6 ms·

Magpies are amazing. They are one of the very few that can recognize their own mirror images. I will never forget how one morning, on my regular run, i saw a g

Magpies are amazing. They are one of the very few that can recognize their own mirror images. I will never forget how one morning, on my regular run, i saw a group of magpies on the ground, right beside the road. There were 4 magpies forming a line, they were looking at two other magpies just in front of them. One of the two magpies appeared to be dead - was laying flat on the ground, while the other one was on top of it, sort of like in a triumphant fashion. Victor and defeated. The victorious magpie was the only one "talking", appearing to be giving a speech, while the rest were listening. What it was proclaiming, it's anyone's guess. Never seen anything more glorious with my own eyes.

jamesfmilne 6y ago
I think corvids are known to mourn their dead, and hold funerals. Perhaps it was a eulogy? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/10/151003-animals-science-crows-birds-culture-brains/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/10/151003-anima...
- ficklepickle 6y ago
  I saw a crow funeral once. It was so fascinating. I saw the old crow, clearly not well, then 30 mins later he had passed and there were crows all around. Another 30 mins and they had all left again (except the dead one obvs). I'm really fortunate to live directly under their flight path to a massive roosting site in east Vancouver. Every day at dusk, there is a crow highway in the sky. They are fascinating creatures.
  - m463 6y ago
    > Every day at dusk, there is a crow highway in the sky. I've seen that, big flocks of crows flying somewhere every evening. Where do they go? More than once I've wanted to follow them.
    - glenneroo 6y ago
      I used to live near the flight path of crows retreating by dusk. For years, in warmer months, hundreds would gather daily at sunset at the local kiddie pool / nature park and have communal bath parties and squawk in the huge trees until the sun set, then fly off again.
- JNRowe 6y ago
  Ologies has an interesting episode on the topic too¹. Plus, a general recommendation for the podcast, many of the episodes are lovingly holding the balance on weird and interesting. ¹ https://www.alieward.com/ologies/corvid-thanatology https://www.alieward.com/ologies/corvid-thanatology
Normille 6y ago
>Magpies are amazing... Corvids in general are. When out walking one night a few years back, I was lucky enough to find a baby jackdaw on the ground that must have fallen from its nest. It was completely cold and not moving. I picked it up and was about to discard it again, thinking it was dead, when I noticed its claw twitch slightly. So I cupped it in my hands to warm it and took it home with me and gradually nursed it back to health. It stayed with me for about a year or more and even came on a couple of camping holidays round Ireland and Wales with me. I became quite a tourist attraction, as I'd be walking along a beach or in some countryside and suddenly this bird would appear as if from nowhere and land on my shoulder. passers by would be gobsmacked and ask to take a photo of the crazy bird man. As the jackdaw got older, it got more independent and would go flying off for longer and longer periods until, one day it flew off to join another group of jackdaws in a park and never came back. One of my coolest memories ever was one night me and the missus had gone out to dinner. The jackdaw had flown off somewhere, earlier in the day and not come back. When we returned home around midnight we found it fast asleep in its cage in the living room. It had come home, found us not there and let itself in through the cat-flap and went to bed, all by itself. Even though it had always been 'free' in the sense it never had a door on its cage and was free to fly off wherever and whenever it wanted, somehow that incident really touched me as it was like the bird was telling me that it considered our house its home too. Absolutely amazing creatures and so intelligent. I read once that corvids have similar amounts of neurons in their brains to small monkeys but the folding of the corvid brain is more complex, so those neurons fit into a smaller brain volume. After having the privilege of spending that amount of time with one 'close up' I can certainly believe it. https://i.imgur.com/qOAN2ro.png https://i.imgur.com/qOAN2ro.png https://i.imgur.com/PO06LII.jpg https://i.imgur.com/PO06LII.jpg
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  It's not just corvids. I was once lucky in finding a baby sparrow who could not fly yet, but who was cut off from their nesting site and parents. This sparrow would recognize me and come back to me after hanging out in the park for a day.
- ruggeri 6y ago
  Wow, that was a beautiful story. Thank you
b0rsuk 6y ago
I once read a book about beliefs of North American indians. It said Cheyennes divide birds into three groups: common, great and sacred. They count magpies into the sacred group! They like magpies because they're sociable, live close to humans, announce guests...
moneytide1 6y ago
Why watch wrestling or NatGeo when you can just go walk around outside and observe the eternal power struggle of nature? My recent episode was on a trail when I startled a field mouse that was clueless to an imminent garden snake pounce. The snake reared up and noticed me, but the attention was focused completely on its escaping breakfast. I had likely interrupted an hour long stalk and could detect annoyance in its exit slither.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

jamesfmilne 6y ago

I think corvids are known to mourn their dead, and hold funerals. Perhaps it was a eulogy? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/10/151003-animals-science-crows-birds-culture-brains/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/10/151003-anima...

