PAGE 44 — Crows: the Bad Boys of Birding (continued)
...bird. Their intelligence and curiosity often result in play-like activity. Their ability to solve problems and remember those solutions is well documented. In one Moscow study, a crow was presented with a row of caps with food hidden under the first cap. Once it found the food, by trial and error, it was again presented with the caps, with food under the second. Again, the crow found the food, and again, presented with the caps, with the food under the third. By the fourth time, the crow went directly to the next cap in the row, irrefutable evidence of a highly evolved learning ability.
[Illustration of a crow with note: "Branwen" is Welsh for "white crow" or "white raven."]
Compared to other birds, the math skills of crows are considerable. They can count at least to three or four, possibly as high as seven. They are known to craft and use their own tools, and have extensive proficiency in locating the four-taloned discount. In fact, they specialize in pilfering. Anyone who has left a shiny key or bracelet outside in crow territory can attest to that.
"You get the feeling that they notice little details," said Cornell University crow expert Kevin McGowan. Since he started handing out peanuts to appease the birds he studies, he's been followed all over by crows that spot his Toyota with the ladder on the roof. "They seem to think and learn and change their behavior accordingly. They are the most human-like of the birds around us."
Crow behavior sometimes borders on the unbelievable. For instance, an ice fisherman reported that a group of crows, after watching human fishermen pull fish through holes in the ice, started doing the same when the fishermen retreated to their shack for coffee. The crows took the line in their beaks and backed up, then walked on the line up to the hole and repeated the behavior until the end was on the ice. They then devoured the fish or bait they found on the hooks. In Virginia, a murder of crows was implicated in a milk scandal. Upon retrieving their milk from the porch, people found the bottles opened and the cream gone. After careful watching, a neighbor reported seeing crows follow the milkmen on their deliveries, pry the paper lids off the bottles and help themselves to breakfast.
One observer told of watching a crow solve a tricky problem. The bird had found a pile of berries of varying sizes. Probably with hungry nestlings to feed, it attempted to carry the berries away. Repeatedly it picked up the berries in various size combinations. Finally satisfied, the bird took off with all the berries. It had stacked the treats in its beak in descending order of size, smallest in back, largest at the tip.
