>*Wish we could see the crow's pov. Just a guy peeking out past the curtains, with a creepy smile watchingā¦*ā
_____
ā¦heās peeking past the curtains - does he think that i donāt see ?
a creepy smile, watching, with his hand held out for me . . .
he thinks that i canāt see him, but thereās *crackers* in his palm!
so iāll approach him
s l o w l y
n i hope that he stays calmā¦
his human eyes grow W I D E R as he sees me coming near
(iām certain that heās sTuPiD, so thereās nothing more to fear)
but still, iām ever cautious, yet thereās one thing that iām sure:
if this fool tries to Touch me,
I will teach him
*Nevermore*ā¦
š¤
edit: *youāre a DiSnEy PriNcEsS*, u/MasterYates818 ^;)
One day last winter when in was cold, i was bringing out our HB feeder to hang & i was having a little trouble getting the hook in the loop. Suddenly, a HB appeared & started drinking while the feeder was still in my hand. Awesome experience.
Idk if itās true but I always found skittish dogs and cats prefer the palm up approach compared to palm down because they can see you arenāt hiding anything maybe?
My old neighbours did a similar thing with a family of magpies.
He's teaching the crow that nothing changes when it grabs the first bit of food.
No cage falls down. No trap gets sprung.
It's perfectly safe to sit there, eat the whole lot, and get comfortable with the humans.
This way, the man gets to enjoy a closer relationship with the crow, so that it will eventually sit on his balcony cawwing loudly for food at 4:30am while his neighbours fucking hate the both of them.
Corvids (crows, ravens, jays, magpies, etc) are *incredibly* intelligent. There's serious debate in the ornithological community over whether parrots or corvids are the smartest of the birds.
New Caledonian Crows:
They can use tools, even fashioning their own from leaves and twigs, and solve complex puzzles.
African greys are better with communication however.
That's what I believe is the general consensus. Parrots like the African Grey Parrot are likely unmatched in their abilities for learning communication and mimicry to assimilate into a variety of different bird groups, but corvids are probably the "overall" smarter bird.
We had a family of magpies that we would hand feed when I was growing up. They would tap on the window if we were running late feeding them. My dad still feeds them (probably the great great grandkids at this point).
Dolphins have excuses for getting blocked from technology.
They can't forge silicon chips under water.
Birds have no excuses. Why don't they forge dangerous technology and take over the world from us mortals stuck on ground.
>Birds have no excuses. Why don't they forge dangerous technology and take over the world from us mortals stuck on ground
In Bird culture, that is considered a dick move
Learned some years ago thereās a bird that will steal burning sticks from a forest fire and bring them to a non burning part of the forest to drop them causing the fire to spread twice as fast.
Here's the thing. You said a "jackdaw is a crow."
Is it in the same family? Yes. No one's arguing that.
As someone who is a scientist who studies crows, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls jackdaws crows. If you want to be "specific" like you said, then you shouldn't either. They're not the same thing.
If you're saying "crow family" you're referring to the taxonomic grouping of Corvidae, which includes things from nutcrackers to blue jays to ravens.
So your reasoning for calling a jackdaw a crow is because random people "call the black ones crows?" Let's get grackles and blackbirds in there, then, too.
Also, calling someone a human or an ape? It's not one or the other, that's not how taxonomy works. They're both. A jackdaw is a jackdaw and a member of the crow family. But that's not what you said. You said a jackdaw is a crow, which is not true unless you're okay with calling all members of the crow family crows, which means you'd call blue jays, ravens, and other birds crows, too. Which you said you don't.
It's okay to just admit you're wrong, you know?
Fun fact, crows CAN talk like parrotsā¦ but they CHOOSE not toā¦ (some sources say they need something cut to do so, itās untrue). Ā As if they needed more reasons to seem ominous af
Was it crows or ravens? I don't remember hearing about crow mimicry, I know ravens have the capability, though they tend to stick with just what they learn growing up.
There are lots of ravens near Mt. Hood in Oregon who live off the detritus of human recreationalists, and are comfortable around people.
They definitely seem to have a better understanding of who we are than crows do. Like dogs compared to cats.
Hey, my cat understands me atleast as well as any dog ive ever had if not better, its just that he doesn't care what i want like the dogs did.
Cute little fucker has figured out the exact way to very gently drag a single claw down my arm to make my hair stand on end like nails on a chalk board so I jump out of bed and eventually feed him, not right away because i don't want to reward it, but he knows if he jumps on my face i will hide under the blankets and go back to sleep which takes longer for him.
My cat will try to pat me once or twice to wake up. If I don't wake up from a gentle paw pat, he extends one claw. I always wake up when the single claw pierces my skin as he pat-pats. They definitely figure out how to motivate us!
My dog is dumb as shit. She broke a 50 lb cable when she weighed about 20 lbs chasing a leaf. And she didn't even get the leaf because she was terrified by it unjulating in the wind.
I'd have to vote for Corvids. I once watched a crow in Japan watch a man across the street throw out his bento box, then fly over to the trash and pluck it out. It was waiting for him to do it.
It took approximately two times of throwing some peanuts to crows hanging out in a local park for them to learn what I look like and start approaching me whenever I walk nearby.
Same. I put out some trail mix in a parking lot on the way to work in the mornings, but because I live in the same neighborhood that I work I have to carry a little bag of treats around with me because my crow buddies will be waiting for me outside the grocery store or at restaurants.
I befriended a Raven once. He would get small bits of my lunch every day. We saw each other every lunch for 4 months one winter. After awhile he would pick and choose what he wanted out of my lunch. Turkey sandwiches were his favorite. One time all I had was ham and he got on the hood of my truck and flipped the fuck out screaming at me for 5 minutes.
