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Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

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Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#101

Post by croon »

ficklepickle wrote: post #57
YZF wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around here (BC, Canada) you'll see a single crow chasing away a bald eagle. They get very aggressive when they're protecting their nests.

A single crow chased me off recently by swooping at my head repeatedly. I was just walking down a sidewalk in Vancouver, minding my own business. It must have had a nest in the tree above the sidewalk.

I've had this happen a lot by gulls. Every spring they nest at various rooftops, and anyone walking within 50 yards of the house gets swooped repeatedly.

It's definitely my least favorite bird.

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#102

Post by [deleted] »

everly wrote: post #49
lioeters wrote: post #2

> [A]nting is..where birds rub insects, usually ants, on their feathers and skin. > Some birds will sit still on an anthill and patiently allow the creatures to crawl freely through their feathers. At other times they have been seen to pick the ants up with their beaks and rub themselves with the tiny insects. > Sensing a threat, the ants shoot a spray of formic acid from their abdomens or anal glands which gets abso…

I’m inclined to think it’s akin to recreational drug usage in humans. Crows are supposedly more intelligent/aware than other animals, and with awareness comes existential dread or whatever you want to call it. Lots of humans use drugs to alleviate this and I think it’s plausible that crows do something similar. Hopefully I’m wrong and it’s a more uplifting reason.

[deleted]

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#103

Post by gpderetta »

moosebear847 wrote: post #42
stopping wrote: post #31

Pre-WFH, there were several groups of crows near my office covering distinct territories around my building. I made a habit of feeding and interacting with a few of these groups, every day for several months. Here are my experiences: * I did indeed see a crow "anting" one time, and was initially as bewildered as the photographer in TFA. Surprisingly I was able to get much closer to the bird than they normally allow,…

I really enjoyed this!

Me too. Make sure to reward them with an upvote!

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#104

Post by karmakaze »

INTPenis wrote: post #78
karmakaze wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do seem to gravitate/grow into their names. The one that stands out to me is Schwarzschild radius: schwarz == black.

Schild means shield btw. I had a friend with a schild name and for the longest time pronounced it "child" without them correcting me. I felt so embarrassed when I realized it means shield.

Good to know. Makes it even more interesting: the event horizon we can't see past.

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#105

Post by rantwasp »

Cosmin_C wrote: post #65
YZF wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The eagles are somewhat less maneuverable- crows are very nimble flyers. I just saw a crow on my walk today land backwards in the wind. They can avoid the claws and beak... Sort of like a monkey harassing a tiger. They'll actually pull feathers off the eagle. Every now and then the eagles pull some crazy moves though to get away, they'll tilt sideways and fall. It's like a move you might see in fighter jet dogfights.…

At first I read it like the crows in your area are harassing Harrier jump jets.

That’s how I read it at first. I was like: wow, this crow stories are getting out of hand

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#106

Post by rantwasp »

choeger wrote: post #67
rantwasp wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i got to witness a murder of crow harassing 2 bald eagles until the eagles just gave up and left. we’re not even talking a lot. There were maybe 6-7 crows. The theory I heard is the bald eagle(s) could easily take them on but they risk injury and the crows will try to mess them up. So the eagles just don’t risk it and move on + hunt things that don’t fight back (like rabbits). also, I can swear that crows taunt my do…

If crows did that to my dog, I would shoot them. ... With a super soaker. I imagine it to be quite hilarious to teach these birds a lesson ;).

I let my dog work on his own problems. More seriously, those feathered devils will remember it and you’ll going to be next when it comes to harassment.

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#107

Post by shadowythroaway »

meowface wrote: post #98
shadowythroaway wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an Aptronym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym

Is there a term for this kind of internet comment section correction? Like "it's an aptronym, not nominative determinism", or "it's an initialism, not an acronym". (I'm not saying this to be snarky towards you or anything like that, and I personally appreciate seeing such corrections. Genuinely just curious if there's a term for this specific sort of thing, since it's common on HN and reddit.)

I'm not sure, I didn't see the nominative determinism comment until I posted my own link.

From my POV, I like seeing comments that facilitates exploration into an observation so was happy to share the link!

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#109

Post by singingboyo »

ficklepickle wrote: post #57
YZF wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around here (BC, Canada) you'll see a single crow chasing away a bald eagle. They get very aggressive when they're protecting their nests.

A single crow chased me off recently by swooping at my head repeatedly. I was just walking down a sidewalk in Vancouver, minding my own business. It must have had a nest in the tree above the sidewalk.

The strangest part of this to me is that I've never once had this happen in the Willingdon Park office park near Brentwood in Burnaby. It is absolutely covered with crows overnight, at all times of the year.[1]

But the one time I walked down the wrong sidewalk in Point Grey (so Vancouver 'proper') during springtime, the back of my head gets smacked.

[1] Perhaps the Burnaby/Willingdon crows consider the absurd amounts of crow shit on cars, sidewalks, buildings, etc. to be adequate warning? The stench after a rain is... eugh.

Re: Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

#110

Post by singingboyo »

strogonoff wrote: post #88
unwind wrote: post #81

That was weird. Also TIL that English of course has a specific word for a bunch of crows: a murder of crows [1]. As a non-native user of the language, that was ... surprising. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Crows

In English, collective nouns for a group of (usually animals) are full of surprises and often sound quite creative. A wake of vultures, a rave of ravens, a rookery of seals, and so on.

Some animals do have multiple options. I guess creativity gets a bit more free reign given the lack of standard terms?

Personally, I've never heard 'rave of ravens'. I've always been partial to conspiracy of ravens as the grouping of choice.

Other favorites include: * Parliament of owls * Convocation of eagles * Ostentation of peacocks

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