Japanese Crows -- wonderfully adaptive ....

[headscratcher4]

http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/weblog.php?/weblog/clever_raven

Really remarkable....

[Ladewig]

Weren't some crows caught putting things on railroad tracks?

[headscratcher4]

It wouldn't surprise me, especially after seeing this, I'll bet the could run the dang train.

[Soapy Sam]

I found a crow in a cardboard box inside an incinerator bin this morning.
I don't know who got the bigger fright, me or the crow.

They are fascinating birds. Very curious, very adaptable. They learn.

[Dragonrock]

I, for one, welcome our new crow overlords.

[sphenisc]

I can't get the video to play. Help!!

[headscratcher4]

I, for one, welcome our new crow overlords.

I hope we can stop them before they get the bomb...

[Crowbot]

I, for one, welcome our new crow overlords.

And you shall be spared, loyal one!

[3point14]

For those of us stuck at work without the ability to play the vid, would someone be kind enough to give me a description?

[Goshawk]

I can't get the video to play. Help!!
What video player/service are you using? It's on both Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPHxA8-aaE) and on Google video. (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7329182515885554944&q=clever+birds&hl=en)

[headscratcher4]

For those of us stuck at work without the ability to play the vid, would someone be kind enough to give me a description?


David Attenborogh (sp?) narrates...film footage of Japanese crows. They are shown trying to break nuts by dropping them from great hights on the roadway. Sometimes they break. However, some more thoughtful crows have apparently figured out that to drop the nuts in front of moving vehicles and letting the weight of the cars/trucks crush the nuts. THe problem is, how to get the nut meat in the dense traffic? So, next we've birds who drop the nuts in cross walks, let the cars crush them than wait for the light where they hop out alongside the pedestrians crossing the road and pick up the nut meat. Very clever.

[Goshawk]

It's a clip from David Attenborough's "Life of Birds" series, (http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds) which aired a while back.

An article discussing the Japanese crows in question, from the series, is here. (http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/brain/)

[Psi Baba]

I can't get the video to play. Help!!
I'll bet a crow could get it to play.

David Attenborogh (sp?) narrates...THe problem is, how to get the nut meat in the dense traffic?
I liked the way David Attenborough put it, "how to collect the bits without getting run over."

[3point14]

David Attenborogh (sp?) narrates...film footage of Japanese crows.... Very clever.


Thanks!!! URA*

[AWPrime]

Smart birds.....

[sphenisc]

What video player/service are you using? It's on both Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPHxA8-aaE) and on Google video. (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7329182515885554944&q=clever+birds&hl=en)


Cheers

[Pidge]

I, for one, welcome our new crow overlords.

Oi! Wrong Website!

Get back to /.!

[jimlintott]

While driving on our highways I've noticed crows, like other birds, munching on roadkill. When you approach them in a car most birds scatter with wild wing flapping and almost random escape routes. I've hit birds scattering. The crows simply take a couple of hops to the shoulder and stand there while you drive by.

[headscratcher4]

While driving on our highways I've noticed crows, like other birds, munching on roadkill. When you approach them in a car most birds scatter with wild wing flapping and almost random escape routes. I've hit birds scattering. The crows simply take a couple of hops to the shoulder and stand there while you drive by.


Where they take down your licence plate number, enter it into their book of death, sit back and wait...they are patient and stealthy, that is why they will ultimately win.

[deadrose]

Here on Vashon Island where most roads are lower-traffic, the crows have refined it in a different way. They carefully place the nuts to maximize the chances of getting crushed. I've watched them hop back out, after a car has gone by, to adjust the nut's location.

[luchog]

I've seen crows here doing a similar trick with cars and chestnuts. Since the traffic is pretty light, they just use the road. There's another problem, however. They have to fight squirrels for the chestnuts after the cars have run over them.

[tkingdoll]

I've seen crows here doing a similar trick with cars and chestnuts. Since the traffic is pretty light, they just use the road. There's another problem, however. They have to fight squirrels for the chestnuts after the cars have run over them.

I love squirrel V bird fights. There was one on my lawn the other day, a grey squirrel versus a pigeon. The squirrel won, but it was well fought on the pigeon's part. I tried to photograph them but they were a little too far for the zoom.

[Polaris]

While driving on our highways I've noticed crows, like other birds, munching on roadkill. When you approach them in a car most birds scatter with wild wing flapping and almost random escape routes. I've hit birds scattering. The crows simply take a couple of hops to the shoulder and stand there while you drive by.

I've seen video of a crow fashioning a skewer from a wire to get a Cheeto from the bottom of a small cylinder. I'll post the video if I find it.

ETA: here's a link of similar behavior (pics and video): http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/movies.shtml

[qayak]

I love squirrel V bird fights. There was one on my lawn the other day, a grey squirrel versus a pigeon. The squirrel won, but it was well fought on the pigeon's part. I tried to photograph them but they were a little too far for the zoom.

I have seen crows knock squirrels off of telphone wires, injuring or killing them. The crows then feast on the squirrelly bits.

[Soapy Sam]

I have often seen British crows drag roadkill onto the motorway hard shoulder before proceeding with butchery. They rarely take it any further, apparently recognising that the painted line marks the limit to which vehicles travel.

One of the funniest things I ever saw was a crow with a full Scotch Mutton Pie in it's beak, barely clearing a low fence at a road crossing, then dodging traffic as drivers actively braked and swerved to miss the bird.

Total chaos, but by god he was taking that pie home.

[Roboramma]

That was so awesome. I just realised I haven't seen the whole Life of Birds series! Wah! Days will soon be lost!
Crows are awesome. One of my favourite animals.

[davefoc]

This link worked:
http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/cgi-bin/EE/index.php?/P80/

[SteveGrenard]

Not as smart as the Geico squirrels ....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1901632978527809398&q=squirrels&hl=en