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An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

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Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#81

Post by soupspaces »

oddsockmachine wrote: post #59
mlmonkey wrote: post #36

I like the fact that they are so ... observant. A specific crow (I recognize him due to the missing feathers around his collar) will spend a while sitting on a tree outside my window, observing me for no reason. I do feed them generally by leaving peanuts in a specific area in the backyard early in the morning, and I'm sure this one partakes in the feast; but I have never rewarded his presence in any form, and yet th…

I was told (by my partner, who works with birds in many capacities) that they consider a "direct" or head-on look to be something of a threat, as a predator would do. Consider looking at them sideways, with only one eye -as they would to each other- and see if it makes a difference.

Something as simple as stepping on a twig, brushing on grass, the crumpling of a plastic or some kinds of clothing can be enough. It makes sense, since their bodies are much more fragile and distance is easy. Their ears are almost like ours internally, with different structure.

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#82

Post by soupspaces »

vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #16
SamuraiLion wrote: post #3

I mean; they cause no harm unless you are a farmer or something, do they?

They poop on people they don't like. I used to work at an office where you had to walk under some trees from the parking lot to the entrance. There was one guy that got pooped on at least once a week. Then he used an umbrella which they pooped on too. No idea what he had done to them but they clearly didn't like him :-) Another thing I saw at a park: The crows surrounded a swan. One would pick at the swan's butt. Whe…

Was he consistent with his timing? Perhaps so were the birds with their necessities. Or his travel route intersected a convenient location for them. More birds, too, makes a collective vendetta unlikely. Birds tend to be indiscriminate when the world is their toilet.

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#83

Post by Melatonic »

veunes wrote: post #79
smurda wrote: post #15

Crows can remember a dangerous person and tell their friends about it. From "Social learning spreads knowledge about dangerous humans among American crows" ( https://faculty.washington.edu/wirsinga/Cornell2011.pdf ) We exposed wild crows to a novel ‘dangerous face’ by wearing a unique mask as we trapped, banded and released 7 –15 birds at five study sites near Seattle, WA, USA. An immediate scolding response to the d…

What gets me is that it is not just "crows remember faces". Apparently the information can outlive the original encounter entirely. You can end up on the neighborhood crow blacklist without some of the crows ever having met you before.

Apparently they can also tell other crows if they like you. Or their car. There's reports of them chasing off other birds away from people they like (and their vehicle or house).

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#84

Post by card_zero »

veunes wrote: post #80
kobalsky wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is tangential but our monk parakeets make a special sound when they see something they don't like. We have learned to identify it, and hilarously, our dogs did too. Now when they see something weird (recently, a bird of prey in street light they saw through the window) they sound the alarm and the dogs go absolutely crazy.

That is fascinating. The parakeets are basically providing an early warning system, and the dogs have figured out enough of their "language" to subscribe to it.

There's a more complicated example with fork-tailed drongos and meerkats. The drongos can mimic the meerkat alarm calls in order to panic them at strategic moments (and swoop in to take food), along with a high percentage of genuinely helpful alarm calls to keep them malleable.

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#85

Post by fmajid »

marshray wrote: post #62
fmajid wrote: post #48

They forgot to mention the most famous corvids in mythology, Odin’s familiars Huginn and Muninn

I can't believe they left out Gothi and Gethli in Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Well, I only just purchased Children of Time and haven't even started it yet

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#86

Post by unsupp0rted »

mlmonkey wrote: post #36

I like the fact that they are so ... observant. A specific crow (I recognize him due to the missing feathers around his collar) will spend a while sitting on a tree outside my window, observing me for no reason. I do feed them generally by leaving peanuts in a specific area in the backyard early in the morning, and I'm sure this one partakes in the feast; but I have never rewarded his presence in any form, and yet th…

What else is he gonna do? Our ancestors spent a lot of time around observing things because the days are long and there’s no WiFi.

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#87

Post by squidbeak »

drop_star wrote: post #31
squidbeak wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How dare their need to feed spoil a lawn's appearance...

Well its a sod farmer so its his livelyhood. Im pretty sure if crows were eating your pay cheque or the food out your kids mouth youd shoot them too

Any excuse to kill something, eh? Tell me, in the free market where a competitor was eating into your paycheck, or threatening the fast food supply to your children, would you head over to their HQ packing heat?

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#88

Post by e40 »

mikestew wrote: post #33

I don't know the answer, generally speaking, but we've got a pair that pop onto the back fence every morning waiting for their peanuts. I think they're multigenerational, as I have reasons to suspect that the "original" Mr. Peanut has passed on. Anyway, the bold one will come sit with me in the front yard. When I walk the dog, they'll follow me for a bit, flying a few feet off the ground right in front of me, I assum…

We have crows we feed. They sometimes will come to the back door and caw really softly. Clearly it’s a “hey, I’m here, can I have sone peanuts?” It feels really nice when they do that.

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#89

Post by e40 »

sethev wrote: post #38

Crows are fascinating creatures. My wife read that they will chase hawks and eagles away, so she started putting food out for the crows near the tree where they gather (we have chickens and ducks that we don't want the hawks near). Now they bring trinkets as gifts and leave them near the tree. We also had a crow in the past that would make barking noises when it saw our dogs and freak them out. I'm convinced it was m…

I have seen many times a group of crows harassing a hawk. They are unrelenting. OTOH, I have seen a hawk eating a crow. It’s a delicate balance of power.

Re: An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

#90

Post by e40 »

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #28
Avicebron wrote: post #4

They are, until a murder takes up residency in a tree outside your apartment in Emeryvile. Then they are cool roommates you have to get away from else you lose your sanity.

The park across from our apartment in Cupertino was the morning gathering point for every crow in the Bay Area. They showed up at about 3:30-4:00a every day. It was as loud and obnoxious as you might otherwise imagine. Now, in Seattle, we just have a nice family of three crows that hang out on our balcony on a daily basis. I much prefer this arrangement.

It may seem like every crow from the Bay is there, but that’s very unlikely. Their territory isn’t very large, typically a 100 acres.

Gatherings are very noisy affairs, and that amplifies the numbers.

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