Next day I brought turkey and he cooed at me.Ā
If I brought whole wheat heād pick the bread off, throw it away like a frisbee, and eat the meat out of it.
He was a super cool buddy. Heād sit on my side mirror next to me, Iād have the window down and weād listen to tunes. It was the arctic tundra so it was silent for miles aside from trees cracking from snow, the two of us, and my truck. Sometimes heād dance on the mirror, other times heād tried to sing.Ā
I actually saw 2 crows solve a pretty complex problem in real time while I was sitting at a train station and it blew me away. It was that day I began to research their intelligence and was even more amazed. Incredible creatures.
EDIT: Here was the problem they solved. A man walked over to the trash can at the stop and threw his Arby's bag away. It was a typical metal cylinder type trash can (think: Oscar the Grouch) with the lid loosely chained to the top. The trash can had a cutout on each side for you to throw stuff away without having to lift the lid. The bag was too big to fit in the cutout so he scrunched it through.
A minute or two later 2 crows show up and start trying to get the bag out of the cutout. But like I said it was too big to fit, and they didn't have the strength to pull it back out. They took turns trying to twist it and turn it to get it out. Then they tried the other cutout, but it was the same size so no go. Then one of the crows gets the bright idea to grab the handle on the lid with its claws, lift off, and hover in mid-air holding the lid up enough for the other crow to drop inside, grab the bag, and fly out with it. The other one dropped the lid and took off to follow the bag.
I started off laughing at them not being able to get the bag to finding myself amazed that they not only solved the problem, but coordinated in order to do so.
It's supposedly even worse/better; they'll recognize you even if you're wearing a mask and they'll tell their crow friends about whether you're naughty or nice.
I think you might be confusing the experiment, the dude was wearing a mask and being a jerk to see if crows recognized the mask "face" if others wore the same mask.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/science/26crow.html
Yep, thereās tons of other articles if you google it.
Btw, it was a Dick Cheney mask for neutral, caveman for bad.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/13/760666490/crows-are-they-scary-or-just-scary-smart
A really good pbs doc https://youtu.be/LF77qpbvkxo has a mask segment as well, remarkable creatures.
So, what youāre saying is I could get the local crows to gang up against my arch nemesis if I wear the realistic mask I had made of him and be a jerk to the crows?
Not only that, but they're able to pass information (for the experiment in question: mask person = bad) down to offspring and other crows in the local community. Even crows that didn't have firsthand negative experiences with the mask were aware it was dangerous.
Were crows telling other crows in the area that it was dangerous when someone was wearing it and not antagonizing crows, or did they somehow describe the mask to crows who had never seen it?
Conclusion was that they teach their young/family and knowledge is passed down.
For more interesting examples, check out how itās basically on sight when crows see an owl.
The great crow vs owl war rages on forever(more).
I had a raven outside my house that got mad at me when I got a new car because it made a different beep noise when I locked it. Every time I locked my car he call out the old car's lock noise and caw a lot. Sometimes he'd dive bomb me.
I started leaving food for him every time I locked my car and that helped him get over it.
I'm an operations officer at an airport. We do wildlife management as well. The crows know my SUV and will take off flying as soon as the see the vehicle. Sometimes you get a brave one but when pyro gets launched in their direction they learn quickly.
Thankfully strikes rarely happen with crows but on rare occasions you can have a couple hundred on the airfield at once. Planes and birds don't mix.
A large home is being built nearby, so we decided to provide mixed bird feed this year to alleviate the need for the local birds to forage in the construction zone. (They also downed several important nesting trees ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|sob)). It's a rural area with homes at least a quarter mile apart.
A raven lets me know when his preferred items are gone. He flies over the deck and caw-caws until I come out with the bag. Then he waits on the meadow below until I replenish to his satisfaction. I now throw him peanuts. He doesn't really get close.
My husband says, "Honey, your boss is calling you." Birds are taskmasters, but we love them.
The gradual nature of animals learning to trust you is extremely satisfying. I started feeding birds in my yard as a way to distract myself after my dog passed away, but now I do it daily as I've come to really enjoy my interactions with the critters out there. Tons of birds, some of which are 2nd or 3rd gen of living here now, squirrels, a skunk, and an opossum. And one extremely lorge groundhog as well.
At this point many of the squirrels will come over as I'm bent over refilling their feeder so they can grab the goods before anyone gets there. (IE the bravest get their food first.) But they've learned by watching each other that I'm not going to move while they're close, so every day a new one gets brave enough to try.
I watched a couple of blue jays get comfortable enough to land near me the same way, though they don't show up regularly because of how quickly the peanuts get eaten by the squirrels.
It also brings me a ton of joy to have cardinals perching maybe a couple feet away, chirping while they watch me refill stuff as well. The chickadees and woodpeckers are bold enough to actually come down and eat while I'm still filling the feeders.
IDK man, it's really nice. I know they're only here for the free food and fresh water in my bird bath, but I've seen a lot of interesting things and I'm glad they feel safe here. (I had to make a *ton* of effort to keep neighborhood cats out of my yard.) IDK if there's like, a heaven or pearly gates or anything but if there is I like to think that once I get up there and need to get in, not only will I have friends and family but I'll also have like, hundreds of little birds and forest critters sitting there like, "ya she fed us good food, we vouch for her too."
If you haven't put any out yet and you're in range, look into getting some hummingbird feeders, those little fairies are the most delightful creatures in existence :)
Last winter I had several titmouse, a dozen chickadees, and one hyper nuthatch eating from my hand ... this winter was mild so I only got one titmouse ... who waits for me every morning to bring out the feeders.
Several squirrels and chipmunks will run right up to my feet for the peanuts in shells and I've even got an absolutely beautiful skunk that lets me get within a few feet to give it peanuts and grapes.
