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I know enough when some birds are upset. Crows are usually the most vocal. I'll try the test later but it's funny how well we humans with practice know. Except

I know enough when some birds are upset. Crows are usually the most vocal. I'll try the test later but it's funny how well we humans with practice know. Except pigeons they are stoic. My cat was sitting quietly one day and crows made noise and my cat uncharacteristically growled a deep growl. She know something was up.

retrac 3y ago
The angry/warning caw of a crow is sometimes called scolding, I think. It has a wide range of intensity. There were many American crows around my last house. The degree to which they cawed, and in particular started up a chorus, was proportional to the threat. On my normal routine, I would get a few caws, and then they'd settle. If I diverged from my routine and for example, walked off the path, or if I had others with me, it would get a bigger response. And when I let the dog out it was just a flood of angry cawing.
- throwawaymaths 3y ago
  You'd think that by now crows would have collectively learned that dogs are not really a threat
  - e40 3y ago
    Crows are very stubborn in their suspicion. More than most birds. Jays and Oak Titmouses (that looks wrong) have definitely warmed to us at home, since we feed them and the Crows. The Crows won't trust us at all, even after years.
morkalork 3y ago
I have a paregrene falcon that sometimes comes to hang out in a tree in my backyard, grackles and bluejays will follow it around making noise and harassing it. The sound is unmistakable once you've heard it a few times. Bluejays themselves are known for their mobbing behaviour towards predators.
- motohagiography 3y ago
  Some related anecdotes about listening to birds and sensing the rhythms nature: Out my window while I work I watch blackbirds harass crows over a field where the blackbirds nest. They don't show up until later in the morning, and I can tell I've slept in way too late if I hear crows. I can tell the sun isn't up yet if I can still hear bullfrogs, and at night I know to grab a blanket when the crickets chirps slow down, or to close the windows when the cricket chirps are dense, because it's probably cooler inside than out and I can preserve the cool in the house if it's a hot night. The robins seem to come out looking for worms before a storm, because the worms likely sense the pressure change and surface before hand. I had a squirrel problem over the winter, and I progressively started spreading a few peanuts out over the snow in the field further and further from the house and where they had less access to retreat to cover, as the hawks would show up later in the day where their shadows would be cast further out from their prey on the ground. I got the squirrels venturning pretty far out into the field for a while. I never saw the hawks get one, but one day I stopped hearing the squirrel and seeing it around. Not sure it worked, but it seemed like the most fair solution. I'm consiering a bat house to keep the mosquitos down as well. If you have the peace and quiet and time to listen, you can really integrate with nature pretty well.
zimpenfish 3y ago
We sometimes get the unholy trinity of crows vs magpies vs parakeets. Cacophony doesn't even come close when they're proper riled up.
m463 3y ago
I usually hear the crows and look out to see them dive-bombing hawks. That said I've heard stellars jays and found them doing almost the same thing to egg-stealing crows.
dghughes 3y ago
Later in the day a crow was outside. It "cawed" and was quite I could hear another crow far away doing the same. So the crow near me "cawed" again and then stopped and listened again. It was obvious it was communicating. This crow Broken Wing as I call it due to a drooping wing is a local crow. A family of five lives in a nearby tree it's a parent.

retrac 3y ago

The angry/warning caw of a crow is sometimes called scolding, I think. It has a wide range of intensity. There were many American crows around my last house. The degree to which they cawed, and in particular started up a chorus, was proportional to the threat. On my normal routine, I would get a few caws, and then they'd settle. If I diverged from my routine and for example, walked off the path, or if I had others with me, it would get a bigger response. And when I let the dog out it was just a flood of angry cawing.

throwawaymaths 3y ago
You'd think that by now crows would have collectively learned that dogs are not really a threat
- e40 3y ago
  Crows are very stubborn in their suspicion. More than most birds. Jays and Oak Titmouses (that looks wrong) have definitely warmed to us at home, since we feed them and the Crows. The Crows won't trust us at all, even after years.

morkalork 3y ago

I have a paregrene falcon that sometimes comes to hang out in a tree in my backyard, grackles and bluejays will follow it around making noise and harassing it. The sound is unmistakable once you've heard it a few times. Bluejays themselves are known for their mobbing behaviour towards predators.

motohagiography 3y ago
Some related anecdotes about listening to birds and sensing the rhythms nature: Out my window while I work I watch blackbirds harass crows over a field where the blackbirds nest. They don't show up until later in the morning, and I can tell I've slept in way too late if I hear crows. I can tell the sun isn't up yet if I can still hear bullfrogs, and at night I know to grab a blanket when the crickets chirps slow down, or to close the windows when the cricket chirps are dense, because it's probably cooler inside than out and I can preserve the cool in the house if it's a hot night. The robins seem to come out looking for worms before a storm, because the worms likely sense the pressure change and surface before hand. I had a squirrel problem over the winter, and I progressively started spreading a few peanuts out over the snow in the field further and further from the house and where they had less access to retreat to cover, as the hawks would show up later in the day where their shadows would be cast further out from their prey on the ground. I got the squirrels venturning pretty far out into the field for a while. I never saw the hawks get one, but one day I stopped hearing the squirrel and seeing it around. Not sure it worked, but it seemed like the most fair solution. I'm consiering a bat house to keep the mosquitos down as well. If you have the peace and quiet and time to listen, you can really integrate with nature pretty well.

zimpenfish 3y ago

We sometimes get the unholy trinity of crows vs magpies vs parakeets. Cacophony doesn't even come close when they're proper riled up.

m463 3y ago

I usually hear the crows and look out to see them dive-bombing hawks. That said I've heard stellars jays and found them doing almost the same thing to egg-stealing crows.

dghughes 3y ago

Later in the day a crow was outside. It "cawed" and was quite I could hear another crow far away doing the same. So the crow near me "cawed" again and then stopped and listened again. It was obvious it was communicating. This crow Broken Wing as I call it due to a drooping wing is a local crow. A family of five lives in a nearby tree it's a parent.