with one of them. I brought out a freshly killed mouse, but instead of tossing it in the driveway with the food scraps, I stood still and held it out in my hand. All of the crows except one swooped down to the driveway for their usual feast, but one stayed perched on the peak of the garage not more than twenty feet away. He eyed me suspiciously for a minute or two, then flew down, hovered in front of me for a second or two, then snatched the mouse from my hand. Crows are indeed highly intelligent and recognize their friends.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So I imagine pretty much everybody knows that a "group" of crows is a "murder."  But do you know what a flock of flamingos is called?  (No cheating by looking it up!)

Our more flamboyant members might be able to help.

[Unsapien]

So I imagine pretty much everybody knows that a "group" of crows is a "murder."  But do you know what a flock of flamingos is called?  (No cheating by looking it up!)

I used to know. It's like a party of flamingos or something like that.

[Alan V]

Ever since the early 1980's I have been feeding at least two families of crows almost every morning.

I throw three scoops of birdseed out on our front walk every morning at about 10:00.  That attracts birds of all kinds, but small flocks of sparrows, mourning doves, cow birds, and grackles primarily.  I even see a squirrel or two.  None of them seem that smart, since they all remained frightened of me.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Grackles are pretty smart, in my experience.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Grackles are pretty smart, in my experience.

I call them "The ravening hordes". They can clean out a pile of bird food in very little time and the other birds go hungry.

[Gwaithmir]

Ever since the early 1980's I have been feeding at least two families of crows almost every morning.

I throw three scoops of birdseed out on our front walk every morning at about 10:00.  That attracts birds of all kinds, but small flocks of sparrows, mourning doves, cow birds, and grackles primarily.  I even see a squirrel or two.  None of them seem that smart, since they all remained frightened of me.

Actually, it started out with a pair of ravens, but over the course of a decade, the crows kept showing up for the food before the ravens. The ravens gradually stopped coming around.

[Dom]

Crows fight wars over territory it seems. I have seen two such wars here, before nesting in the spring, over the span of 20 years. So they don't go to war very often. The noise is deafening when they do.

The local crows haven't picked me as friend, but  a rufous sided Towhee and a Blue Jay have done so. Whereby the towhee is quite unusual to do so, he flies with me when I make my morning rounds. Jays quite commonly make friends with people, back on California we had one who would fly in the kitchen window to pick up his daily peanut. When the window was closed, he'd knock and knock until you opened it.

[SYZ]

The Australian Raven's call is one of the most evocative in our hot, dry, lightly-timbered outback regions:
 




Ravens and Crows are both members of the  family Corvidae, but this raven is only found here in Australia.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Grackles are pretty smart, in my experience.

I call them "The ravening hordes". They can clean out a pile of bird food in very little time and the other birds go hungry.

Down here they're very territorial. They will fight the starlings for their favorite trees or forage.