We exposed wild crows to a novel ‘dangerous face’ by wearing a unique mask as we trapped, banded and released 7 –15 birds at five study sites near Seattle, WA, USA. An immediate scolding response to the dangerous mask after trapping by previously captured crows demonstrates individual learning, while an immediate response by crows that were not captured probably represents conditioning to the trapping scene by the mob of birds that assembled during the capture. Later recognition of dangerous masks by lone crows that were never captured is consistent with horizontal social learning. Independent scolding by young crows, whose parents had conditioned them to scold the dangerous mask, demonstrates vertical social learning.
It goes also the other way around. I do not leave a note to my neighborhood crows when I move town.
I think that it has nothing to do in which terms it happens but the communication barrier. It is very possible that the crows signal that they are leaving for good but we are just missing the message. And my reason to not leave them a note is because they cant read, if they could I would.
Friends? It's probably transactional from the crow's POV, but OTOH they hang out on the fence and just sit sometimes even if there are peanuts on the ground. I enjoy seeing them, though. I will say, though, that after many pounds of peanuts not a single one of the little bastards has ever brought me a present, as is advertised. :-)
It possibly helps that I have a dog that will not tolerate a cat on the property and seems to believe that birds don't exist.
Now they bring trinkets as gifts and leave them near the tree. We also had a crow in the past that would make barking noises when it saw our dogs and freak them out. I'm convinced it was messing with them.
Now, in Seattle, we just have a nice family of three crows that hang out on our balcony on a daily basis. I much prefer this arrangement.
Gatherings are very noisy affairs, and that amplifies the numbers.
I don't want to go out of my way to befriend them, because they may harass people who are not me on the property.
I also tell my young daughter to always be nice to them, because they will pass information not only among themselves but also down generations.
(Where I live there are no crows, please excuse my ignorance. Only common pigeons, as filthy as they are dumb, and they don't seem to hold a grudge, or think much of humans... or at all).
From the article: "One study found that, between 1941 and 2004, there were just 207 reports of pathogens transmitted from pigeons to humans – anywhere in the world. In all, there were 13 recorded deaths. The true number may be higher, but it would have to be off by several orders of magnitude to compete with the scale of infections from other domesticated animals – particularly some of those with more favourable reputations."
A local sod farmer told me they shoot one and leave it dead in the field. All the other crows show up for a crow funeral and when they leave they dont come back. They remember the crow that died there and treat the area as dangerous.
Ive seen it so many times on lawns "Oh no the moles are killing my yard, what do I do?" "Buy grub control" "I bought mole pesticide and traps instead because I don't care about grubs, what are these giant dead spots in my yard now?" "Grubs, because you killed the only thing suppressing the grubs."
If you're in the PNW, those invasive grubs were going to destroy your lawn anyway.
More information: https://invasivespecies.wa.gov/priorityspecies/european-chaf...
So you can let the crows have your grubs, or the grubs your grass.
It solved the problem.
They love chicken strips which feels wrong. But they like what they like.
They may become the primary intelligent species of the planet some day - since the evil LLM will never be able to predict their communications and will not be able to wipe them out
And, from my experience, don't atteack random people but those that got to close to their nest. Whatever their definition of close is.
We only have a couple of species of crow and if you're on the east coast then you're pretty much guaranteed to be seeing ravens. The crows are in the centre and the west coast, in the dry parts.
Another thing I saw at a park: The crows surrounded a swan. One would pick at the swan's butt. When the swan turned around, another would do it. It looked like they bullied the swan for entertainment.
That's not so bad! That alone makes them better than pigeons, which simply poop on everything (sidewalks, cars, people, other pigeons) regardless of any personal animosity or lack thereof.
On the subject of cruelty in animals:
> '[...] humanity may come to terms with the dwarf, the troll and even the orc, terrifying though all these may have proved to be at times, and you know why this is, Drumknott?'
> The secretary carefully folded the duster he had been using and looked at the ceiling. 'I would venture to suggest, my lord, that in their violence we recognize ourselves?'
> 'Oh, well done, Drumknott, I shall make a cynic of you yet! Predators respect other predators, do they not? They may perhaps even respect the prey: the lion may lie down with the lamb, even if only the lion is likely to get up again, but the lion will not lie down with the rat. [...]'
-- Snuff by Terry Pratchet
Now when they see something weird (recently, a bird of prey in street light they saw through the window) they sound the alarm and the dogs go absolutely crazy.
Tangent to your tangent, but this is one reason why a guard llama works so well together with guard dogs for protecting livestock.
A llama is much more alert to potential danger than, say, sheep. Which actually is an understatement: sheep have the added problem of not making any noises when attacked or eaten by predators, and therefore not alerting guard dogs.
Dogs can teach themselves to interpret the llama's body language and pro-actively chase away coyotes or foxes or whatever it is that the llama spotted.
I've seen this in action on a family friend's sheep farm.
I’m always curious about animals’ perception of us. I think they don’t really have the concepts of things like doors, lids, etc, as constructed devices that are made to be manipulated. I wonder if they think we’re very clever at getting into things. And does the dog worry every day that we won’t find food?
Looking at a city on Google Maps with satellite mode on was already a revealing experience when it came out.
Now imagine a live view of that with everything moving, as part of your regular environment.
I wonder if smarter birds (such as corvids) might have developed some sort of understanding of the large-scale organization of our cities, or how road and railway networks function. Not because they somehow figured out human civilization but because they literally see those things right in front of them every day.
It possibly helps that I have a dog that will not tolerate a cat on the property and seems to believe that birds don't exist.
I like the kind of wild pigeons you can see outside cities. I reserve my contempt for city pigeons, which I like to call "flying rats".
I also like crows, but there aren't any (that I can see) where I live. I've seen them in other locations, of course.
Some trees put out a chemical barrier to growth, as well. Red Cedar and Black Walnut do it around here.