Quoth the [Crow], "I'm Fucking Awesome."

Starcross

Duffel wrote: »

Speaking of animal languages...

One time when I was a little kid my cousin told me she had "found out how to talk to her cat". So she brings the cat into the room and starts making these horrible schreeching caterwauling noises.

We got a reaction from the cat, alright. Unfortunately, the only thing she knew how to say in Cattese was "DEAD NOW MOTHERFUCKER!" because the cat flipped out and attacked her.

Now, back to talking about crows.

One often wonders, when you do things like that, if you're actually doing the cat equivalent of stretching out your eyes with your fingers and saying "Ching chong, wing wong".

Corvus

Rikushix wrote: »

Corvus wrote: »

In Vancouver, basically all the crows in the city roost in one area. Last year, it was right on my drive home from work, and it was sort of freaky seeing thousands of them sitting on buildings just chilling. Think about their brain power, and then, when you see something like this,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QuEjaG4Ghs&feature=related

Its a little freaky.

Holy crap. You know where that video was taken? I'm from Delta so it's less crows and more great blue herons, falcons, bald eagles, starlings, etc....

I think thats the Costco near Boundary Road in Vancouver. The crow roost is (or was, the construction of the new casino in Burnaby may have disturbed it) in the Still Creek area on the Burnaby/Vancouver border, right around Willingdon and the #1.

Duffel

As badass as a sky full of crows is, I wouldn't want to be around one.

Once I saw this really freaky flock of starlings pass over town. Starlings travel in swarms, but this one was epically huge; there were hundreds of thousands of them passing over. I stood outside and watched them go by for like 30 minutes and they were still coming. All while making that creepy noise big flocks of starlings make, the one that kind of sounds like machinery or something. If you've ever heard them you'll know what I mean.

I stood under an awning, though. The bird shit was falling so thick that it was almost like rain. It was like something out of an apocalyptic horror movie.

GungHo

In my area, a lot of people mistake grackles for crows, and even call them "crowjacks". Those people tend to be amazed when they actually see a crow... they're monsterous in comparison.

When I was a boy, we had a treehouse that we put up every year for purple martins... for some reason, the martins and the sparrows had some sort of peace treaty. Usually they're kill-on-sight enemies, but the martins took one side of the bird house and the sparrows took the other side. Then one morning, a true crow, which don't usually go as close to the coast as I was, decided to sit on top of the bird house. No one noticed him until one of the martins decided to fly up for a snack. The shit-stirring competition then began. First the martins and then the sparrows all started circling and screaming at the crow... kinda looked like the biplanes flying around King Kong. The crow ignored them at first, just wanting to take a rest. Then it got tired of the chirping and flew off toward the school yard, with the sparrows and martins following after for a short distance. The sparrows and martins flew back to the bird house, happy with themselves in their victory. Someone must have said something ugly, because then they decided to brawl with each other. It was a real bench clearer.

I saw the crow looking across the school yard at the bird house... he flew back a little ways and purched on a swingset. I think he was laughing.

Beren39

Starcross wrote: »

Duffel wrote: »

Speaking of animal languages...

One time when I was a little kid my cousin told me she had "found out how to talk to her cat". So she brings the cat into the room and starts making these horrible schreeching caterwauling noises.

We got a reaction from the cat, alright. Unfortunately, the only thing she knew how to say in Cattese was "DEAD NOW MOTHERFUCKER!" because the cat flipped out and attacked her.

Now, back to talking about crows.

One often wonders, when you do things like that, if you're actually doing the cat equivalent of stretching out your eyes with your fingers and saying "Ching chong, wing wong".

I think it's just incredibly irritating. A few years ago I'd watched a Friday the 13th marathon so I was going around my house doing the whole "sh sh ha ha" sound and I noticed my cat was looking at me with wide eyes. So I sped up the rate at which I was doing it until it became a really swishy and quick "hahahahahaha" which causes her to lay prone on the ground and wiggle her butt while clawing at the ground until she had finally had enough and tackled my ankle and started clawing my leg.