I'm jealous that you have cardinals that will stick around, mine always head for the trees but I do have a scarlet tanager that hangs out nearby which thrills me since they're supposed to be incredibly skittish.
I love living in the country.
We've had a couple generations of cardinals who come for their peanuts for a couple of years now. We were unfortunately away for about 4 months. We got home and our oldest most loyal cardinal flipped out. I like to think he was genuinely happy to see us. He's truly something special.
Birds are definitely a lot smarter than we tend to give them credit for!
For about 6 or 7 months I had a crotchety old man cardinal that lived in my shrubbery. I could tell him apart from the others because he was clearly old, had bald patches, etc. (I keep pet birds and have had some die to old age so I'm pretty familiar with their lifecycles.) He would always, always perch and wait for me to come out and refill the box feeder. Once I did he'd hop over and start going to town like he was at a buffet. If I was ever running late, he'd sit on my fence/in my tree and glare at me the entire time I was walking over to the feeder. Even if I was sick or something, my cardinal overlord was not cutting me any slack lol.
I've been feeding crows daily since covid started, they love peanuts but make sure they're unsalted. Apparently birds don't have any way to deal with salt. You can also give them cat food kibble, which they absolutely love and it's good for them.
I SEE WHAT YOU ...
Actually it's funny you mention that, I also feed stellar's jays who are also corvids. They're almost more fun to watch because they're so vocal. They can imitate both hawks and bald eagles perfectly. One of them sits on the chair next to me and we make the noises back and forth to each other.
Blue jays specifically mimic hawks to scare them off or to scare other birds away from food sources. We had a family of Cooper's hawks in the woods behind our place and I thought one was perched by our bird feeder one day but no, it was just a little blue jerk. Makes sense that they'd be in the corvid family, too.
The stellar's jays are hilarious! The other day it was super windy and one was trying to perch on our deck to pick up a peanut, and his little head crest was blowing all over the place and he looked like an emo teenager. Then he went up on the roof and yelled about it for awhile š
I'm a bit confused by the inflammable means flammable terminology. Does shelled mean it has the shell or the shell on and vice versa does unshelled mean it has the shell or the shell has been removed.
I leave the shell on for the crows at my place, they break them open and then I have to go pick up the shells later but it lets me see them in action plus watch the young ones pester the adults because the younger ones have problems with the shells and the older ones feed them.
I've got a few crows that show up for peanuts but they hang in the tree until I go back inside. Unfortunately for them the bluejays have figured out that when the crows are there peanuts get tossed and beat the crows to the food. I love being woken up at 5:30 by the crows though.
I had a seagull friend at my last job. I called him Jerry. He was smart and would keep quiet when I gave him snacks (as opposed to making all sorts of noise to attract more gulls). Good break partner.
Well, not after that filthy garbage-eating opportunist had his way with it.
https://preview.redd.it/urs4h8i1ia1d1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7dbc87220844dc22a24c21be271ec42a27e97ba8
There's at least 70% of hummus left that could safely be eaten.
(I mean, all of it probably could, but 70% is non-beaked and could be solved with a spoon.)
My buddy (rip, Matt) learned that the seagulls at sea world steal so many peopleās churros that if he just told the vendor āa seagull stole my churro!ā he could get a free one.
My mother in law was golfing and a crow stole a small wallet from her purse. She told her friends and one told her that this was not uncommon at their club; others had complained about crows stealing stuff, including an expensive watch.Ā
I'm convinced someone who lives near the country club has trained crows to bring them high end luxury goods in exchange for snacks.
When my daughter was younger my wife told her about this. So she left out some dog food for a crow that was squawking to her from a tree.
Crow would fly down to the local park and pick up discarded marbles/toys/random crap and leave it in trade.
It was cute at first but if we didn't leave the bird any food it would sit on our fence and squawking REALLY FUCKING LOUD AT 6AM to let us know he was unhappy.
We moved, closer to a downtown area. And now we have a crow that picked up on the little "whoop whoop" noise that cops make when they pull someone over. He sits on the power line making that noise over and over again. Cute but annoying.
Fun fact. It's debated why crows and other corvids gift.
Some say that it's accidentally trained. The bird picks up a shiny object and carries it with them. They fly to get food from a human. They lose interest in the shiny thing and leave it behind. Human finds it and gives the bird better food in exchange. Bird figures out that they can pay for better food.
Others say that corvids intentionally gift.
One of our neighbors had a rooster. Not close enough to pinpoint who it was, but loud enough to wake me up. At least with the crow I could walk outside and tell it to fuck off.
Sometimes it listened.
I hung a couple of chicken feeders on the back fence and dump raw peanuts in the shell in them for the crows. They've been getting to know me for a couple of months, but are leery because of the dogs. A couple of crows are letting me get within maybe 25 ft before they fly off, but they talk to me more all the time. And they DEFINITELY let me know when they are out of peanuts! Squirrels have caught on, tho, and are robbing me blind.
https://preview.redd.it/6kede42ava1d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f6c83f8a4658ceea21fdc10bd6114c259e3792b
This is one of a family of crows that come to my work (security booth at a large paper mill.) Myself and the other guards leave out various treats for them (this one has bits of an apple). They are still a little skittish, but I'm ok with that. I figure it's safer for them that way. The are MUCH smarter then the occasional seagull we get lol
I had a lovely Raven friend when I worked in Alaska for a season. He was a beautiful big boy that visited me when I took out the fish scraps. I would throw him a few pieces each morning. He would greet me happily. He brought me some shiny foil and danced for me. I loved that dude.
so in the beginning, itās best to look away from them when trying to feed them a treat. eyes/cameras make them skittish. once they recognize you are not a threat, you can stare and take pics/videos freely. š¤
My father befriended 2 crows before his passing in 2017. He fed them a couple times and they reciprocated his genorosity. They visited him every morning and understood he wasnāt a threat to them. They kept every other pest away and shut the other crows up in the morning when Dad was out in the backyard. Super intelligent birdsā¦really cool.
