these critters love their raw peanuts!

making it part of my morning routine to feed the murder that hangs out by the dock. the ones that sat on the side view mirror will eat out of my hand and was able to get these nice shots :)

i don’t even care about the potential gifts-i just really love these guys.

I have been studying crow vocalizations for over 30 years. A number of years ago, I wrote the book, The Language of Crows and created a CD of crow vocalizations and their meanings to go with it. The discussion in that book still remains the most thorough analysis of crow language yet to be published. Since then I have continued working using machine learning techniques, as well as continual observations of wild crow populations. I have been following with great interest the attempts to use Artificial Intelligence to "translate" the sounds made by a variety of sentient creatures - whales, elephants, etc. - and have come to the conclusion that this is one area where AI can at best, only achieve limited success.

With crows, the "calls" we hear may be reasonably compared to the bugle calls used by the military. With a very limited range of possible sounds, a bugler can relay a very large number of concrete directives - wake up, come eat, attack the enemy, retreat, go to bed, etc. It is very simple to correlate these sounds with the accompanying activities by simple observation. It would be a piece of cake for AI to handle. This is pretty much what all the recent AI studies have been accomplishing with for whales, etc. However, dropping back to the military analogy, and assuming that other species besides humans engage in vocalizations that go beyond simple action related statements, it is easy to tell when the bugle calls soldiers to the mess hall, but an entirely different matter to decipher what they are talking about over dinner if we don't already know the language.

Over the years, I have recorded many crow vocalizations, particularly in winter communal roosts at nightfall, that I am convinced fall into the category of "conversation" as opposed to action related "calls." After many years of eavesdropping on crows during their daily routines, I can pretty much tell what most of their calls are describing. The much lower volume communications during the day between individual birds and the evening roost group conversations remain as indecipherable as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in the absence of a Rosetta Stone. Some entirely novel approaches will have to be developed in the field of xenolinguistics if ever we are to have meaningful conversations with members of our fellow species here on earth, let alone with other intelligent species we may encounter if and/or when we expand beyond the boundaries of our planet. [Michael Westerfield]

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1465065378/the-language-of-crows-the-crowsnet-book

Feeding my local crows this morning and this guy turned up. I've never seen a hooded crow and I'm wondering if this is what a young one looks like. Or if it is potentially the result of different corvid species mating, as I have read that sometimes happens.

I love crows so much and I almost CRIED when I saw this dead crow on the bike path. I ride a cargo bike (aka an adult tricycle) to the college and it takes up a lot of space, so I had to move it to not defile the poor thing with my tire. It was fully intact and otherwise seemed unharmed, so I grabbed a cloth and wrapped it gently before moving it to the dirt on the side. I know they have funerals and I didn't want to remove it, so I left it there.

Here's the problem. Whenever I'm riding now, if there's a crow, it'll start cawing. Usually it's a quiet ride. At the grocery store, they will start cawing and more will come to caw too. So naturally I'm worried I evoked the wrath of the local crows. Usually I'm in a rush but should I leave a little early to give like an offering? Coins, snacks, etc.? I know this sounds a little crazy, but there's too many crows in the area to risk their ire. Please advise!

7 a.m. creep show

Noticed this crow last week and all of its tail feathers and flight feathers on the wings are pulled out. Will they grow back? It can’t fly for now obviously just climb up the trees and jump on the ground.

I’ve been feeding a family of crows now for about a year. It started as two, and then they brought their two babies this year. Sadly I don’t think one made it because now there’s only three. Over the past few weeks I’ve had some unwanted company. Stellar Jays…they are the absolute gluttonous creatures. I don’t mind feeding all birds but these little shits will devour the whole dish and a lot of times the crows let them. I feed my crows cashews, whole peanuts, meal worms, and dried cat food, and whatever else I have left over. If I refill the bowl these little creatures will take the whole thing. I notice that if the crow is out there on my patio it will chirp at me so that may be my only solution.

Is there anything I can do to deter the stellar jays from the crow food? I try to take the bowls away if I see them out there but then I feel bad haha. Any suggestions?!

Hi! I am new here and have always had an obsession with birds more specifically crows. I notice them flying around my neighborhood often, especially on Thursday (trash day) I’m sure as smart as they are, they know that Thursday is trash day lol.. With that being said, I’d love to somehow lure them into my yard to offer them nuts and other foods so they have a safe place to eat but am unsure of how to do so. They go in my neighbors yard and the houses across the street from me, but never in my yard. Yesterday they were on my neighbors roof so I threw some French fries out in the road and they took them, but that’s as close as they’ll get to my yard.. Mind you I don’t have any trees or anything but I’d just really love to have them feast and become familiar with me if possible? TIA 🖤

I mean, tis the season for the spooky and weird!

Original video: https://www.youtube.com/@espritw3046