CrowCapture™
April 13, 2025 3:09 PM Subscribe
Crows can consistent detect outlier shapes Crows "could still continue to find the outlier, even though .. perceptually very similar to the other five regular shapes,"
So what's the next step? - an ordered array of crows ready to peck-select the odd shape out in reCAPTCHAs?
the more the idea that we are the smartest starts to lose credibility.
What other creature on the planet would conceptualize "the smartest" and it follows from there
posted by ginger.beef at 4:45 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
What other creature on the planet would conceptualize "the smartest" and it follows from there
posted by ginger.beef at 4:45 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
This does not surprise me at all knowing how good Australian magpies are at recognising people they hate.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:16 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:16 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
Don’t Australian magpies hate everyone?
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:39 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:39 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
This is a common misconception. They don't hate everyone at all but, if they hate you, you know about it. I don't think Magpies are as smart as Crows, but they're at least as smart as humans.
posted by dg at 6:01 PM on April 13 [4 favorites]
posted by dg at 6:01 PM on April 13 [4 favorites]
I've just recently started giving (unshelled) pistachios to my neighborhood crows. They appreciate the gesture. Our relationship may be based on our mutual recognition of our abilities in geometrical
discernment, and perhaps a celebration of our interdependency, but this is all pretty transactional, really. I expect them to give me shiny sparkly things in return.
posted by kozad at 7:00 PM on April 13 [5 favorites]
discernment, and perhaps a celebration of our interdependency, but this is all pretty transactional, really. I expect them to give me shiny sparkly things in return.
posted by kozad at 7:00 PM on April 13 [5 favorites]
We have lots of crows around here in Seattle.
And they are just the cockiest fucks you could ever meet. Watch them walk. They don't give many shits.
The other morning, about 50 of them decided to have a party in our neighbor's tree. No idea why.
It was a large murder of crows, and they were all talking about it...
Used to work in an area near some crow areas, and after getting swooped a couple of times, realized it was breeding season, and always picked up a "crow stick" to pick up and wave over my head on my walk to the office. They got it and left me alone.
Would never try to feed them and make friends though. I don't trust like that...
posted by Windopaene at 7:44 PM on April 13
And they are just the cockiest fucks you could ever meet. Watch them walk. They don't give many shits.
The other morning, about 50 of them decided to have a party in our neighbor's tree. No idea why.
It was a large murder of crows, and they were all talking about it...
Used to work in an area near some crow areas, and after getting swooped a couple of times, realized it was breeding season, and always picked up a "crow stick" to pick up and wave over my head on my walk to the office. They got it and left me alone.
Would never try to feed them and make friends though. I don't trust like that...
posted by Windopaene at 7:44 PM on April 13
I'd love to have crow friends that would hang out around here just for *me* personally, but if they're hanging out, it's usually for horse hair nesting materials, water to play in, and scraps from the chickens. All of which is is out there free for the pickin'. I have tried to bribe our corvids with peanuts and shinys, but so far they're not impressed with the goods. Life is pretty good here in the Great Basin desert for crows and magpies. Occasionally I see a raven passing through, but usually they hang out in the foothills.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:39 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
posted by BlueHorse at 8:39 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
I have several crow neighbors. I have only left food for them once, when I had a lot rancid walnuts on hand. And yet for some reason they leave me gifts all the time. White things, mostly: pebbles, shells, and bits of plastic. I choose to believe it is by way of compensation for the veto power they exert over my landscaping choices.
posted by Just the one swan, actually at 8:55 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
posted by Just the one swan, actually at 8:55 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
I still want to befriend black birds, but I'm also afraid of what happens if they start expecting food from me and one day I'm out of food.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:40 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:40 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
Go ahead. Build your array of crows. I'm gonna teach crows how to unionize. It will the MURDER UNION.
Who's the outlier now?
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 12:19 AM on April 14
Who's the outlier now?
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 12:19 AM on April 14
On the internet, nobody knows you're a crow.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:38 AM on April 14
posted by From Bklyn at 12:38 AM on April 14
I want to point out that CAWTCHA was just, like, right there.
I don't know if there are many crows locally. Around here you have to keep both eyes on the grackles. Siblings to crows in spirit if not in fact.
One of my formative Austin experiences was getting accosted by a grackle outside a Freebirds* who, ostensibly, wanted my tacos. It's really best to eat indoors at that location.
*- I am aware of the irony.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 4:05 AM on April 14 [1 favorite]
I don't know if there are many crows locally. Around here you have to keep both eyes on the grackles. Siblings to crows in spirit if not in fact.
One of my formative Austin experiences was getting accosted by a grackle outside a Freebirds* who, ostensibly, wanted my tacos. It's really best to eat indoors at that location.
*- I am aware of the irony.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 4:05 AM on April 14 [1 favorite]
I still want to befriend black birds, but I'm also afraid of what happens if they start expecting food from me and one day I'm out of food.