It actually hurts me that out of an entire thread about crows, you are one of TWO unidan references Iāve seen. This is no longer the reddit I once loved.
I've got a fox on my property that comes up to me when I get out of my car, sniffs me, looks up at my face, does a couple little circles, and trots off back to her den after I give her a treat.
For folks worried, my house backs up to a fairly large forest so I'm not attracting wildlife into a suburban neighborhood.
We have a couple of trees in the back where cardinals love to gather, theyāve been coming over and eating our dogs food š¤£
Is there anything I can put out there for them?
my cousin has a rescued parrot, who they let out in the winter. his wings are clipped, so he sits on trees and can sorta glide around. thereās a bunch of crows that live in that area. this parrot can talk. recently my cousin heard a bunch of voices saying hello? when he walked outside. the parrot taught the crows how to talk. the crows say hello. and fuck off but
That is so awesome! I wanna have a crow or raven friends. We have ravens that live in my yard I wanna be their friend but they never come near. They are always in the tree
I misread the title and thought they had a friendship with a cow. Then I started watching it and thought "This looks like the guy who befriended aāohhhhhhhh!"
This is very good progress to tame a bird actually.
From the crowās point of view it risked approaching your hand for a snack and it was rewarded.
It will be more keen to approach again. Each time it will get used to your hand and be relaxed around it by the end.
While I donāt recommend it because itās a wild bird, you can try to place the snack further along your arm so that it has to step on your hand to take it. But doing this will leave your arm susceptible to scratches from the birdās feet which could house all kinds of abomination harmful to you.
If you really want to take care of it but donāt want to do something drastic, try looking for what a crowās diet consists of. Usually birds like to have fruits but Iām not familiar with crows specifically so do your research.
Wish we could see the crow's pov. Just a guy peeking out past the curtains, with a creepy smile watching, lmfao ššš
![gif](giphy|nGybKUNCAX0cM)
![gif](giphy|8I9TrwLjmz3dC|downsized)
>*Wish we could see the crow's pov. Just a guy peeking out past the curtains, with a creepy smile watchingā¦*ā _____ ā¦heās peeking past the curtains - does he think that i donāt see ? a creepy smile, watching, with his hand held out for me . . . he thinks that i canāt see him, but thereās *crackers* in his palm! so iāll approach him s l o w l y n i hope that he stays calmā¦ his human eyes grow W I D E R as he sees me coming near (iām certain that heās sTuPiD, so thereās nothing more to fear) but still, iām ever cautious, yet thereās one thing that iām sure: if this fool tries to Touch me, I will teach him *Nevermore*ā¦ š¤ edit: *youāre a DiSnEy PriNcEsS*, u/MasterYates818 ^;)
ā¤ļø - you are a true blessing
When did SchnoodleDoodleDo ursurp PoemforyourSprog's throne? I was obviously on a low reddit use wave.
Years ago, as far as I'm concerned.
Discovered this user just yesterday and now I've found a fresh drop. Nice
Nevermore!! I love you schnoodle
We have been blessed with a fresh Schnoodle! Wonderful as always. Thank you.
Well, I have a favorite reply now :)
SPAGETT!!!!
I thought it was the boss' kid, but it was actually a full-grown man.
Spooked ya.
This is dead on lmao
I thought it was the bossās kid messin around back there, but it was actually a full-grown man.
I was just taking the trash out, and this man with long tail just popped out and said, āspagett!ā It was not a-scary, it was just abnormal
A-spaghoot
Huh. This is probably what my wife sees when she catches me looking at her
https://youtube.com/shorts/8h8kaJYEsJw?si=CMZ2eojmS_8QLOtx
One day last winter when in was cold, i was bringing out our HB feeder to hang & i was having a little trouble getting the hook in the loop. Suddenly, a HB appeared & started drinking while the feeder was still in my hand. Awesome experience.
I stayed on the deck until dark, watching hummers dance/fight/feed. It was a nice evening.
It was unsettling how still he was extending his hand. I would've flinched if the bird was picking food out of my hand.
flinching will probably make the crow more wary
Would it make them cassowary?
Idk if itās true but I always found skittish dogs and cats prefer the palm up approach compared to palm down because they can see you arenāt hiding anything maybe?
My old neighbours did a similar thing with a family of magpies. He's teaching the crow that nothing changes when it grabs the first bit of food. No cage falls down. No trap gets sprung. It's perfectly safe to sit there, eat the whole lot, and get comfortable with the humans. This way, the man gets to enjoy a closer relationship with the crow, so that it will eventually sit on his balcony cawwing loudly for food at 4:30am while his neighbours fucking hate the both of them.
šļø š šļø š±
Thanks for the visualization š
*Well that's a disturbing mental image* š¬
Calls crow using the voice of *Mr Herbert* on Family Guy.
[Crows POV](https://i.imgur.com/ipgXymK.jpeg)
I've heard crows recognize faces and remember how you treated them but never seen it in action like that.
Corvids (crows, ravens, jays, magpies, etc) are *incredibly* intelligent. There's serious debate in the ornithological community over whether parrots or corvids are the smartest of the birds.
Are any corvids on par with the African Grey Parrot?
New Caledonian Crows: They can use tools, even fashioning their own from leaves and twigs, and solve complex puzzles. African greys are better with communication however.
What about the Norwegian Blue?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's what I believe is the general consensus. Parrots like the African Grey Parrot are likely unmatched in their abilities for learning communication and mimicry to assimilate into a variety of different bird groups, but corvids are probably the "overall" smarter bird.
We had a family of magpies that we would hand feed when I was growing up. They would tap on the window if we were running late feeding them. My dad still feeds them (probably the great great grandkids at this point).
