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When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

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Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#191

Post by eggoa »

Spooky23 wrote: post #138
SiVal wrote: post #124

A VERY timely article for me. About a month ago here in Silicon Valley, I noticed that a crow had been violently torn apart and the pieces scattered all over my backyard lawn. I assume the killer was a raccoon--another improbably intelligent animal. How those fat, little ninjas do what they do is beyond me, but one had apparently caught a crow. A few hours after I noticed the carnage, I grabbed a paper grocery bag an…

My city has a big flock of them that migrate to another city. Some USDA guys chase them around in a pickup truck when the group gets big and chases them away with strobe lights, lasers, distressed crow sound effects and bottle rockets. When they show up and start settings up, the crows swarm them and poop everywhere. It's pretty crazy.

The USDA sounds like a shitshow in general. http://harpers.org/archive/2016/03/the-rogue-agency/6/

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#192

Post by SEJeff »

Gracana wrote: post #184
SEJeff wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it be unreasonable to go at them with a cricket bat if they dive bomb you? Not out of aggression, but self defense.

That doesn't sound anything like self defense.

If they are trying to peck you, how is it not self defense?!

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#193

Post by hexane360 »

13of40 wrote: post #90
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not enough data to draw a firm conclusion from here, but I've heard enough stories of busybody neighbors to be suspicious of anyone who comes in claiming that bird poop has caused $200,000 worth of property damage. You'd expect the whole neighborhood to be leveled every time a starling migration comes through.

I'm not sure if it's ever happened in the Pacific Northwest, but bird poop can contaminate areas with a pathogen that persists in the soil and causes a tuberculosis-like lung disease. I think there was even a town in the Midwest that had to be abandoned because of it. Bird poop is also a vector for various parasites that can harm you and your pets. (Plus it's gross.) Edit: It's called "histoplasmosis".

Apparently there are a lot of rogue forces that can completely ruin a town. See Centralia, Peshtigo, Dust Bowl, Lake Peigneur, etc.

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#194

Post by vidarh »

coldtea wrote: post #118
finid wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What most people don't realize is that most live forms lower on the chain can read our minds. So if the crow's reaction was different based on what you wanted to throw, it's because it knew what you wanted to do before you did it. It was reading your thoughts. Dogs and cats do it too. A few years ago I went to a farm to buy a goat. The younger goats did not know why I was there, but when an older goat saw me and our…

> A few years ago I went to a farm to buy a goat. The younger goats did not know why I was there, but when an older goat saw me and our eyes met, it knew, and took off. It could have took off for 100000 reasons, non of which end being "because it read your mind". For example: it got scared, it did it randomly, is afraid of strangers because it had some bad experience, etc...

The most "advanced" behaviour I'd attribute that to would be possibly having recognised that when strangers come, other goats disappear and don't come back.

But I'd expect it to be more likely to just be one of your simpler suggestions.

It's just bizarre to attribute it to mind reading, when we'd apply far more mundane reasons if we saw the same behaviour in people.

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#195

Post by SEJeff »

guptaneil wrote: post #158
glasz wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

surely the crowd would have calmed down if you buried the poor pal. but instead you threw it into the trash can. come on...

Burying our dead is a primarily western culture tradition. Many other cultures prefer cremation for example. Why would the birds care how you dispose of the body? It's possible the birds knew OP wasn't the killer and were hoping to intimidate them into leaving the body alone in hopes of catching the real killer, but that's just a guess.

Hmmmm, humans have buried our dead since at least the times of the ancient Egyptians, and likely long before that.

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#196

Post by awjr »

Spooky23 wrote: post #138
SiVal wrote: post #124

A VERY timely article for me. About a month ago here in Silicon Valley, I noticed that a crow had been violently torn apart and the pieces scattered all over my backyard lawn. I assume the killer was a raccoon--another improbably intelligent animal. How those fat, little ninjas do what they do is beyond me, but one had apparently caught a crow. A few hours after I noticed the carnage, I grabbed a paper grocery bag an…

My city has a big flock of them that migrate to another city. Some USDA guys chase them around in a pickup truck when the group gets big and chases them away with strobe lights, lasers, distressed crow sound effects and bottle rockets. When they show up and start settings up, the crows swarm them and poop everywhere. It's pretty crazy.

I've heard of crow distress effects being used to stop them roosting. The idea is to broadcast the noise at odd intervals causing the flock to rise into the air and investigate. Eventually they move on as they never settle properly.

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#197

Post by dghughes »

SiVal wrote: post #124

A VERY timely article for me. About a month ago here in Silicon Valley, I noticed that a crow had been violently torn apart and the pieces scattered all over my backyard lawn. I assume the killer was a raccoon--another improbably intelligent animal. How those fat, little ninjas do what they do is beyond me, but one had apparently caught a crow. A few hours after I noticed the carnage, I grabbed a paper grocery bag an…

Maybe it's because you interfered with the crow's burial ceremony.

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#198

Post by robryk »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #174
nstart wrote: post #100

So here's a story for the books. I live in Sri Lanka and we have massive numbers of crows always flying around in the urban areas causing quite the racket too. They are exceptionally intelligent and have been witnessed hitching bus rides regularly from one town to another. But the story I have happened at a school water polo match. The location the match was being played at had a standard pool and a shallow junior po…

I vaguely remember reading about a study where a person walked out into a cornfield that was frequented by crows every morning. Every day he'd carry a loaded rifle, but on some mornings the rifle would be internally disabled. Although there was no way to tell visually if the rifle was capable of firing or not, the crows would immediately disperse on days when it was, and would ignore the man on days when it wasn't. T…

Did the study involve a control, in which the man himself wouldn't be aware if the gun could be fired?

There are many silly side channels that could have been used by the crows (related e.g. to preparing the gun to be disabled or enabled).

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#199

Post by sirtastic »

jmnicolas wrote: post #55
sirtastic wrote: post #39

I believe ravens and crows are very similar, this is a personal (long, and not the great) story about a raven I messed around with in Yosemite National Park: When I was up on north dome (not to be confused with half dome) there was a group of raven's hanging out on the rocks watching us eat our late lunch. I had an apple core that I tossed to the side and watched as a raven warily tried to approach it. I walked over…

> and trying to mess with its little raven mind don't you get that it was the raven that was playing with your little human mind ? ;-)

touche raven, touche. At one moment I had the impression I was annoying the raven.

Re: When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)

#200

Post by sirtastic »

krzrak wrote: post #78
sirtastic wrote: post #39

I believe ravens and crows are very similar, this is a personal (long, and not the great) story about a raven I messed around with in Yosemite National Park: When I was up on north dome (not to be confused with half dome) there was a group of raven's hanging out on the rocks watching us eat our late lunch. I had an apple core that I tossed to the side and watched as a raven warily tried to approach it. I walked over…

You realize you're not supposed to toss around garbage in the national park?

It was an apple grown in one of the 3 orchards around Yosemite purchased from the store in the valley. It was a native apple.

Also, I don't consider biodegradable native fruits to be trash. People argue the birds will choke on seeds or something which is absurd. I hike in Yosemite dozens of times a year and I can't recall ever seeing so much as banana peel and I know people are tossing those on the ground everywhere.

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