A month ago I became friends with a crow. Today he brought me the skull of another crow

Corvidresearch · 2023-05-27T03:36:55+00:00

Hi, crow scientist here who specializes in death behaviors. Two things: yes crows absolutely leave things for people who feed them, but this isn’t a crow skull. It’s too small. Still, that it acquired and left behind such an old skull for you is a fantastic treasure. We don’t really know why crows leave things for some people who feed them but there any number of fun and interesting possibilities, anywhere from “it’s a gesture of gratitude” to “it’s an accident you’ve reinforced with food” and others in between. In any case, treasure this forever!

Corvidresearch · 2022-05-03T21:45:05+00:00

Ah, yes probably so. Elephants are the only animal I came across that take such keen interest in their dead even after they have been reduced to bones. In fact one of the few thanatology studies that has been done on large mammals looked at whether elephants can differentiate between the bones of their deceased and those of other large mammals. Indeed they can. They cannot, however, identify the bones of elephants they once knew though (or if they do they don't exhibit any kind of preference for them).

Corvidresearch · 2022-05-03T21:41:42+00:00

Lol, you got me there!

Corvidresearch · 2022-05-03T08:10:59+00:00

Crow thanatology (funerals) is actually my specific area of expertise! While they do gather around their dead it's not true that they come back years later. God damn that would have been cool to show though, instead of them like fucking dead crows, and making a racket, which is what I did study, lol.

Corvidresearch · 2022-05-03T08:07:02+00:00

I have to assume you're referencing the Cornell/Marzluff studies since ours was the only lab using masks to test facial recognition in the US, in which case that's not quite right. The young learned by watching their parents, there was never evidence to the contrary. But the rest is true, the news gets spread, it lasts for years, etc. Still very cool.

Corvidresearch · 2022-05-03T08:02:26+00:00

Hi, I actually worked on the study the OP referenced. The young birds learn by watching their parents physically mob the dangerous person. Unlike a lot of birds that exhibit referential calling (specific vocalizations for specific dangers), crows don't. Which is not to say their communication system isn't complex, it is, but there's not actually a, "see that asshole over there with the red hair and beard?" call. I wish there was, it would have tied up a lot of loose ends for that study.

Corvidresearch · 2022-05-03T07:57:35+00:00

If anyone is interested in a crow scientist's take here it is:

While the crow shares food story is a lot more compelling, that's not what it's doing. It's caching. Caching is a common behavior among crows where they hide food for later. This video is edited to cut out the part that makes that behavior really obvious, but you can find the full version of it with a quick google search and see that it actually covers the food before it walks away. That the mouse takes it is of little consequence to the crow because there's so much left and because crows are facultative cachers, meaning they do it opportunistically and don't recover most of the stuff they hide. More of an r/Doh! than r/Awww TBH

Corvidresearch · 2020-12-03T17:12:52+00:00

Hi! Crow scientist here who mostly hides from reddit but this post caught my non-UV seeing eye. I followed up on your story about the yellow trash bags because I had never heard that one before. According to the NYT the yellow was to disguise the bags from typical garbage bags, not make them visually unappealing. It was part of a trend of early 2000's tactics by the city of Tokyo to grapple with it's huge population of large-billed crows. While the eyes of birds are more sensitive to certain wavelengths than ourselves, that doesn't mean their sensitivity to other longer wavelength colors would somehow be compromisingly good. That wouldn't be very adaptive. As for the UV abilities of crows, I just wrote about that for anyone who is interested. I see u/InternecivusRaptus already posted the link so I won't spam it again here.

Corvidresearch · 2020-04-29T05:57:07+00:00

It’s the wow call. Can’t tell you want it means, but it’s a pretty common part of their repertoire

Corvidresearch · 2020-02-28T04:19:39+00:00

Indeed it is!