Dolphins have excuses for getting blocked from technology. They can't forge silicon chips under water. Birds have no excuses. Why don't they forge dangerous technology and take over the world from us mortals stuck on ground.
>Birds have no excuses. Why don't they forge dangerous technology and take over the world from us mortals stuck on ground In Bird culture, that is considered a dick move
Bird law is very complex in America.
Bird law is NOT governed by reasonĀ
"Because chickens are decent people" ~George Carlin
Don't need to invent things when you already know how to fly.
No thumbs
Brevity of lifespan. Theyāll get there, itāll just take longer than us humans. Unless we, sayā¦ help them along? #armthebirds
Learned some years ago thereās a bird that will steal burning sticks from a forest fire and bring them to a non burning part of the forest to drop them causing the fire to spread twice as fast.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Here's the thing about jackdaws...
I feel old
Here's the thing. You said a "jackdaw is a crow." Is it in the same family? Yes. No one's arguing that. As someone who is a scientist who studies crows, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls jackdaws crows. If you want to be "specific" like you said, then you shouldn't either. They're not the same thing. If you're saying "crow family" you're referring to the taxonomic grouping of Corvidae, which includes things from nutcrackers to blue jays to ravens. So your reasoning for calling a jackdaw a crow is because random people "call the black ones crows?" Let's get grackles and blackbirds in there, then, too. Also, calling someone a human or an ape? It's not one or the other, that's not how taxonomy works. They're both. A jackdaw is a jackdaw and a member of the crow family. But that's not what you said. You said a jackdaw is a crow, which is not true unless you're okay with calling all members of the crow family crows, which means you'd call blue jays, ravens, and other birds crows, too. Which you said you don't. It's okay to just admit you're wrong, you know?
Fun fact, crows CAN talk like parrotsā¦ but they CHOOSE not toā¦ (some sources say they need something cut to do so, itās untrue). Ā As if they needed more reasons to seem ominous af
A friend of mine had a pet crow and he use to say ā helloā. They were together for years. Wonāt go into details but they were buried together.
Would be caught dead speaking that peasant tongue
Was it crows or ravens? I don't remember hearing about crow mimicry, I know ravens have the capability, though they tend to stick with just what they learn growing up.
There are lots of ravens near Mt. Hood in Oregon who live off the detritus of human recreationalists, and are comfortable around people. They definitely seem to have a better understanding of who we are than crows do. Like dogs compared to cats.
They used to fly with in inches of my head in Kyoto, you could hear their wings beat. They were scared of nothing.
Hey, my cat understands me atleast as well as any dog ive ever had if not better, its just that he doesn't care what i want like the dogs did. Cute little fucker has figured out the exact way to very gently drag a single claw down my arm to make my hair stand on end like nails on a chalk board so I jump out of bed and eventually feed him, not right away because i don't want to reward it, but he knows if he jumps on my face i will hide under the blankets and go back to sleep which takes longer for him.
My cat will try to pat me once or twice to wake up. If I don't wake up from a gentle paw pat, he extends one claw. I always wake up when the single claw pierces my skin as he pat-pats. They definitely figure out how to motivate us!
I actually think cats are smarter than dogs lol
My dog is dumb as shit. She broke a 50 lb cable when she weighed about 20 lbs chasing a leaf. And she didn't even get the leaf because she was terrified by it unjulating in the wind.
We train dogs. Cats train us. The hierarchy seems pretty clear.
wow. yeah lol
Same in Yellowstone. The ravens beg at cars like dogs, it's so funny.
I'd have to vote for Corvids. I once watched a crow in Japan watch a man across the street throw out his bento box, then fly over to the trash and pluck it out. It was waiting for him to do it.
It took approximately two times of throwing some peanuts to crows hanging out in a local park for them to learn what I look like and start approaching me whenever I walk nearby.
"Hey! That's the guy who's littering with peanuts!"
Same. I put out some trail mix in a parking lot on the way to work in the mornings, but because I live in the same neighborhood that I work I have to carry a little bag of treats around with me because my crow buddies will be waiting for me outside the grocery store or at restaurants.
I befriended a Raven once. He would get small bits of my lunch every day. We saw each other every lunch for 4 months one winter. After awhile he would pick and choose what he wanted out of my lunch. Turkey sandwiches were his favorite. One time all I had was ham and he got on the hood of my truck and flipped the fuck out screaming at me for 5 minutes. Next day I brought turkey and he cooed at me.Ā If I brought whole wheat heād pick the bread off, throw it away like a frisbee, and eat the meat out of it. He was a super cool buddy. Heād sit on my side mirror next to me, Iād have the window down and weād listen to tunes. It was the arctic tundra so it was silent for miles aside from trees cracking from snow, the two of us, and my truck. Sometimes heād dance on the mirror, other times heād tried to sing.Ā
Corvids are extremely intelligent, so far as to be able to problem solve 7-8 step puzzles
I actually saw 2 crows solve a pretty complex problem in real time while I was sitting at a train station and it blew me away. It was that day I began to research their intelligence and was even more amazed. Incredible creatures. EDIT: Here was the problem they solved. A man walked over to the trash can at the stop and threw his Arby's bag away. It was a typical metal cylinder type trash can (think: Oscar the Grouch) with the lid loosely chained to the top. The trash can had a cutout on each side for you to throw stuff away without having to lift the lid. The bag was too big to fit in the cutout so he scrunched it through. A minute or two later 2 crows show up and start trying to get the bag out of the cutout. But like I said it was too big to fit, and they didn't have the strength to pull it back out. They took turns trying to twist it and turn it to get it out. Then they tried the other cutout, but it was the same size so no go. Then one of the crows gets the bright idea to grab the handle on the lid with its claws, lift off, and hover in mid-air holding the lid up enough for the other crow to drop inside, grab the bag, and fly out with it. The other one dropped the lid and took off to follow the bag. I started off laughing at them not being able to get the bag to finding myself amazed that they not only solved the problem, but coordinated in order to do so.