Premier kakos

Duffel wrote: »

wiki wrote:

A group of crows is called a "murder."

...Reassuring.

A group of ravens is called an Unkindness. I always liked that one. An Unkindess of Ravens.

Premier kakos

Starcross wrote: »

Crows hate owls. This is because owls are terrifying nocturnal predators that are quite capable of killing them in their sleep. Often, if crows find where an owl sleeps during the day they'll get a huge mob together and kill it.

Holy fuck. Owls are the vampires of crow mythology. And I'm guess ravens are like the orcs.

Lurk

I want a pet crow or raven now : (

Killgrimage

Beren39 wrote: »

I think it's just incredibly irritating. A few years ago I'd watched a Friday the 13th marathon so I was going around my house doing the whole "sh sh ha ha" sound and I noticed my cat was looking at me with wide eyes. So I sped up the rate at which I was doing it until it became a really swishy and quick "hahahahahaha" which causes her to lay prone on the ground and wiggle her butt while clawing at the ground until she had finally had enough and tackled my ankle and started clawing my leg.

Oh man, I thought my sister was the only person to figure that out. She hyperventilated once or something and the cat attacked her. Now every time she wants to get on the cat's nerves, she'll make that speeded up "hahahaha" noise, almost like a dog panting. It's weird, the cat goes nuts and will jump really high to attack her.

And yes, crows are completely badass.

Quoth

So.

Uh.

Well then.

Element Brian

I was waiting for this.

Quoth

I mean, it's cool... have a party for me and then don't invite me. I see how it is.

No hard feelings, guys.

Rhesus Positive

Well, it's more for your cousin, you see... we just thought it'd be awkward.

Like if there was a thread about colobus monkeys or tamarins; I'd feel like I was only being invited out of politeness.

tallgeeze

When I had a night job a few years ago I would listen to Loveline with Adam Corrola. His big thing was attack crows. At the time I was skeptical about such things, but as the weeks went by he would describe all the cool things about a crow.

He convinced me attack crows is where it's at. Forget dogs or cats, imagine a flock of crows attacking an intruder.

Tofystedeth

Quoth wrote: »

I mean, it's cool... have a party for me and then don't invite me. I see how it is.

No hard feelings, guys.

I was gonna tell you in the WB[chat] but I figured you already knew.
Sorry

TeaSpoon

Sonderval wrote: »

Any of you guys ever witness a Crow's funeral?

I have.

Years ago, one morning when I was walking from my home to my old school, I would cross a large park area. On this day, as I was walking along, I could see some crows on the ground in the distance. They were kinda in my path, but I just ignored them, expecting them to fly off when I got closer, as birds are want to do.

When I was about 20ft away, they weren't budging. They were also very quiet. I also noted that they had formed a circle around another crow - ok, I thought, thats weird. So I started to veer towards this assembly. I then realized that the bird in the middle wasn't moving. At all. He/she was dead. The other crows were standing around, just watching or holding some sort of vigil. I was within 10ft of them by now, utterly fascinated. None of them stirred at my approach, so I stopped at this distance and just watched. A few crows regarded me, but none of them seemed wary of me. It seemed like they were hanging around the dead crow for some purpose.

So I stood there for a good 5 minutes before I had to make a move to get to school on time. I still remember the whole experience vividly. When I was walking home that evening, the crows body was there, but the vigil had ended. I wasn't freaked out by seeing this, rather as I have become older I realize I was witness to something pretty special in nature. I've had a deep respect for crows ever since - they are definitely brighter then you'd think.

Are you sure you didn't imagine it after reading a Gaiman short story or something?

BloodySloth

I thought people and elephants were the only animals to have death rituals. That's a bit weird.

kaleedity

Premier kakos wrote: »

Duffel wrote: »

wiki wrote:

A group of crows is called a "murder."

