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Why on earth are you feeding a currawong? They’re among the meanest most mercenary omnivores; they hardly need your help.

by enneff 4y ago

lostlogin 4y ago
The pied variant looks 100% like the thing New Zealanders call a magpie. Vicious and horrible.
hilbert42 4y ago
First, one can't explain all fine details in a post or it'd be too long and wouldn't be read so I'll expand the post here. It may surprise you but from my limited experience I agree with you that currawongs are about the meanest most mercenary omnivore I've seen. I suppose I've had a casual interest in them from early on, when as child of about five one attacked me whilst I was walking with my mother in a park. It dive-bombed me and its beak left my head bleeding. I never feed them regularly but only when it suits me such as when I'm eating or have scraps immediately to hand and it's only when I've time. The reason is that the birds and one in particular will come very close to me where I can study their behavior in response to things I do such as moving around, staring at them and so on. From this it's clear to me that currawongs are significantly more intelligent than say pidgins or seagulls (having observed them in similar situations) and on a spectrum I'd put the ibis somewhere between them and currawongs but closer to the latter. It's their intelligence that holds my interest. Feeding currawongs means that I can be within a meter or so of them for quite some minutes. What I found intriguing is how quickly they learn and remember and they do so for a long time. As I said, they know me and others in the neighborhood, they have no difficulty in distinguishing between people and they show this by responding very differently to each person they've become aware of. I can be away for weeks and sometimes several months can pass between my interactions with them yet they still specifically remember me from others. Outside domesticated pets, they are essentially the only animal I've had regular interaction with that has sufficient cognition and intelligence to single me out from others and remember the fact. That alone makes them fascinating from an observational perspective (essentially it's curiosity that drives my interaction with them). Note: I'm not an expert in animal behavior nor do I have anything other than a general interest in the subject (I've a technology-based background).

Why on earth are you feeding a currawong? They’re among the meanest most mercenary omnivores; they hardly need your help.

by enneff 4y ago

Why on earth are you feeding a currawong? They’re among the meanest most mercenary omnivores; they hardly need your help.

lostlogin 4y ago

The pied variant looks 100% like the thing New Zealanders call a magpie. Vicious and horrible.

hilbert42 4y ago

First, one can't explain all fine details in a post or it'd be too long and wouldn't be read so I'll expand the post here. It may surprise you but from my limited experience I agree with you that currawongs are about the meanest most mercenary omnivore I've seen. I suppose I've had a casual interest in them from early on, when as child of about five one attacked me whilst I was walking with my mother in a park. It dive-bombed me and its beak left my head bleeding. I never feed them regularly but only when it suits me such as when I'm eating or have scraps immediately to hand and it's only when I've time. The reason is that the birds and one in particular will come very close to me where I can study their behavior in response to things I do such as moving around, staring at them and so on. From this it's clear to me that currawongs are significantly more intelligent than say pidgins or seagulls (having observed them in similar situations) and on a spectrum I'd put the ibis somewhere between them and currawongs but closer to the latter. It's their intelligence that holds my interest. Feeding currawongs means that I can be within a meter or so of them for quite some minutes. What I found intriguing is how quickly they learn and remember and they do so for a long time. As I said, they know me and others in the neighborhood, they have no difficulty in distinguishing between people and they show this by responding very differently to each person they've become aware of. I can be away for weeks and sometimes several months can pass between my interactions with them yet they still specifically remember me from others. Outside domesticated pets, they are essentially the only animal I've had regular interaction with that has sufficient cognition and intelligence to single me out from others and remember the fact. That alone makes them fascinating from an observational perspective (essentially it's curiosity that drives my interaction with them). Note: I'm not an expert in animal behavior nor do I have anything other than a general interest in the subject (I've a technology-based background).