It's terrible! I have crow friends and if I ever forget their food they will repeatedly fly down and buzz right over my shoulder as they fly from tree to tree for about half a mile. No cawing or anything really annoying. Just them repeating flying in and signalling "I think perhaps you have not noticed me". I've gone so far as taking different routes home if I run out of crow food because I find it heartbreaking. If you're going to feed the old gods it is a commitment.
I do enjoy the surprised looks of pedestrians and dog-walkers who witness this kind of spectacle in a crowded urban neighborhood though. It's about a 50/50 split between people who are delighted and those who are freaked out at seeing someone walking with a crow escort.
posted by srboisvert at 5:04 AM on April 14 [4 favorites]
It's terrible! I have crow friends and if I ever forget their food they will repeatedly fly down and buzz right over my shoulder as they fly from tree to tree for about half a mile. No cawing or anything really annoying. Just them repeating flying in and signalling "I think perhaps you have not noticed me". I've gone so far as taking different routes home if I run out of crow food because I find it heartbreaking. If you're going to feed the old gods it is a commitment.
I do enjoy the surprised looks of pedestrians and dog-walkers who witness this kind of spectacle in a crowded urban neighborhood though. It's about a 50/50 split between people who are delighted and those who are freaked out at seeing someone walking with a crow escort.
posted by srboisvert at 5:04 AM on April 14 [4 favorites]
We have a big murder of crows that hangs out in our neighborhood because my backyard backs up to a local park. They tend to wait for the smaller birds to come use our feeders and scatter seeds around, but I'll periodically go out and throw raw peanuts on the ground for them. These crows bully the various hawks and owls in the area.
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 6:36 AM on April 14
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 6:36 AM on April 14
It's terrible! I have crow friends and if I ever forget their food they will repeatedly fly down and buzz right over my shoulder as they fly from tree to tree for about half a mile. No cawing or anything really annoying. Just them repeating flying in and signalling "I think perhaps you have not noticed me". I've gone so far as taking different routes home if I run out of crow food because I find it heartbreaking. If you're going to feed the old gods it is a commitment."
This is exactly what I suspected and why I won't be making crow friends :( Thanks for the confirmation that it's a bad idea if I'm flaky-ass about food buying.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:38 AM on April 14
This is exactly what I suspected and why I won't be making crow friends :( Thanks for the confirmation that it's a bad idea if I'm flaky-ass about food buying.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:38 AM on April 14
I've gone so far as taking different routes home if I run out of crow food because I find it heartbreaking
Do you (can you?) carry the same quantity of crow food on each walk? Like, is there the expectation that you are known to carry four Crow Foods (tm) and so only that many crows will be expecting food? Or is it a thing that as time goes on you are expected to eventually carry five Crow Foods. Then six. Etc.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 1:30 PM on April 14
Do you (can you?) carry the same quantity of crow food on each walk? Like, is there the expectation that you are known to carry four Crow Foods (tm) and so only that many crows will be expecting food? Or is it a thing that as time goes on you are expected to eventually carry five Crow Foods. Then six. Etc.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 1:30 PM on April 14
It varies by season. In the winter the crows are out on the Chicago lakefront in medium sized murders of 8-10 crows. In spring and summer they pair off for mating purposes so the encounters are individuals or pairs. I adjust how much I carry based on that.
I regularly feed two crows. My first buddy Swoops, whose territory is the Chicago lakefront along Belmont Harbor, and Barry Crowbama, whose turf is Barry Avenue the street I live on. I also feed their mates in the early spring but once nesting season comes around (like now - it is usually just solo feeding as the mom to be stays on the eggs in the nest most of the time). My buddies know my and will follow me and swoop and land quite close.
The winter murders are more opportunists and there are other people who feed them so the relationship feels less personal and fraught. If I let them down by running out of food I feel less bad.
FYI: I feed them a mix of peanuts in shell, raw walnut pieces and cat kibble. I also feed crushed peanuts and walnut pieces to two-three downy woodpeckers and two white-breasted nuthatch friends who eat from my hand at the local bird sanctuary. They also demand their treats pretty vocally and will fly close enough to brush my ear if I don't notice them right away.
posted by srboisvert at 5:59 AM on April 15 [2 favorites]
I regularly feed two crows. My first buddy Swoops, whose territory is the Chicago lakefront along Belmont Harbor, and Barry Crowbama, whose turf is Barry Avenue the street I live on. I also feed their mates in the early spring but once nesting season comes around (like now - it is usually just solo feeding as the mom to be stays on the eggs in the nest most of the time). My buddies know my and will follow me and swoop and land quite close.
The winter murders are more opportunists and there are other people who feed them so the relationship feels less personal and fraught. If I let them down by running out of food I feel less bad.
FYI: I feed them a mix of peanuts in shell, raw walnut pieces and cat kibble. I also feed crushed peanuts and walnut pieces to two-three downy woodpeckers and two white-breasted nuthatch friends who eat from my hand at the local bird sanctuary. They also demand their treats pretty vocally and will fly close enough to brush my ear if I don't notice them right away.
posted by srboisvert at 5:59 AM on April 15 [2 favorites]
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posted by dg at 4:42 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]