...Reassuring.

A group of ravens is called an Unkindness. I always liked that one. An Unkindess of Ravens.

A conspiracy of ravens.

That's pretty awesome.

Quoth

I like a parliament of rooks myself.

Tastyfish

BloodySloth wrote: »

I thought people and elephants were the only animals to have death rituals. That's a bit weird.

They were probably trying to decide if they should eat Steve before or after they tell his wife.

There was quite an interesting bit on raven intelligence I read a while back, apparently they are are of the few animals that will attempt to solve a problem logically rather than just remembering which action gets the food. Researchers would have a mechanism for releasing food and record how many attempts it took for the bird to get it right, apparently some of the older ravens would just look at it for 10-15 minutes and then get it in one.

Comes a price though, seems their logic is pretty straight forward and they can't grasp counterintuitive concepts regardless of how you try to make it obvious. A pulley system where you have to pull something down to make something else go up is beyond them and they'll just give up in frustration whilst younger ravens or other species would have worked it out quite quickly just through trial and error.

Far as collective nouns go, its a Murder of Crows isn't it?

Judgement

Sonderval wrote: »

Any of you guys ever witness a Crow's funeral?

I have.

Years ago, one morning when I was walking from my home to my old school, I would cross a large park area. On this day, as I was walking along, I could see some crows on the ground in the distance. They were kinda in my path, but I just ignored them, expecting them to fly off when I got closer, as birds are want to do.

When I was about 20ft away, they weren't budging. They were also very quiet. I also noted that they had formed a circle around another crow - ok, I thought, thats weird. So I started to veer towards this assembly. I then realized that the bird in the middle wasn't moving. At all. He/she was dead. The other crows were standing around, just watching or holding some sort of vigil. I was within 10ft of them by now, utterly fascinated. None of them stirred at my approach, so I stopped at this distance and just watched. A few crows regarded me, but none of them seemed wary of me. It seemed like they were hanging around the dead crow for some purpose.

So I stood there for a good 5 minutes before I had to make a move to get to school on time. I still remember the whole experience vividly. When I was walking home that evening, the crows body was there, but the vigil had ended. I wasn't freaked out by seeing this, rather as I have become older I realize I was witness to something pretty special in nature. I've had a deep respect for crows ever since - they are definitely brighter then you'd think.

I think all you did was spoil their appetite

L|ama

Keas are pretty damn smart too


they also rip windshield wipers and radio aerials off cars, and steal jewelry and other shiny stuff.

Starcross

L|ama wrote: »

Keas are pretty damn smart too


they also rip windshield wipers and radio aerials off cars, and steal jewelry and other shiny stuff.

Keas can be terrible vandals. The best ad I ever saw (but have been unable to find on youtube) is one where a family parks their car near the mountains, then a heap of keas come down and start pulling it apart. It then says "because you never know what might happen" as it's an ad for car insurance.

Rook

GungHo wrote: »

In my area, a lot of people mistake grackles for crows, and even call them "crowjacks". Those people tend to be amazed when they actually see a crow... they're monsterous in comparison.

When I was a boy, we had a treehouse that we put up every year for purple martins... for some reason, the martins and the sparrows had some sort of peace treaty. Usually they're kill-on-sight enemies, but the martins took one side of the bird house and the sparrows took the other side. Then one morning, a true crow, which don't usually go as close to the coast as I was, decided to sit on top of the bird house. No one noticed him until one of the martins decided to fly up for a snack. The shit-stirring competition then began. First the martins and then the sparrows all started circling and screaming at the crow... kinda looked like the biplanes flying around King Kong. The crow ignored them at first, just wanting to take a rest. Then it got tired of the chirping and flew off toward the school yard, with the sparrows and martins following after for a short distance. The sparrows and martins flew back to the bird house, happy with themselves in their victory. Someone must have said something ugly, because then they decided to brawl with each other. It was a real bench clearer.

