It's the same story the crow told me;
It's the only one he knows.
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go.
THE COMMON CROW IS AN UNCOMMONLY CHARMING BIRD, SAYS A MAN WHO KNOWS HIS FINE FEATHERED FRIENDS
Bil Gilbert
This is about crows and ravens in general and several individual ones I have known personally. There are about 40 species of what ornithologists call common crows, all members of the genus Corvus. They are distributed over most of the world, have developed some odd local customs and vary a bit in appearance. But functionally they are about as similar as Swedes and Swahilis, and here all of them will be called crows unless there is reason to do otherwise.
Crows, like humans, are omnivorous, able to eat more or less anything that does not eat them first; they are hardy and clever enough to prosper in virtually any environment on the planet, from polar to tropical regions. Since they have always been around us in substantial numbers and have a good many behavior patterns quite similar to our own, we have been keeping crows under surveillance for a long time (and, very likely, vice versa). To give our side first, here are some observations and thoughts about crows:
They have big brains, larger in proportion to their size, than any other avian species. Behavioral investigators in laboratories have given many laudatory testimonials to how well crows solve puzzles, manipulate locks and keys and learn to do simple counting exercises. In the field, where they are free to do as they please, crows have been found using tools and weapons held in their beaks. They employ sticks and spines as picks and probes. British bird-watchers trying to get at ravens' nests have been repeatedly showered with stones intentionally aimed at them by the dive-bombing birds.
Crows are obviously, incessantly and raucously communicative. Ordinarily, they employ a hundred or so meaningful expressions and gestures, but individual birds will creatively alter these root sounds and movements to expand their working vocabularies. Many crows are talented, enthusiastic mimics and, like PBS commentators or wine critics, are apt to sprinkle their conversations with foreign mots. I have known crows who used phrases they have picked up from cicadas, ducks, dogs and humans. That they can do the last is well known. There is no reason to believe that the raven did not quoth "Nevermore." And if indeed the bird did, the poet probably took it too seriously. I am persuaded that ravens don't know or much care what they are saying in such cases, but that they shout things like "Hello, Jake," mostly for the gaudy effect.
At times crows are notably, even hysterically, social. In the part of the world where I live—central Pennsylvania along the Mason-Dixon line—at the end of the working day during the fall and winter most of them gather in large flocks, sometimes consisting of as many as 75,000 birds. Then they roost together in clusters of trees, cheek by jowl, and spend the night gossiping, wrangling and sometimes sleeping. Come spring, however, the birds go off to look for single-family nesting territories. Once established in a nest, they are very secretive about its location. In the manner of New Jerseyites who have come by a ranchette retreat on a quarter of an acre in the Poconos, they belligerently drive off all trespassers, regardless of size, species, color or creed.
In principle, crows are monogamous, mating for life, which can last 20 years or more. Males and females both work at nest building and may take turns incubating the eggs and feeding the young. However, their principles, like ours, are sometimes violated, and at times they will do things that would be called adultery or rape if, say, a TV evangelist did likewise.
We can only guess at the motives of other creatures and can describe them only by making figurative analogies based on our own experience. It is therefore impossible to say with certainty why a crow will lie flat on its back and juggle a pinecone or toss and retrieve stones or perform acrobatics in the air or on the ground. It certainly looks as if it is playing, as we might say, engaged in an impractical and unnecessary, but agreeable, activity. Also, crows are known to do drugs, apparently (one must admit, in keeping with the foregoing reservations) for fun. Case studies of sporting and junkie crows will be provided in due course, but before that, some consideration should be given to the reverse perspective—what crows may know about us.
As is apparent to anyone who has tried to approach these birds, they clearly have learned that humans can be dangerous. However, this information does not terrify crows as it does many less bold and astute beasts. To the contrary, judging from their actions, they may well regard people in the way it is thought early people regarded fire—as a tricky but, on balance, magnificent gift of the gods.
The spread of what is sometimes referred to as civilization has been a disaster for some species, and even we have at times had doubts about whether its rewards are worth the price it exacts. In pursuit of our various agricultural, commercial and domestic interests, however, we have turned vast tracts of the planet into habitat that is much more attractive and richer for crows than was the howling wilderness. Thanks to us, the short-term prospects are that this world will become a better and better one for these birds.
In Arctic regions where I have sometimes gone, there are days when the only other living things to be seen are ravens, glumly pecking away at ice floes or glaciers, trying to get at frozen lemming scraps and such. The toughness and ingenuity of these Arctic-dwelling birds is impressive, but these ravens are atypical. To see many more—and more adaptable—ravens than are found in the Arctic wilderness, go to Fairbanks, Alaska, or Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, or similar modern northland communities that have dumpsters and landfills. In addition to the abundant refuse they offer, the streets of such towns are paved with the equivalent of raven's gold: road kills, mashed pizza, french fries, kiwi fruit parings and other loose garbage, which ravens find as nourishing as iced lemmings and much easier to get at.
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