The Crows are Back in Town

by Kevin Strauss

Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) have been back in town for several weeks, leading the migration of spring birds, but since crows don't have the flute-like voice of the robin many people responde to the return of the crows with a less welcome oh, I guess the crows are back. But now that it is getting warmer outside, and we are speding more time outside, this is a great chance to take a closer look at this smaller cousin to the raven.

The first thing you will notice about crows is their coloration. While black feathers don't make crows very photogenic, they do help crows survive. Night is a dangerous time for crows as owls prowl the air, being black helps crows hide in the trees. This dark coloration also helps crows to hide dense, shady forests during the day.

While we often associate crows with the gutteral caw-caw call, they are very good mimics of other sounds as well. Researchers have reported crows that have developed the ability to mimic sounds of the human voice. But this trait seems to be related to whether or not the crow wants to mimic those sounds. Researcher Bernd Heinrich has documented ravens mimicing the sounds of engine reving, flusing urinals and radio static, so it is reasonable to assume that crows could produce similar vocal manipulations, if they chose to, since the species are so closely related. This may be more an issue of a lack of study of pest birds like crows rather a crow's weaker mimicing ability.

Crows can mimic those sounds because their have12 muscles controlling their syrinx or voice box. Most other songbirds have about eight muscles controlling their voice boxes and the non-musical hawks have only three.

Scientists argue about whether corvids like crows and ravens are intelligent in the human sense. But people have observed crows doing some amazing things. In Finland, some ice fishermen watched a crow learn to fly to their tip-ups and pull on the line to bring up the fish. The first time the crow tried, it picked up the line with it's beak and pulled back. But when it let got of the line, it fell back down into the fishing hole. The next time, it pulled on the line, then stood on the line with both feet before letting go of the line. By pulling and stading on the line, that crow was able to pull the fish up for dinner.

Crows can mimic those sounds because their have12 muscles controlling their syrinx or voice box. Most other songbirds have about eight muscles controlling their voice boxes and the non-musical hawks have only three.

Scientists argue about whether corvids like crows and ravens are intelligent in the human sense. But people have observed crows doing some amazing things. In Finland, some ice fishermen watched a crow learn to fly to their tip-ups and pull on the line to bring up the fish. The first time the crow tried, it picked up the line with it's beak and pulled back. But when it let got of the line, it fell back down into the fishing hole. The next time, it pulled on the line, then stood on the line with both feet before letting go of the line. By pulling and stading on the line, that crow was able to pull the fish up for dinner.

Sometimes crows will even steal food from other animals. Researchers have observed how one crow will land and pull the tail of a feeding otter. When the otter turns to face its pest, another crow swoops down and steals the otter's fish.

What crows lack in feathered beauty, they more than make up for in intelligence an playfulness. So the next time you are outside, pay attention to these clever birds.

The Ely Timberjay