Animal Intelligence Is Amazing Sometimes

[El Santo]

You know those jointed strips of plastic doodads pierced with six-inch metal spines that you sometimes see on urban windowsills to deter pigeons and seagulls and whatnot from roosting on them?  Well, I just read that crows and magpies in Rotterdam and Antwerp have started stealing them to use as nesting material.  What's even cooler is that the Magpies at least seem to understand at some level what the spike-strips are actually for.  Unlike crows, which build the kind of nests that you normally expect from a bird, Magpies build enclosed nests with domed roofs.  And these clever fuckers in the Low Countries are installing the stolen strips so that the spines jut outward from said roofs, making life difficult for egg-stealing predators!

[Killer Goldfish]

Jul 21, 2023 8:32:46 GMT -5 El Santo said:

You know those jointed strips of plastic doodads pierced with six-inch metal spines that you sometimes see on urban windowsills to deter pigeons and seagulls and whatnot from roosting on them?  Well, I just read that crows and magpies in Rotterdam and Antwerp have started stealing them to use as nesting material.  What's even cooler is that the Magpies at least seem to understand at some level what the spike-strips are actually for.  Unlike crows, which build the kind of nests that you normally expect from a bird, Magpies build enclosed nests with domed roofs.  And these clever fuckers in the Low Countries are installing the stolen strips so that the spines jut outward from said roofs, making life difficult for egg-stealing predators!

"I think I see what the Naked Apes had in mind when they put these on my nesting area. Wait'll they get a load of what I do with them!"

[Dr. Kobb]

[Deeky]

Crows are pretty awesome.

[El Santo]

Aug 3, 2023 12:58:35 GMT -5 Deeky said:

Crows are pretty awesome.

I forget-- have I ever mentioned that there's one in our neighborhood that has learned to meow?  It and all the other local crows will hang out at the top of the giant sycamore tree beside the next block of townhouses to the northeast of ours, having their mysterious little crow conversations, and it's like:

"Caw!"
"Uck."
"Uck caw!"
"Caw."
"Meow!"
"Uck uck.  Caw!"

I haven't yet figured out whether Catcrow also makes normal crow noises, or if it only speaks cat.  Either way, I wonder what the other crows make of it.

[Deeky]

"Jeff, you dork, stop talking like a cat."

[Dr. Kobb]

I watched our local crows flocking to retire into the treeline along the bluffs on the evening of the 4th of July.  It wasn't the first night that there were some pops and bangs in the immediate vicinity, but I think it was obvious to them that this was going to be an especially egregious display of stupid human tricks and they were having none of it. 

It's nice seeing one or two (crows) in the yard again.  Most of the wildlife has returned after the gated fence and shed were built in the backyard.  There was a solid 8-10 weeks were I stopped tossing feed out while those projects were being completed.  

I'm going to let the backyard go for the next three months, so maybe some insects can have a chance.  We have a lot in the tall pines and trees around here, but most neighbors keep the kind of manicured and sprayed lawns that aren't conducive to bugs. 

I'm seeing Monarch butterflies already, but hardly any wildflowers to sustain them on their long flights. 

[Killer Goldfish]

Has anyone but me ever noticed the town criers at crows' town meetings? The crows settle in until every tree is completely covered, and one or two of them at the periphery of the flock make body movements as if they were caring, but no sound comes out. I personally convinced they are making a sound we can't hear and that's what tells all the crows in the area to come over and meet.

[Dr. Kobb]

This just backs up El Santo's initial post: