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An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations

audubon.org

91–96 of 96 posts

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

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't he just checking/waiting for the food to come out? If he's the first to it, he gets the best haul.

The food comes out early in the morning (8AM). This guy I often find watching me around noon. So the food has long been consumed and forgotten.

As a natural night owl who works at a job that starts at 6:30, I wish I could still całl 8 “early”.

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

#92
post #80

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.

My in-laws had a Chihuahua as the alert dog and a Doberman as the guard dog. Yip yip yip WOOF WOOF WOOF. Took the Dobie on a lot of walks in natural areas where sketchy people were around. Funny enough, nobody tries anything when you have an 85-lb/40 kg dog. They saw me put her on a leash when I saw them and they knew I could just drop it.

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

#93
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That would explain why they sometimes seem perfectly relaxed until you look directly at them

I did this with the rabbits in my yard. They would always freeze and then bolt when I looked right at them. So I started getting closer and closer to them without making eye contact, and then they started to get much more comfortable around me and my family. Now they don't tense up and run away whenever I happen to get near, which I think is nice, keeps them less stressed out while they destroy all of my native wildlfower seedlings.

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

#94
This author has their own AM radio Americana narrative style with peculiar flourishes repeated throughout, but it's so refreshing compared to LLMs it's worth slowing down and noticing how they play with the language as the crow does a shiny wire, resulting in far higher perplexity at each bend in phrase than the machines seem capable of no matter the prompt.

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

#95
post #7

A friend is someone you’ll spend time around given other options. If you’ve spent any time getting to know crows (or jays, or any other corvids), it’s quite obvious this is the case. I had a scrub jay who’d perch on my foot while I read in the morning. I considered him a friend, and by that standard, he me.

I have been lead to believe that blue scrub jays have a lot of different vocalizations but the only sounds I've caught out of them over the past 15ish years of paying attention have been the raucous shouting shrieks they seem so fond of doing. I perceive this as their species equivalent of cursing xD

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

#96

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…

You should have started by putting some money on the ground when they aren't there....and then when they come you pick up the money and leave the peanuts.....do this a few times on a daily schedule and then "miss" a day or two so they associate having money on the ground with getting peanuts....then the profit comes
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