ficklepickle 6y ago
I saw a crow funeral once. It was so fascinating. I saw the old crow, clearly not well, then 30 mins later he had passed and there were crows all around. Another 30 mins and they had all left again (except the dead one obvs). I'm really fortunate to live directly under their flight path to a massive roosting site in east Vancouver. Every day at dusk, there is a crow highway in the sky. They are fascinating creatures.
- m463 6y ago
  > Every day at dusk, there is a crow highway in the sky. I've seen that, big flocks of crows flying somewhere every evening. Where do they go? More than once I've wanted to follow them.
  - glenneroo 6y ago
    I used to live near the flight path of crows retreating by dusk. For years, in warmer months, hundreds would gather daily at sunset at the local kiddie pool / nature park and have communal bath parties and squawk in the huge trees until the sun set, then fly off again.
JNRowe 6y ago
Ologies has an interesting episode on the topic too¹. Plus, a general recommendation for the podcast, many of the episodes are lovingly holding the balance on weird and interesting. ¹ https://www.alieward.com/ologies/corvid-thanatology https://www.alieward.com/ologies/corvid-thanatology

Normille 6y ago

>Magpies are amazing... Corvids in general are. When out walking one night a few years back, I was lucky enough to find a baby jackdaw on the ground that must have fallen from its nest. It was completely cold and not moving. I picked it up and was about to discard it again, thinking it was dead, when I noticed its claw twitch slightly. So I cupped it in my hands to warm it and took it home with me and gradually nursed it back to health. It stayed with me for about a year or more and even came on a couple of camping holidays round Ireland and Wales with me. I became quite a tourist attraction, as I'd be walking along a beach or in some countryside and suddenly this bird would appear as if from nowhere and land on my shoulder. passers by would be gobsmacked and ask to take a photo of the crazy bird man. As the jackdaw got older, it got more independent and would go flying off for longer and longer periods until, one day it flew off to join another group of jackdaws in a park and never came back. One of my coolest memories ever was one night me and the missus had gone out to dinner. The jackdaw had flown off somewhere, earlier in the day and not come back. When we returned home around midnight we found it fast asleep in its cage in the living room. It had come home, found us not there and let itself in through the cat-flap and went to bed, all by itself. Even though it had always been 'free' in the sense it never had a door on its cage and was free to fly off wherever and whenever it wanted, somehow that incident really touched me as it was like the bird was telling me that it considered our house its home too. Absolutely amazing creatures and so intelligent. I read once that corvids have similar amounts of neurons in their brains to small monkeys but the folding of the corvid brain is more complex, so those neurons fit into a smaller brain volume. After having the privilege of spending that amount of time with one 'close up' I can certainly believe it. https://i.imgur.com/qOAN2ro.png https://i.imgur.com/qOAN2ro.png https://i.imgur.com/PO06LII.jpg https://i.imgur.com/PO06LII.jpg

forgotmypw17 6y ago
It's not just corvids. I was once lucky in finding a baby sparrow who could not fly yet, but who was cut off from their nesting site and parents. This sparrow would recognize me and come back to me after hanging out in the park for a day.
ruggeri 6y ago
Wow, that was a beautiful story. Thank you

b0rsuk 6y ago

I once read a book about beliefs of North American indians. It said Cheyennes divide birds into three groups: common, great and sacred. They count magpies into the sacred group! They like magpies because they're sociable, live close to humans, announce guests...

moneytide1 6y ago

Why watch wrestling or NatGeo when you can just go walk around outside and observe the eternal power struggle of nature? My recent episode was on a trail when I startled a field mouse that was clueless to an imminent garden snake pounce. The snake reared up and noticed me, but the attention was focused completely on its escaping breakfast. I had likely interrupted an hour long stalk and could detect annoyance in its exit slither.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]