Crow Intelligence

[Ooogh]

We have a pair of crows who always nest in our backyard. Each year they have a couple of chicks. Dad has a wonky wing but gets around fine. He always waits till I get home to come for a treat.  When he gets some bread he collects it all up, eats some and then hides the rest under rocks and plants for later. He likes to take it to the bird bath, let it soak for a bit then eat it up.

 

The chicks have been out of the nest a couple of weeks. Yesterday I saw them collect some bread, take it to the bird bath to soak and gobble it down just like Dad. Today one grabbed some in the front yard where we have a pond. It is netted to protect our fish. He took his bread over and put it in the water. Unfortunately the net stopped him retrieving it. Now he takes it outback to the bird bath. Clever, clever stuff from such a young bird.

 

 

[Ooogh]

Dad doing some double dipping.

[muriwai]

Raven?

[Darryl]

I witnessed a magpie do the same thing a couple of weeks ago.

I threw my crusts out on the front lawn (no curly hair for me!), and later in the day after it had hardened up a magpie took a piece over to the bird bath to soak before eating it.

Never seen that before, I was very impressed!

[emesbee]

There is an olive tree next to my driveway that the magpies seem to hang around a bit. They pick the fallen olives from around the base of the tree, then hit them against the concrete driveway to separate the flesh from the stone, then swallow the flesh.

 

I never thought that magpies would eat olives, but these guys do. Explains all the black stains I keep finding on the driveway (droppings).

 

[Ooogh]

1 hour ago, muriwai said:

Raven?

Yes , more than likely the Australian Raven, but I still like to call him fat crow. He is certainly a big boy.

The scientists seem to feel the Ravens are likely even smarter than the crows but both are very intelligent. 
 

Last years chicks were eating from my hand but like most juveniles the parents seem to send them off to find their own territory as they mature.

 

[Yamaha_man]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crow chick before.

[andyr]

1 hour ago, Yamaha_man said:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crow chick before.

 

Here's a Crow chick, mate:

 

 

Andy  

 

 

[emesbee]

If anyone ever calls me a bird brain, I will take it as a compliment.

 

[t_mike]

1 hour ago, emesbee said:

If anyone ever calls me a bird brain, I will take it as a compliment.

 

How about a Raven loony?

[emesbee]

2 minutes ago, t_mike said:

How about a Raven loony?

I will accept that too!

 

[koputai]

Another one

 

 

 

[Ooogh]

7 hours ago, Yamaha_man said:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crow chick before.

They stay in the nest for about 40 to 45 days  and by that time they are already big. You never tend to see them in the nest because they are built so high up, they love occupying the highest possible location.  Our guys are most likely 2 to 2.5 months old and already look like a full grown birds till you see them next to their parents. They have much shorter tail feathers , dark rather than white eyes and lack the beard bulk and sheen of the grown ups.  However seen on their own you would just think they were an adult crow.

[Tweaky]

Easy way to tell a Raven from a Crow is a Raven will have a few stiff feathers protruding from it's up breast giving it a beard like look.

 

I have never considered myself a bird watcher, but a tree that I can see out the window while I am typing this has turned me into one, but only because it's not something I can ignore once it happens.

 

I'm in a inner city of Sydney and I am surrounded by Ravens.

Occasional something will set them off, and a what starts as one or two Ravens calling out to each other, will gain traction as other groups also hear the call.

These other groups will occasionally fly in to investigate whats going on, I reckon there are now at least six groups in the surrounding area.

 

On several occasions I have had a tree outside my house with as many as 25 Ravens [probably more in surrounding trees] all come and have a suburb group meeting, the noise has everybody in the street looking out their windows wondering what the hell's going on, which I find quite funny.

 

The general noise of these meetings tend to quite down after everyone has arrived, and then it's like the tree is divided into groups, and one group will squawk something for a minute or two while the others are quiet, then stop, then another group in the tree will do then same, this happens I've counted up to six times, then total silence from all, then everyone starts up again and they fly off.

Unfortunately I've never had my camera ready when one of these rare events occur [note to self-be more diligent].

 

I've had plenty of opportunity to watch Ravens in action.

There are a couple of really smart ones around.

The one that goes through garbage and grabs food containers that it can hear something rattling around in, it first trying to pries the lid off with it's beak and feet, if that doesn't work after a while, it will fly up onto a telegraph pole with the container in it's beak and drop it onto the concrete below, in hope the lid comes off, it gets occassional success with this method, but if after several attempts doing that doesn't work, it will take the container to another telegraph pole further down the road at a intersection where cars pass underneath, and drop the container there hoping it will land in the right spot for a car to run over and open the container, it's a pretty lousy shot TBH when it comes to getting it where the cars are, but it ALAWAYS manages to get the container open in the end.

[Ooogh]

Crow has a new trick he has taught the kids. ‘Can’t be bothered going all the way to the backyard to soak your bread?’  Easy. Walk across the pond net using it as a trampoline. Then stand on the water fountain. Ha Ha! Instant accessible water. Soak to the desired softness. 

[Mutatis Mutandis]

I recall a story from the old man of an old mate from school man years ago.  He grew up in the country and   reckoned crows (or ravens possibly) could tell the difference between a rifle slung over the shoulder and and a similarly sized stick.  They would fly off at the sight of the rifle but were totally unbothered by the stick.  That takes acuity.

[Grant Slack]

Crows/ravens and magpies are highly intelligent birds. They can recognise and remember individual humans, and will be friendly to humans who have treated them well (and vice versa).

 

cheers

Grant

[Ooogh]

1 hour ago, Mutatis Mutandis said:

I recall a story from the old man of an old mate from school man years ago.  He grew up in the country and   reckoned crows (or ravens possibly) could tell the difference between a rifle slung over the shoulder and and a similarly sized stick.  They would fly off at the sight of the rifle but were totally unbothered by the stick.  That takes acuity.

I wouldn’t doubt it for a minute. My Dad was raised on a sheep station where crows are held in rather low regard. I remember when I was very young my Dad telling me it was impossible to shoot a crow.

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/crows-hold-grudges-a4484146.html