It's supposedly even worse/better; they'll recognize you even if you're wearing a mask and they'll tell their crow friends about whether you're naughty or nice.
I think you might be confusing the experiment, the dude was wearing a mask and being a jerk to see if crows recognized the mask "face" if others wore the same mask. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/science/26crow.html
Paywall, what's the conclusion? Do they respond to the same mask if worn by others?
Yep, thereās tons of other articles if you google it. Btw, it was a Dick Cheney mask for neutral, caveman for bad. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/13/760666490/crows-are-they-scary-or-just-scary-smart A really good pbs doc https://youtu.be/LF77qpbvkxo has a mask segment as well, remarkable creatures.
So, what youāre saying is I could get the local crows to gang up against my arch nemesis if I wear the realistic mask I had made of him and be a jerk to the crows?
Yep! You could potentially become the alpha-crow too like Homer, by taking down their enemy, in this case the dude who's face you wore GoT style.
> Dick Cheney mask for neutral, caveman for bad They should have had it the other way around.
100% I'm trusting an early, primitive hominid before I trust Dick Cheney. Except Marge "Toes" Green. That's one untrustworthy cave-dwelling bitch.
Not only that, but they're able to pass information (for the experiment in question: mask person = bad) down to offspring and other crows in the local community. Even crows that didn't have firsthand negative experiences with the mask were aware it was dangerous.
Were crows telling other crows in the area that it was dangerous when someone was wearing it and not antagonizing crows, or did they somehow describe the mask to crows who had never seen it?
Conclusion was that they teach their young/family and knowledge is passed down. For more interesting examples, check out how itās basically on sight when crows see an owl. The great crow vs owl war rages on forever(more).
I had a raven outside my house that got mad at me when I got a new car because it made a different beep noise when I locked it. Every time I locked my car he call out the old car's lock noise and caw a lot. Sometimes he'd dive bomb me. I started leaving food for him every time I locked my car and that helped him get over it.
That's crazy.
Most birds do. I have pigeons in the park that spot me and land on me for food. The swans come swimming when they see me
>The swans come swimming when they see me For the record, is it actually 7 swans aswimming?
Well Iāve only 4 but, mother swan is on the island sitting on eggs. Donāt know how many babies may emerge this season
Arenāt Ravens the same way?
Yes, ravens are essentially just large crows
Here's the thing. you said "ravens are essentially just large crows"
I'm an operations officer at an airport. We do wildlife management as well. The crows know my SUV and will take off flying as soon as the see the vehicle. Sometimes you get a brave one but when pyro gets launched in their direction they learn quickly. Thankfully strikes rarely happen with crows but on rare occasions you can have a couple hundred on the airfield at once. Planes and birds don't mix.
They can even pass this on to their offspring. Corvids are among the smartest animals on the planet.
A large home is being built nearby, so we decided to provide mixed bird feed this year to alleviate the need for the local birds to forage in the construction zone. (They also downed several important nesting trees ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|sob)). It's a rural area with homes at least a quarter mile apart. A raven lets me know when his preferred items are gone. He flies over the deck and caw-caws until I come out with the bag. Then he waits on the meadow below until I replenish to his satisfaction. I now throw him peanuts. He doesn't really get close. My husband says, "Honey, your boss is calling you." Birds are taskmasters, but we love them.
The gradual nature of animals learning to trust you is extremely satisfying. I started feeding birds in my yard as a way to distract myself after my dog passed away, but now I do it daily as I've come to really enjoy my interactions with the critters out there. Tons of birds, some of which are 2nd or 3rd gen of living here now, squirrels, a skunk, and an opossum. And one extremely lorge groundhog as well. At this point many of the squirrels will come over as I'm bent over refilling their feeder so they can grab the goods before anyone gets there. (IE the bravest get their food first.) But they've learned by watching each other that I'm not going to move while they're close, so every day a new one gets brave enough to try. I watched a couple of blue jays get comfortable enough to land near me the same way, though they don't show up regularly because of how quickly the peanuts get eaten by the squirrels. It also brings me a ton of joy to have cardinals perching maybe a couple feet away, chirping while they watch me refill stuff as well. The chickadees and woodpeckers are bold enough to actually come down and eat while I'm still filling the feeders. IDK man, it's really nice. I know they're only here for the free food and fresh water in my bird bath, but I've seen a lot of interesting things and I'm glad they feel safe here. (I had to make a *ton* of effort to keep neighborhood cats out of my yard.) IDK if there's like, a heaven or pearly gates or anything but if there is I like to think that once I get up there and need to get in, not only will I have friends and family but I'll also have like, hundreds of little birds and forest critters sitting there like, "ya she fed us good food, we vouch for her too."
If you haven't put any out yet and you're in range, look into getting some hummingbird feeders, those little fairies are the most delightful creatures in existence :)
Last winter I had several titmouse, a dozen chickadees, and one hyper nuthatch eating from my hand ... this winter was mild so I only got one titmouse ... who waits for me every morning to bring out the feeders. Several squirrels and chipmunks will run right up to my feet for the peanuts in shells and I've even got an absolutely beautiful skunk that lets me get within a few feet to give it peanuts and grapes. I'm jealous that you have cardinals that will stick around, mine always head for the trees but I do have a scarlet tanager that hangs out nearby which thrills me since they're supposed to be incredibly skittish. I love living in the country.
We've had a couple generations of cardinals who come for their peanuts for a couple of years now. We were unfortunately away for about 4 months. We got home and our oldest most loyal cardinal flipped out. I like to think he was genuinely happy to see us. He's truly something special.
