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My fascination for corvus started when I saw Joshua Klein's Ted presentation in 2008[1]. Inspired by these recent findings I two weeks ago decided to get to kno
by unicornporn 11y ago
My fascination for corvus started when I saw Joshua Klein's Ted presentation in 2008[1]. Inspired by these recent findings I two weeks ago decided to get to know some crows. I bike commute every weekday and pass a place were I've noticed there's almost always a flock of hooded crows (corvus cornix).
I decided to feed them twice a day (when going to work and when leaving work). The first time they were very reluctant to pick up the nuts and seeds I threw to them. Me throwing things in their direction understandably made them hesitant. After I left however, I saw from a distance how they inspected the nuts and picked them up.
I did this two times a day for two more days. The day after that I saw a crow sitting on the ground a few hundred meters away. Soon it started flying straight towards me on the bike path. I slowed down and it landed straight in front of my bike and started cawing. I picked up the plastic bag of nuts, and it came right to me.
Fast forward to now. When they are at the place they come to meet me. A few times they have also showed up from nowhere (almost eerily) when I stop with my bike. One second I swear I can't see a bird anywhere, and a second later they land next to me. I've also had a fantastic experience were 10-20 crows flew with me and right next to me (when riding my bike) for a few hundred meters.
It has become a nice part of the day that lightens up my commute. I will keep doing this and see how things evolve. All in all, I would recommend building some interspecies relationships with crows. :)
[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows https://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_o...
- cpeterso 11y agoYour fun story reminds me of the BBC story "The girl who gets gifts from birds": http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026
- unicornporn 11y agoYeah, that article also served as inspiration before my first feeding day. :)
- slavik81 11y agoFeeding wildlife is generally not a good idea. You can easily end up hurting or even killing the animals that you're trying to help. I hope you did your research on their diet and behaviours.
- msellout 11y agoI don't think he's trying to help them. He was experimenting to see if he could train/domesticate them.
- Zigurd 11y agoCrows get at a lot of human rubbish to pick tasty stuff out of it. In Japan, garbage cans in many places have to be locked-down and covered with nets to deter crows. If that hasn't killed them off already I doubt some intentional feeding will. It might make them a pest if you don't want them around, though.
- awinter-py 11y agoor in the worst case, train them to attack people for change http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87878028 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8787802...
- gadders 11y agoWe've had previous discussions on here about crows etc and I vaguely remember a story about someone who managed to start a gang fight between rival crow gangs. I wish I could find the link.
- andrewrice 11y agoYou may be thinking of the famous World War Crow greentext from 4chan: http://i.imgur.com/f50IZJS.png http://i.imgur.com/f50IZJS.png
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoVery cool! But sounds a little poetical - makes a good story anyhow.
- logicrook 11y agoThis is brilliant. I so wish I enrolled for an ethology PhD now...
- beedogs 11y agoIt's from an old 4chan thread: https://imgur.com/gallery/rgfZm2d https://imgur.com/gallery/rgfZm2d
- gadders 11y agoThanks both for posting the original.