I find it depressing how one of our most fascinating birds crows and ravens are still viewed by many so harshly despite all the research over the years they are native birds this land is theirs and we should be embracing them they deserve our love and appreciation because under that mysterious black attire lies a misunderstood beautiful bird full of interesting behaviors some that are even similar to our own in this video I want to help people to see these birds in a new light and understand them a little better enjoy just as humans are monogamous for
the most part crows to tend to stick with one partner but they may take it more seriously than we do because pairs often remain together for life they do break up sometimes though interestingly they don't always run off to find the meat as soon as they are sexually mature which is around two years of age often it can be as many as several years before a crow will look for a mate maybe that's why their relationship success is better than ours until then they remain with their parents and other siblings from previous years once a
pair is together though is a fairly close union during the mating period the male guards is female and once egg-laying begins the male stays close by keeping watch of the nest area for extended periods of time like humans crows to a really family-oriented young typically remain with their parents for several years before going out on their own a family of crows can have as many as 15 individuals including the parents and siblings from previous years it's thought that they keep lifelong relationships with siblings aunts uncles and maybe grandparents after all they do join communal roost
every night during winter surely there must be a familiar family member in the crowd the young that stay take part in raising their parents newest brood something that is called cooperative breeding they will help it by bringing food to their mother while she incubates as well as to the babies they also help guard the nest area by keeping a lookout for any potential threats being so close to one another crows are also pretty affectionate often preening one another something that is known as a low preening rarely fights break out between family members usually it's just
a late scolding kind of like us you know interestingly like people crows hold funerals okay maybe not the kind of funerals we hold but a funeral nonetheless if one crow dies a flock of crows will surround the deceased however not only to mourn the dead but also to figure out what killed their member if they figure out it was a bird of prey or something of that nature they will band together and chase the predator away crows and ravens are prominent figures in folklore and mythology around the world often portrayed as evil portents of misfortune
and why is that because of how they look they're large and black with a seemingly eerie mystery about them often even thought of as ugly to make matters worse they don't make particularly beautiful songs instead it's that core ska surprising to many though crows are sign birds as are all Corbett's people often think that what makes a sign bird is their ability to sing beautiful songs and while many sign birds actually do sing lovely songs there are plenty who don't and some songbirds rarely even sing at all to be honest over the past seven years
of birding and getting familiar with the crows in my area I've come to actually love their sounds I'm not bothered in the slightest by them don't be fooled by their mysterious black color either in the right lighting crows are actually very beautiful birds and they are even colorful certain angles and lighting situations reveal shimmering colors of green blue and purples this is the same for Ravens too it is known as iridescent black up close their plumage has a pretty pattern too and just look at that face such a cutie because crows live in cities and
are use to humans they can provide a wonderful opportunity for casual birders to witness some interesting and fun bird behavior up close since crows are highly intelligent this makes the experience even better because you truly don't know what you will witness them do for example crows hold territories and don't take kindly to intruders such as Ravens or birds of prey flying through they also don't like other predators like foxes coyotes and cats you can bet that if any one of them are near crows will make a dramatic scene in a bit cutting and dive-bombing the
predator they will even go so far as to hitch a ride on a bird of prey they are chasing off I have seen lone crows chase up a huge Eagle which was just comical because the Eagle is so much larger than the crow those birds are fearless and full of antics and I swear that Ravens the much larger cousin to crows will deliberately pass through a crow territory just to razz them up and being as smart as Ravens are known for seemingly having a playful nature I wouldn't be surprised that that's what they do sometimes
for centuries crows have been considered pests and shot because of it it's thought that they destroy the nest and young of game birds and destroy sprouting corn no doubt that crows can have a significant effect on the nest success of waterfowl however the reputation for eating eggs and young a water fell as well as sunburns is likely exaggerated because during spring the primary food source of crows seems to eat earthworms I can vouch for that a family of crows I've known for years frequent my garden in search of worms and other insects it has also
thought that crows can cause a lot of damage to firms but in fact they may do more good than harm a study in southern Ontario Canada found that cornfields frequented by crows and winter have fewer problems with European corn borers in the next growing season than those not the crows eat up significant numbers of the larvae overwintering in old corn stocks they also help with cleaning up dead animals dead animals laying around decomposing can spread disease but with opportunistic eaters like crows around that's not a problem because they are more than happy to eat a
dead rodent or anything else contrary to popular belief crows are not thought to be the direct cause of West Nile virus either instead they are just unlucky victims to the disease a carrier of the disease is the threat and since crows are dying at alarming numbers from the disease they therefore can't be the culprits I might do an entire video on this soon birds of Cornell had this to say just like the canary in the mine shaft crows may be the first to go and can alert us to the presence of the virus they also
had this to say there is no evidence of bird to human transmission of the virus rather the virus is spread by infected mosquitoes which only bite live birds dead birds should be reported to your County Health Department if you want to read more about that I will provide a link to this page in the description box crows have relatively large brains for their size which is the case for all members of the Corbett family like Jays and Magpies to name a couple however crows and ravens have exceptionally large bore brains the domain of analytical thought
higher-level sensory processing and flexible behavior they can fashion tools to obtain food and even memorize the routes of the garbage man so that they get an easy snack they also remember which truck drivers are nice enough to open cans for them and an example of tool use one crow broke out pieces of pinecone to drop on tree climbers near its nest they remember people very well the mean and good ones and don't forget easily either as a study from the University of Washington Seattle discovered as they trapped in banded crows around the university the team
wore a latex caveman mask when they later returned to those locations other maskless are wearing a different mask the crows had never seen before the birds ignored them but anybody showing up in a caveman mask would cause the crows to freak out and start mopping it wasn't just the trappers that responded apparently others who had witnessed the abduction and remembered it did too whole gangs of crows filed the mask people scolding and dive-bombing them the research group retested the birds and after 10 years not only did the crows not forget but the knowledge keeps spreading
this is because when it crows these other birds mouthing it joins in learning and remembering the identity of the villain each time more Birds mob in scolds nearly all of the birds originally trapped by the cavemen are likely dead by now yet knowledge of the caveman masks still grows they also remember the good people and even their cars it's true a family crows I've been visiting for years no my car very well all other cars can stop on the road and the very spot idea when I visit them and the crows won't bother but as
soon as I stop there they come over in a few cases crows will even leave trinkets and return for people who give them food I can say that I have not been lucky enough to have that happen though but it's cool that it do so I'm curious what are your thoughts on crows have you always liked them did you use to hate them but now see them differently please let me know below I enjoy reading all of your comments I can say that I've never hated them but I never thought much about the mother but
since getting to know many of them over the last seven years of birding I can say that I absolutely love them wonderful birds I hope you enjoyed the video also before you go I wanted to let you know that I have created a new shirt design for all of you crow lovers out there like myself if you're interested and would like to help support me and what I do as a content creator I will leave a link below in the description the shirts are only available for a limited time so don't miss out happy birdie
