"These #Crows have counting skills previously only seen in people
"The #Corvids are the first animals other than humans known to produce a deliberate number of calls on command....
"...The researchers also... could` predict the upcoming number of crow calls based on the sound of the first call, suggesting that the birds planned the number of calls in advance..."
#Crows Can Actually Count Out Loud, Amazing New Study Shows
A team of scientists has shown that crows can 'count' out loud – producing a specific and deliberate number of caws in response to visual and auditory cues. While other animals such as honeybees have shown an ability to understand numbers, this specific manifestation of numeric literacy has not yet been observed in any other non-human species. https://www.sciencealert.com/crows-can-actually-count-out-loud-amazing-new-study-shows
Crow intelligence in action: the crows here will eat animals that have been visibly wounded/hit by cars/etc., but will NOT eat animals which do not have visible marks (ie potentially rat poisoned). #smart#birds#crows
Mini #CrowUpdate : I got to spend some time with the family tonight after work (the first time in a few days). Everybody seems to be doing fine. Junior can more or less fly now. But it's still scared/intrigued by me and by the fact that Mom and Dad are cool with me.
Impossible to take a picture of the three of them, so it's only Mom and Junior and not even on the same shot.
Today is Tuesday, which means I spent a good chunk of the day at home, which means... #CrowUpdate and a very special one, entirely focused on Baby Crow!!!
I saw it not once, not twice, but three times today!
First, while giving peanuts to Mom, I heard him in the tree nearby. It stayed this way for a little while. I'm not sure if it wanted to jump to the branch close by or if it was looking at Mom collecting the peanuts. Maybe both?
A bit later, Dad was walking on the ground, but acting a little weird. I wondered why, so I went and... lo and behold, baby was on the ground too!!! One of its first times.
It was so cute, grabbing a bunch of things with its beak (leaves, rocks, etc.) basically discovering the world.
I find it a bit skinny. (maybe that's why the parents have been coming to see me for peanuts a lot these days?)
(sorry for the picture quality, I didn't want to get too close)
Went out for a walk. Was admiring the beautiful colour of the trees, and when I finally found my phone to grab a snapshot was scenically photo-bombed by the local corvid gang.
Baby is out of the nest, finally.
However, while the picture is dark, its beak and eye are darker than if it had just come out, so I suspect it's been in and out of the nest for a few days probably (although, it's surprising I didn't notice it) or it just stayed in the nest longer than usual (maybe)
Trying out two of the Sailor de Mannen fude nib, 45 degrees and 55 degrees. 55 degrees is very smooth, almost too smooth and I didn't like the Pelikan Moonstone. I enjoyed the 45 degrees nib, not too scratchy or thick. Noodler red black ink is nice too.
Mini #CrowUpdate. The crazy winds of yesterday broke branches, destroyed the last remains of an old nest, and probably delayed baby crow making its first steps into a larger world, but no damage was done to #crow family or their nest. I saw Mom and Dad briefly this morning, but this evening returning home, they were both standing on guard at each end of the park and baby was hanging out in the nest, quite visible now.
Enjoy (there are three pics here and one video next)
To mark my return to the Mastodon scene, please accept the gift of this crow. His name's Bossy and he's one of my top #crows. His interests include knocking over flower pots like a winged bowling ball and eating cheese ravioli.
Mr. Crow says "good morning" so mini #CrowUpdate :
Both Mr. and Ms. Crow have been extremely friendly this morning (I'm working from home today) they approached me closer than before (They didn't even fly away when I exited the house and they happened to be near the door.) Maybe the last remnant of fear they had about me vanished when I helped them chase the cat in the park two days ago?
Baby is still hanging out in the nest, I caught a glimpse of it.
One feather from Mr. Crow's wing is ready to fall. Could be bad news (one more damaged feather) or good news (one already damaged feather falling and finally about to be replaced by a new one). It doesn't seem to bother him, though.
Away at the parking lot, the babies can now fly and are hanging out all over the place. They're about to be loud. Maybe it's a good thing "my" crows seem to only have one baby at a time. (2/2)
Long overdue #CrowUpdate So yeah, I haven' given any news about the #crows because the past two weeks were some confusing times. I saw them every day, but they always were either far or in a rush, and quite tense (they wouldn't approach me much). Their behavior would greatly vary from one day to the other and I couldn't tell why.
Of course, it had to be related to the nest. While on the other side of the neighborhood, three fledglings are coming out of their nest, here, mystery. (1/?) 🧵 ⤵️
I found the strangest thing in my yard today. A tangle of white ribbon with a monkey-faced key attached. Clearly it didn't belong to anyone in my family and was too far from the fences to be tossed over by a neighbor. I can only imagine that some crow was passing overhead, hauling it back to their nest, and dropped it here.
1/2 #gardening #gardeningMastodon #crows
#CrowUpdate When was the last one? More than a week probably. Here is the thing, the weather being nicer, there are almost always people in the park at the moment, so it's rarely quiet enough for the #crows to come down. The last time I spent some sort of time with Mr. Crow was about a week ago, and he was not too keen on approaching me. And also, it's a very busy and stressful time for the crows too, probably the busiest and most stressful time of the year.
So yeah, nesting. Babies are in the nest. I have no idea how many, they're well hidden from the ground. As I said, it's a busy and stressful time for the #crows. Even more this year, as Mr. Crow can't do much. He spends a lot of his days hiding (maybe foraging too) or on the lookout on top of a utility pole. Ms. Crow has to do most of the rest: feeding the babies, spending time with them, but also fending off threats. She's the one who has to chase the eagles (it used to be Mr. Crow's job) ⤵️ 🧵
Also cats. While they can't climb that high, the babies are going to get out of the nest any day now (last year was the first week of May if I remember well) and crow fledglings leave the nest BEFORE being able to fly. It's a weird thing and probably part of natural selection: they need to count on more than just their wings to survive (this is how Mr. Crow still manages to survive in his condition, I guess) but of course cats represent a grave danger then, (⤵️ 🧵 )