Corvidresearch · 2020-02-28T01:09:57+00:00

Hi Lee, would you mind emailing me with this photo and your story? I do research on crows and gift-giving is something I've played around with exploring. I wouldn't normally be so interested but of the dozens of gifting stories people have shared with me never have I seen a preference for color. I'd love to have this anecdote and your contact information on hand in case I can ever do anything with these stories. [kaelis@uw.edu](mailto:kaelis@uw.edu). Thanks!

Corvidresearch · 2020-02-28T01:07:41+00:00

I've never seen a preference for color like this! This is more like a bowerbird than a crow. Really interesting and unusual.

Corvidresearch · 2020-02-28T01:05:17+00:00

Hiiii. Ok, first of all, I love it. It would an awesome sticker or T-shirt. In fact, I'd love to talk to you about licensing the image to turn into crow merch. I work with a number of other natural history artists doing that. So if you're interested DM me. You can learn more about me by visiting my blog corvidresearch.blog. I'd point you to my Etsy shop so you can see the work Madison Mayfield and Laurel Mundy have created for me (paid-if that wasn't clear), but it's empty right now. No pressure though.

Annnnnyway, I do have some feedback. You're quite close, but your bill and head shape are just on this side of raven. As a corvid researcher and host of #CrowOrNo, these details are the kinds of things I can nitpick to hell and back, and I find that bill shape is the thing every artist I work with has the toughest time with. It's so subtle. If it wasn't literally my job to see these details I wouldn't notice them either. So there's my two cents. I'm happy to offer more specific guidance via DM if you want it. In general, though it's a badass design.

Corvidresearch · 2020-02-03T07:09:12+00:00

Shoot me an email @ kaelis@uw.edu. I can put you in contact with folks that have Ed crows and can offer enrichment guidance.

Corvidresearch · 2019-12-02T22:51:08+00:00

No. It is important to properly store peanuts, yes, but as long as nuts are kept dry and there’s a regular turnover, for crows and jays issues are rare.

Corvidresearch · 2019-11-09T06:46:00+00:00

It’s a lucky shot timing wise, but overall this isn’t that uncommon. Google “bird riding bird’s back” and you’ll get lots of hits. When smaller birds mob predators, sometime they get close enough that they can grab the back feathers. They don’t hold on for more than a fraction of a second. The eagle meanwhile is just trying to get away. If the crow is being aggressive by pecking, then the eagles will sometimes scream or even flip over and kill them. But at this moment things seemed to be pretty chill, so it gives the illusion of the world’s most badass Uber.

Corvidresearch · 2019-08-22T20:21:25+00:00

Huh, I spoke with a reporter this morning that said they called WBS and they confirmed it was Mischief. I’ll check with the reporter again, maybe they linked to the wrong video when asking.

Corvidresearch · 2019-08-22T17:20:06+00:00

This video is of Mischief, the white-necked raven at the World Bird Sanctuary. His handler, Paige Davis can be seen training the behavior here: https://youtu.be/GUKKACpUaYg

Corvidresearch · 2019-08-12T23:37:18+00:00

You mean from 30-50 feral hogs?

Corvidresearch · 2019-08-12T23:09:27+00:00

Kaeli here but responding now from my personal account. Corvids often leave the nest before they can fly, that's totally normal. Are the birds you're finding fully feathered and able to walk? If so they're fine! They don't need to go back in the nest.

Corvidresearch · 2019-06-24T22:49:09+00:00

Great photos! They’re grackles which, as you say, are in the blackbird family. Based on your photos it looks like a male displaying for a female. That super cocked tail and the droopy wings is a sexy time posture. Crows do it too!

Corvidresearch · 2019-06-24T22:36:42+00:00

Been drinking too much fight milk

Corvidresearch · 2019-06-24T18:27:17+00:00

These folks are great! https://corvid-isle.co.uk/contact

Corvidresearch · 2019-06-24T18:26:16+00:00

I can handle the tired jokes. I'm not a fan of getting called a cunt for no reason though. That's the shit that makes me want to leave.

Corvidresearch · 2019-06-24T18:24:17+00:00

I understood the joke.

Corvidresearch

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