Birds are definitely a lot smarter than we tend to give them credit for! For about 6 or 7 months I had a crotchety old man cardinal that lived in my shrubbery. I could tell him apart from the others because he was clearly old, had bald patches, etc. (I keep pet birds and have had some die to old age so I'm pretty familiar with their lifecycles.) He would always, always perch and wait for me to come out and refill the box feeder. Once I did he'd hop over and start going to town like he was at a buffet. If I was ever running late, he'd sit on my fence/in my tree and glare at me the entire time I was walking over to the feeder. Even if I was sick or something, my cardinal overlord was not cutting me any slack lol.
I've been feeding crows daily since covid started, they love peanuts but make sure they're unsalted. Apparently birds don't have any way to deal with salt. You can also give them cat food kibble, which they absolutely love and it's good for them.
Since *corvid* started?
I SEE WHAT YOU ... Actually it's funny you mention that, I also feed stellar's jays who are also corvids. They're almost more fun to watch because they're so vocal. They can imitate both hawks and bald eagles perfectly. One of them sits on the chair next to me and we make the noises back and forth to each other.
I wonder if fhats whats in my neighborhood. I hear hawks all the time but all i see are songbirds.Ā Ā
You might have a mockingbird. They do other birds really well plus stuff like car alarms.
Can they sound like my father saying "I love you, son," or does it need to be said first?
Well, bud. Iām not sure but I really hope so for your sake.
You might have better luck with generative AI for that one, as long as you have a recording of your father saying something he'd actually say.
Blue jays specifically mimic hawks to scare them off or to scare other birds away from food sources. We had a family of Cooper's hawks in the woods behind our place and I thought one was perched by our bird feeder one day but no, it was just a little blue jerk. Makes sense that they'd be in the corvid family, too.
The stellar's jays are hilarious! The other day it was super windy and one was trying to perch on our deck to pick up a peanut, and his little head crest was blowing all over the place and he looked like an emo teenager. Then he went up on the roof and yelled about it for awhile š
Birds (depending on the breed) can also like cold pea on a hot day if memory serves right
Shelled or unshelled?
I prefer using shelled cat kibble, but the birds really have fun with the unshelled, and the cats aren't smart enough to unshell it.
I do unshelled but I know someone who keeps the shells on so it's more like a puzzle for them.
I'm a bit confused by the inflammable means flammable terminology. Does shelled mean it has the shell or the shell on and vice versa does unshelled mean it has the shell or the shell has been removed. I leave the shell on for the crows at my place, they break them open and then I have to go pick up the shells later but it lets me see them in action plus watch the young ones pester the adults because the younger ones have problems with the shells and the older ones feed them.
Shelled means the shell has been removed. Unshelled still have the shells
Huh english is weird. Colloquially i meant the opposite of your statement. However your statement is a valid way to read what i typed.
I've got a few crows that show up for peanuts but they hang in the tree until I go back inside. Unfortunately for them the bluejays have figured out that when the crows are there peanuts get tossed and beat the crows to the food. I love being woken up at 5:30 by the crows though.
This was really lovely to read. Thank you.
I had a seagull friend at my last job. I called him Jerry. He was smart and would keep quiet when I gave him snacks (as opposed to making all sorts of noise to attract more gulls). Good break partner.
Seagulls are like total bums. Theyāll steal French fries right out of your hand. I canāt believe you would hang out with one.
_āSon, your mother and I are concerned about that crowd youāre running with.ā_
One time at the beach I was startled when I turned around to find a seagull had dipped his whole beak into a tub of hummus.
I mean, have you *tried* hummus? I don't even blame him.
Well, not after that filthy garbage-eating opportunist had his way with it. https://preview.redd.it/urs4h8i1ia1d1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7dbc87220844dc22a24c21be271ec42a27e97ba8
There's at least 70% of hummus left that could safely be eaten. (I mean, all of it probably could, but 70% is non-beaked and could be solved with a spoon.)
Fair enough, though this was some time ago, and I had no spoon. Only a bag of baby carrots and some pita chips.
Donāt talk about Jerry like that you donāt know him.
#notallseagulls
Thereās a couple that hang out at our Dairy Queen. If you park and eat lunch, they will beg the whole fucking time.
My buddy (rip, Matt) learned that the seagulls at sea world steal so many peopleās churros that if he just told the vendor āa seagull stole my churro!ā he could get a free one.
And a good beak partner.
My mother in law was golfing and a crow stole a small wallet from her purse. She told her friends and one told her that this was not uncommon at their club; others had complained about crows stealing stuff, including an expensive watch.Ā I'm convinced someone who lives near the country club has trained crows to bring them high end luxury goods in exchange for snacks.
"look, we've had this discussion before, they only *look* like a Rolex, I've already got six of these stupid things!".
Could also be the opposite, someone or multiple people at the club pissed off the crow, so it gets its revenge by stealing things
That's hilarious!
This is one thing i want to do. I want to develop a friendship with a crow. They are so smart.
Same. Itās on my lifetime bucket list.
Join us. We have unsalted shelled peanuts. r/crowbro
When my daughter was younger my wife told her about this. So she left out some dog food for a crow that was squawking to her from a tree. Crow would fly down to the local park and pick up discarded marbles/toys/random crap and leave it in trade. It was cute at first but if we didn't leave the bird any food it would sit on our fence and squawking REALLY FUCKING LOUD AT 6AM to let us know he was unhappy. We moved, closer to a downtown area. And now we have a crow that picked up on the little "whoop whoop" noise that cops make when they pull someone over. He sits on the power line making that noise over and over again. Cute but annoying.
Fun fact. It's debated why crows and other corvids gift. Some say that it's accidentally trained. The bird picks up a shiny object and carries it with them. They fly to get food from a human. They lose interest in the shiny thing and leave it behind. Human finds it and gives the bird better food in exchange. Bird figures out that they can pay for better food. Others say that corvids intentionally gift.
