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Crows & ravens are amazing birds. Having read about crow courts that mete out justice to those of their kind who have stepped out of bounds, I witnessed it down in our pasture one day. A pine tree courtroom with dozens of crows was presided over by three stern elders (or so it seemed). One crow, the object of their ire, was on the ground and each time it attempted to flee, two others standing on either side would yank it back. I was transfixed watching the crows deal with the outcast. After much caahing & carrying on, the entire flock took flight, leaving the outcast alone. To my anthropomorphic mind, it looked ashamed & forlorn. A social pariah. There are no dumb animals in this world.Child of the tides
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Agreed totally Haven. Animals are much more intelligent than many humans realize. From a beavers building dams that hold back billions of gallons of water to crow court...which I have heard of by the way...the animal world is just amazing at adapting and surviving. Great video by the way Chase...The chase is better than the catch...
I'm Frank and I'm from the flatlands of N'Eastern Illinois...
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Thanks for sharing, Charlie. Regarding your wondering if American Crows are as intelligent as the New Caledonian ones. Yes they are. I have seen similar studies in which the problem solving abilities of crows was demonstrated. It is truly amazing when one compares their abilities with those of other birds and apparently to lots of mammals. If I remember correctly from one video I saw that they apparently have the ability to learn 2nd hand from the experiences of other crows in which some kind of communication was involved. I can't remember where I saw it. Perhaps it was the PBS presentation that Sugaree was referring to.
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Decades ago when I was a new young hunter in my teens, I had a dislike for crows as well as many other European introduced wildlife as I considered them to be be an invasive species. So whenever I was out hunting other game I kept crows on my hit list just for honing my skills but I soon learned that as long as I was carrying a firearm it seemed that any time I saw a crow and tried to sneak within range to shoot it, it would always fly just far enough away to stay out of my accuracy range. However if I was just walking around out in the wild with no firearm or intent of hunting I could easily get within a stones throw of them. I did unfortunately manage to eventually shoot 2 crows on different occasions but only because they flew directly over me by accident while I was in thick cover and heard them coming while hunting other game. But as I matured I developed a respect for them and took them off my hit list and came to admire their intelligence and love to watch their antics. I will never shoot one again.
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Originally posted by rock ON. View PostDecades ago when I was a new young hunter in my teens, I had a dislike for crows as well as many other European introduced wildlife as I considered them to be be an invasive species. So whenever I was out hunting other game I kept crows on my hit list just for honing my skills but I soon learned that as long as I was carrying a firearm it seemed that any time I saw a crow and tried to sneak within range to shoot it, it would always fly just far enough away to stay out of my accuracy range. However if I was just walking around out in the wild with no firearm or intent of hunting I could easily get within a stones throw of them. I did unfortunately manage to eventually shoot 2 crows on different occasions but only because they flew directly over me by accident while I was in thick cover and heard them coming while hunting other game. But as I matured I developed a respect for them and took them off my hit list and came to admire their intelligence and love to watch their antics. I will never shoot one again.
FWIW, here's what I posted in that other thread:
"........The crow is very special to me. For the Narragansett, the crow was Cauntantowwit's messenger. Cautantowwit was the great creator god, and associated with the southwest. This was the case for many Algonquian tribes. The crow is such an intelligent creature.
When I took a niece on her first arrowhead hunt, three of them flew overhead, landed, watched and called out just as we had found her first point. I told her Cauntantowwit was giving his blessings, and why not. It can be fun to mythologize events in one's own life that way. It's harmless at least.
We were feeding squirrels at the beach a few days ago, yep, we have squirrels that live in trees at the beach, lol, and a crow stopped by. My wife was going to shoo him, like she does the gulls, and I said, "no, no, he's free to eat here too". And eventually he did. He carried on loudly for awhile, I told him "feel free" and he picked up a peanut shell and worked it open. Anytime, Cauntantowwit's messanger!
I used to take Winter walks in a nearby woods and there was one tree where it seemed hundreds hung out. I would hear them calling from a great distance, and up close, it was deafening."
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Edit: rock ON, thanks for sharing your story of how your philosophy changed. I've always like most critters, but just in recent years I've been making a concerted effort to communicate with them, on their terms of course....Last edited by CMD; 02-01-2018, 11:21 AM.Rhode Island
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I guess I was misinformed back then or wasn't paying enough attention [typical for me as a teen] and got my birds mixed up but at the time as I was under the impression that crows were released here along with starlings, blackbirds, and house sparrows by a bunch of Shakespearean's who decided that all birds mentioned by William Shakespeare should be in America. Could it be raven's? I guess those 2 crow's were needlessly killed in a case of mistaken identity wish I had of known better at the time.
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I just looked up the common raven on wikipedia and it appears that they are only as native here as Native Americans are in that they apparently got to this continent the same way across the bering land bridge. There is also some interesting info about their intelligence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_raven
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Awhile back, I was reading a story about crows, and there was this ice fisherman that had tip up flags by his holes. For those that don’t know what these are, they are just little devices that flip up a flag when a fish is on the line. This guy claimed a crow in a nearby tree watched this happen a couple of times. The next time the flag flipped up, the crow flew down to the hole in the ice, and started trying to pull the line out of the water. I don’t remember if the crow got the fish out of the hole or not, but he tried.
South Dakota
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I posted my crow story but will again . I threw a pices of candy up to a curious crow . I was about 9 and he somehow became my best friend . After taking the candy I went and got some real food . This crow became my best buddie . He would allow me to scratch his head till he would almost fall asleep . It got to where he would be at my bedroom window at sunlight cawing for me . To others distaste my brother and I made him a place at the breakfast table . Yum pancakes . I would walk to school and he would follow me . I had to make him a bath and give him a treat till I could run to school . The teacher didn’t like him cawing for me in class . I would kneel down and call Charlie Charlie and out of nowhere he came and would land on me waiting for his head rubs .
What a wonderful very intelligent bird and friend .
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Originally posted by Tam View PostI posted my crow story but will again . I threw a pices of candy up to a curious crow . I was about 9 and he somehow became my best friend . After taking the candy I went and got some real food . This crow became my best buddie . He would allow me to scratch his head till he would almost fall asleep . It got to where he would be at my bedroom window at sunlight cawing for me . To others distaste my brother and I made him a place at the breakfast table . Yum pancakes . I would walk to school and he would follow me . I had to make him a bath and give him a treat till I could run to school . The teacher didn’t like him cawing for me in class . I would kneel down and call Charlie Charlie and out of nowhere he came and would land on me waiting for his head rubs .
What a wonderful very intelligent bird and friend .
Rhode Island
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