A few
years ago, when our eldest granddaughter was mimicking sounds and words, I
delighted both of us by teaching her to “caw-caw” like a crow. Being an ardent
birder, my husband Gerry taught her to sing “fee-bee” just like an Eastern
Phoebe that shares her name. Sitting outdoors in the fresh morning air, we
pointed out sequences of Osprey chirps and the sing-song lyrics of an Eastern
Towhee (“drink-drink your tea!”)
I’m an
amateur birder, absorbing just enough to detect a cardinal flitting over the
yard or an eagle’s nest high over the highway. When I had some time recently to
listen to an episode of one of my beloved podcasts (Ologies with science-writer
Alie Ward), I chose Corvid Thanatology. In –other-words, the study of crow
funerals.
Obviously,
the episode wasn’t as depressing or morbid as you’d think … and neither are
crows. Host Alie Ward has her own unique sense of humor and most of the
scientists, specialists, and researchers who join her do, too. Her guest for
the October 29, 2018 episode was wildlife researcher Dr. Kaeli Swift.
Listening, and then reading much more later, I learned that a crow is an
extraordinary bird that mourns its dead. Crows are playful and mischievous, but
they also mate for life. They are, frankly, one of the most intelligent birds
on Earth.
Crows
are in a family of birds named the Corvids, a group that contains 120 species.
The most typical are crows, ravens, jays, magpies, rooks, and jackdaws. All
corvids are remarkably smart, and their skills include using tools and
recognizing themselves in mirrors. Those two abilities are possessed only by
humans and the more clever mammals.
Corvids’
brains, in relation to their body size, are nearly the same ratio to you and I.
Corvids are located all around the world, unlike some species of birds found
only in certain geographic areas, and the largest corvid is the Common Raven
that can weigh in at over 3 pounds.
Corvid fossils have been identified from 17 million years ago!
The
first book to reach for, if you want to learn more about astonishing corvids,
is Bird Brains by Candace Savage. Ms. Savage is a prolific writer in the world
of wildlife, and her repertoire includes works about bees, wolves and Grizzly
Bears. Bird Brains was initially published in 1995, but Savage revised and
updated it in 2018 and the paperback is rich with large, full-page
illustrations of crows, magpies, ravens, and jays. On one of its first pages
you’ll find the words of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher: “If men had wings and
bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.” This
undoubtedly is Savage’s opinion, as well.
In 2005,
Savage wrote Crows: Encounter with the Wise Guys of the Avian World. This book is a compilation of first-hand
accounts and poetry about crows. My favorite is a poignant story, Aireala, in
which the author relates her story of profound grief and the healing powers of
the “bright, quirky” appearance of a beautiful black baby crow who stayed with
her for a brief, but valuable, time.
John
Marzluff is a professor of wildlife science and has also written two books
about corvids: In the Company of Crows
and Ravens (2005) and Gifts of the Crow (2012).
In his second book, he explains that it is the understanding, emotion,
and thought that corvids demonstrate that allows for the similarities to human
behavior.
Bernd
Heinrich, well-known naturalist and professor emeritus of biology at the
University of Vermont, has meticulously studied ravens. In the Mind of the
Ravens (1999), Heinrich describes his passion, especially in observing them for
hours on end. He writes in One Wild Bird
at a Time (2016) that while crows “can be impressively clever,” the raven has a
“brain capacity roughly double that of the crow.” However, research shows that ravens are more
solitary and individualistic. Crows, on
the other hand, have more of a flock or community-mentality. American Crows
will sometimes roost with another hundred thousand birds. They are also known
as devoted parents who let their young remain “home” for months or years.
Noah
Strycker has been a bird-watcher much of his 33-year life. In his late
twenties, he wrote The Thing with Feathers (2014), an engaging book that
teaches us that all birds are brighter than we would think. He adds that
corvids, especially, are not only intelligent but playful and they are
mischievous thieves, as well. Most books about corvids tell tales of their
playful swiping and hiding of objects.
In A
Conspiracy of Ravens (2014), the University of Oxford illustrates over
one-hundred birds with their collective name. Of course, most people have heard
of a “rookery of penguins” and a “gaggle of geese.” But have they heard of an
“ostentation of peacocks” or an “ascension of larks”? No one really knows why it’s a “murder” of
crows. Some think it’s due to the black
plumage or a crow’s affinity for scavenging for carrion.
The
editor of Birding Magazine, Ted Floyd, writes 200 lessons about 200 birds in
How to Know the Birds (2019). In one
such lesson, Floyd explains that all five species of corvids – crows and ravens
– are entirely black, including their eyes, bill, and feet. The pigment – or
melanin – has many advantages of strength and resistance to bacteria.
Another
fun book that can be read in lessons, or chunks, is BirdNote (2018) – stories
of birds on BirdNote produced by PRI or the Public Radio Institute. These are
the same stories that were broadcast by Seattle-Tacoma public radio and are now
listed to across 200 radio stations in the US and Canada. One story tells the
tale of “giant avian slumber” parties.
While
you are at it, you might as well read this small book: aaaaw to zzzzzd: the
Words of Birds by John Bevis. In it, you’ll learn that while the Fish Crow
belts out “cah,” the American Crow exclaims “caw” or “caw caw caw caw coodle
yah.” Try teaching that longer version
to your grandchild!
