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Three juvenile crows have been hanging around the neighborhood. They’re almost indistinguishable from the adults, but their behavior gives them away. Doing whatever they see the adults doing, usually badly; poking their sharp beaks into everything, like the flower beds (in which they leave dips and trenches); and chasing Mom and Dad all over while begging for snacks with the most pathetic-sounding caws I’ve ever heard. “Mom, I’m hungry! Mom? Mom! Mom…”
In other words: typical teenagers.
For a couple of years now, an adult crow has been washing its meals in the birdbath like a raccoon. I think it’s just one, anyway. It could have taught the trick to others, but there’s only ever been one at a time, and it seems to be flying back and forth with mouthfuls – a piece of bread and such. (And rarely – and thank god for that – grosser stuff.)
Not really a surprise, then, when a parent brought the kids over to teach them about it. Mom, or Dad, perhaps, led by example, and then the youngsters dipped their beaks in to try it themselves. Afterwards they all flew away. Except for one. He stood on the edge and put one foot in the water, then took it out. In. Out. In. Out.
I was sitting at the computer one day when a movement outside the window caught my eye. The feathered juvenile delinquents were in the flower bed again. One of them eyed a rose. It was a foot and a half above him. So, with a flick of his wings, he jumped up and came down with a petal. And popped up again. Pop! Pop! Pop! When he was done, the ground was littered with petals. He ate some and then flew away.
So that’s why my roses have been losing their petals prematurely, and why the ones on the ground sometimes have bites out of them. Beak-shaped bites.
It would have been so awesome to have gotten pictures, but the camera was in another room, probably unloaded, and I didn’t want to miss anything.
I was laughing too hard to have held it steady, anyway.
From an article at the National Zoo (in Washington, DC) website:
Crows are tool users, but they are also toolmakers and problem solvers… Placed in a situation where a crow can reach but not obtain a morsel of food using a straight piece of wire it will actually bend one end of the wire into a hook. It then uses this hooked end to reach and obtain the previously unattainable food.
( Video of crow doing exactly that. )
In other words: typical teenagers.
For a couple of years now, an adult crow has been washing its meals in the birdbath like a raccoon. I think it’s just one, anyway. It could have taught the trick to others, but there’s only ever been one at a time, and it seems to be flying back and forth with mouthfuls – a piece of bread and such. (And rarely – and thank god for that – grosser stuff.)
Not really a surprise, then, when a parent brought the kids over to teach them about it. Mom, or Dad, perhaps, led by example, and then the youngsters dipped their beaks in to try it themselves. Afterwards they all flew away. Except for one. He stood on the edge and put one foot in the water, then took it out. In. Out. In. Out.
I was sitting at the computer one day when a movement outside the window caught my eye. The feathered juvenile delinquents were in the flower bed again. One of them eyed a rose. It was a foot and a half above him. So, with a flick of his wings, he jumped up and came down with a petal. And popped up again. Pop! Pop! Pop! When he was done, the ground was littered with petals. He ate some and then flew away.
So that’s why my roses have been losing their petals prematurely, and why the ones on the ground sometimes have bites out of them. Beak-shaped bites.
It would have been so awesome to have gotten pictures, but the camera was in another room, probably unloaded, and I didn’t want to miss anything.
I was laughing too hard to have held it steady, anyway.
From an article at the National Zoo (in Washington, DC) website:
Crows are tool users, but they are also toolmakers and problem solvers… Placed in a situation where a crow can reach but not obtain a morsel of food using a straight piece of wire it will actually bend one end of the wire into a hook. It then uses this hooked end to reach and obtain the previously unattainable food.
( Video of crow doing exactly that. )
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