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Are Crows Our Friends?

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/are-crows-really-our-friends
32•speckx•3h ago

Comments

lgas•1h ago
Yes.
SamuraiLion•58m ago
I mean; they cause no harm unless you are a farmer or something, do they?
vjvjvjvjghv•35m ago
They poop on people they don't like. I used to work at an office where you had to walk under some trees from the parking lot to the entrance. There was one guy that got pooped on at least once a week. Then he used an umbrella which they pooped on too. No idea what he had done to them but they clearly didn't like him :-)

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.

Avicebron•55m ago
They are, until a murder takes up residency in a tree outside your apartment in Emeryvile. Then they are cool roommates you have to get away from else you lose your sanity.
dylan604•39m ago
Or is it the roommate that always brings his friends over totally disregarding your personal space? Same result though
brcmthrowaway•51m ago
In Australia, they attack random people.
kraken_cult•42m ago
This is just crow slander, they're magpies. So corvids, but not crows. And the people are walking under their nests.
patall•39m ago
Australian magpies aren't corvids either
kraken_cult•38m ago
I stand corrected, they are not corvids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_magpie
patall•40m ago
Australian magpies are not really related to the crow familie (which includes magpie).

And, from my experience, don't atteack random people but those that got to close to their nest. Whatever their definition of close is.

strken•29m ago
I believe crows can be more aggressive than ravens, maybe because they hang out in bigger groups rather than pairs. I haven't heard about it being limited to Australia, though.

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.

petcat•47m ago
The crows around my house are generally cool unless I do something they don't like and then they'll remember my face for all of eternity and mob me whenever I am outside.
dylan604•35m ago
There's a crow that sits on top of our fence and yells at my cat. The cat is of no threat to the crow. Not speaking crow, I'm not sure if the yelling is angry or just talking loudly. There's no flapping of wings or extending to look big. He just stands there a very obviously crowing at the cat. The cat in no way feels threatened and just lays there. Not sure if his inner monologue is "ugh, this guy" or not, but that's what it looks like.
kylecazar•29m ago
They can pass grudges against individuals down to their offspring. Could be looking at generational animosity if you really displease them.
roughly•45m ago
A friend is someone you’ll spend time around given other options. If you’ve spent any time getting to know crows (or jays, or any other corvids), it’s quite obvious this is the case. I had a scrub jay who’d perch on my foot while I read in the morning. I considered him a friend, and by that standard, he me.
lelandfe•38m ago
How folksy. Give that jay a hat and we got a Disney movie cooking.
smurda•35m ago
Crows can remember a dangerous person and tell their friends about it. From "Social learning spreads knowledge about dangerous humans among American crows" (https://faculty.washington.edu/wirsinga/Cornell2011.pdf)

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.

tescreal•7m ago
What does scolding look like in crows? Sincere question.
drop_star•23m ago
We have problems here with crows destroying lawns to dig up grubs.

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.

squidbeak•16m ago
How dare their need to feed spoil a lawn's appearance...
b112•15m ago
While there are times crows need to be dealt with (see the horrors of Chatham, Ont + crows), those grubs eat the roots of grasses.

So you can let the crows have your grubs, or the grubs your grass.

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Are Crows Our Friends?

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/are-crows-really-our-friends
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