I saw the crow looking across the school yard at the bird house... he flew back a little ways and purched on a swingset. I think he was laughing.

I was watching this BBC documantary about Ravens I think once, but I guess it probably applies to a lot of those birds is that they'll quite happily eat the eggs and young of other smaller species. Anyways, some species have figured this out and tend to go a little crazy in an attempt to drive off predatory birds, and a good tactic is getting a swarm together and shitting all over the bird, this fucks up the feathers enough that the poor bird can't fly anymore.

Oh hey, found the clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdrl__ggV9k

L|ama

Ah yeah, that's an old AMI ad I think. Can't find it either. They actually do that too, and to spouting (gutters) on houses, and TV aerials. My dad was telling me about how he went tramping once and left his jacket behind for some reason and covered it in rocks so that they didn't take it, but they either moved all of the rocks or just pulled the jacket out from underneath and flew off with it.

There's a shot of a house from the same documentary as that video where they've covered the roof in wires hooked up to mains electricity to stop them.

Sonderval

Are you sure you didn't imagine it after reading a Gaiman short story or something?

No, I hadn't encountered any of Gaiman's works by this age. And I assure you, it was real. I can recall the whole event quite vividly. I wasn't partial to crows before either.

OptimusZed

If nothing else, this thread has made me confident that should the human race be wiped from the face of the earth, society will eventually be rebuilt by birds.

bwanie

I posted this in the youtube thread but it belongs here aswell:

crows also have species-crossing maternal instincts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JiJzqXxgxo

bwanie

Ahahaha look at this obnoxious little fucker:

*tag* you're it!

Rhesus Positive

That's hilarious - and backs up the theory that intelligent animals tend to be dicks.

Rikushix

I expected the polar bear to just whip around and bat the thing out of midair. Hahah what a ballsy crow

BloodySloth

bwanie wrote: »

Ahahaha look at this obnoxious little fucker:

"What the Hell is that thing?"

"...I dunno. See if you can go piss it off."

Tofystedeth

When wolves make a kill, crows will group up, and one of them will taunt it, by tugging on its tail and stuff. When the wolf chases it away, the others will zoom in and eat as much of the carcass as they can before it comes back. Then they do it some more until they've all eaten.

Also that crow + kitten thing was adorable.

Gamagari

That's hilarious - and backs up the theory that intelligent animals tend to be dicks.

My father told me a story of a crow he had as a pet when he was a kid. He claimed it was able to talk. It was also quite a dick. It would steal food from my grandmother while she was cooking by making a sound like a human scream in another room, and rushing into the kitchen when she went to check it out. It would also piss of the hogs by sneaking up on them, and then letting out a sound like a mountain lion growl. It got hit by a broom by my grandmother during one of its heists, which broke one of its wings. They found a bunch of crow feathers in the hog pen not long after.

BloodySloth

That story started great, turned amazing, and then ended horribly depressing.

bwanie

Tofystedeth wrote: »

When wolves make a kill, crows will group up, and one of them will taunt it, by tugging on its tail and stuff. When the wolf chases it away, the others will zoom in and eat as much of the carcass as they can before it comes back. Then they do it some more until they've all eaten.

Also that crow + kitten thing was adorable.

Did you see the kitten stalking the crow behind a wall?

I thought the poor crow was going to have a heartattack.


edit: Or when it called the kitten back from crossing the street? So awesome.

Scalfin

bwanie wrote: »

I posted this in the youtube thread but it belongs here aswell:

crows also have species-crossing maternal instincts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JiJzqXxgxo

Nothing is as cute as this:

bwanie

There is nothing even remotely cute about baboons.

bwanie

What you see there, is the baboon getting a good grip on the kittens' paws.

Before ripping it in half.

SkutSkut

Yeah monkies are pretty fucked up animals, all stealing mothers babies and eating them in the jungle and shit like that, crows are awesome though.