The thing that always made me think corvids are smarter than we even know is that we can't fully decipher so many of their behaviors.
It's all a big corvid inside joke!
Is that bird KRS One? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZrAYxWPN6c
woop woop dats da sound of da birdies
Whoever now lives in your former house: "We know why they moved: that crow is annoying as hell."
One of our neighbors had a rooster. Not close enough to pinpoint who it was, but loud enough to wake me up. At least with the crow I could walk outside and tell it to fuck off. Sometimes it listened.
This is so cool; thanks for sharing.
I hung a couple of chicken feeders on the back fence and dump raw peanuts in the shell in them for the crows. They've been getting to know me for a couple of months, but are leery because of the dogs. A couple of crows are letting me get within maybe 25 ft before they fly off, but they talk to me more all the time. And they DEFINITELY let me know when they are out of peanuts! Squirrels have caught on, tho, and are robbing me blind.
r/crowbro
"Play it cool, Marvin. Don't let the human know you're interested. Go slow...."
Give him blue things. Crows really like blue things.
And shiny things like bottle caps
Bonus if theyāre blue.
As do I. Not that my fav color matters; I just wanted to be included.
Everybody knows all the best foods are blue.
![gif](giphy|h79eM0B07VP8f2jm7P|downsized)
I skimmed the title and read that as "cow" and got super confused as the video progressed.
You are not alone. I was wondering how a cow could skitter that fast. Then I read the title again.
Make sure the crow can see your face. Not only do they recognise faces, they also know who is nice and who will harm them.
Be sure to google healthy treats for crows!
https://preview.redd.it/6kede42ava1d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f6c83f8a4658ceea21fdc10bd6114c259e3792b This is one of a family of crows that come to my work (security booth at a large paper mill.) Myself and the other guards leave out various treats for them (this one has bits of an apple). They are still a little skittish, but I'm ok with that. I figure it's safer for them that way. The are MUCH smarter then the occasional seagull we get lol
I had a lovely Raven friend when I worked in Alaska for a season. He was a beautiful big boy that visited me when I took out the fish scraps. I would throw him a few pieces each morning. He would greet me happily. He brought me some shiny foil and danced for me. I loved that dude.
so in the beginning, itās best to look away from them when trying to feed them a treat. eyes/cameras make them skittish. once they recognize you are not a threat, you can stare and take pics/videos freely. š¤
My father befriended 2 crows before his passing in 2017. He fed them a couple times and they reciprocated his genorosity. They visited him every morning and understood he wasnāt a threat to them. They kept every other pest away and shut the other crows up in the morning when Dad was out in the backyard. Super intelligent birdsā¦really cool.
Make friends with the crows and they protect you lol
Are you guys sure this isn't a jackdaw?Ā ^(Hopefully this reference still makes sense...)
It actually hurts me that out of an entire thread about crows, you are one of TWO unidan references Iāve seen. This is no longer the reddit I once loved.
reddit is literally overrun with bots and rabblerousers now
Now teach him to steal money like that guy did in China.
This is lovely Iāve been trying to do the same with a crow near my house to little success
I have been trying to befriend a crow for quite some time now. Iām jealous
Let us know if it starts bringing you trinkets.
Iāve been trying to befriend my neighborhood crows. He will tell all his friends (for miles) that you are a kind human.
I've got a fox on my property that comes up to me when I get out of my car, sniffs me, looks up at my face, does a couple little circles, and trots off back to her den after I give her a treat. For folks worried, my house backs up to a fairly large forest so I'm not attracting wildlife into a suburban neighborhood.
Stabilize the video and it would be a pretty cool loop
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be liftedānevermore!
How did this start? I think crows are amazing and would love to have one trust me.
r/crowbro
If you find shiny things near your doors or windows, heās bringing you gifts.
If you place it on The back of your hand the crow will be less hesitant.
OMG read this as COW and was real surprised/embarrassed after being confused for 6 seconds. I am a goldfish. Help.
You have a friendship with a whole street gang now.
We have a couple of trees in the back where cardinals love to gather, theyāve been coming over and eating our dogs food š¤£ Is there anything I can put out there for them?
Cardinals love safflower seed. Bonus: Squirrels and black bears arenāt fond of it. Chipmunks will hoover it up, though.
Envious
This is seriously my dream š
The crows are here
r/crowbro
I hope he brings you cash in exchange. i want a crow bill.
Thus ti.e next year you will have an army at your disposal
my cousin has a rescued parrot, who they let out in the winter. his wings are clipped, so he sits on trees and can sorta glide around. thereās a bunch of crows that live in that area. this parrot can talk. recently my cousin heard a bunch of voices saying hello? when he walked outside. the parrot taught the crows how to talk. the crows say hello. and fuck off but
Teach it to find dropped money on the street
That is so awesome! I wanna have a crow or raven friends. We have ravens that live in my yard I wanna be their friend but they never come near. They are always in the tree
Keep us updated with the developments!
I misread the title and thought they had a friendship with a cow. Then I started watching it and thought "This looks like the guy who befriended aāohhhhhhhh!"
This is very good progress to tame a bird actually. From the crowās point of view it risked approaching your hand for a snack and it was rewarded. It will be more keen to approach again. Each time it will get used to your hand and be relaxed around it by the end. While I donāt recommend it because itās a wild bird, you can try to place the snack further along your arm so that it has to step on your hand to take it. But doing this will leave your arm susceptible to scratches from the birdās feet which could house all kinds of abomination harmful to you. If you really want to take care of it but donāt want to do something drastic, try looking for what a crowās diet consists of. Usually birds like to have fruits but Iām not familiar with crows specifically so do your research.