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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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Of course, by now, everyone has heard of the crows that were being tested for ability to use tools. The humans had made a hook-shaped took for crows to use to get goodies out of a container. The male stole the female's hook. The female found a length of wire and bent it into a hook shape and went right back to pulling the goodies out of the container.
Also, the Japanese crows who routinely place nuts under the wheels of cars stopped at red lights and back off till the light changes; the cars drive over the nuts, cracking the shells and the crows go back to reap the rewards.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
a PBS special on crows/ravens points out that they are the only birds known to fly closer to the sound of a gun shot.
they have learned that human's who are shooting, (and eventually sucessfull) will 'field dress' the game..and leave the liver and other tasty entrails for the crows to feast on.
(not that i am much of crow lover myself. i used to hate them.. but i miss them now. West Nile Virus was very hard on NYC's crow population--other birds didn't seem to suffer as much as the crows did)
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3 |
Ah, tis true, tis true they are very smart! I began doing my morning crow walks ( with my pocket full of peanuts ) when it wasn't getting light until much later than it does now . . . so first I would go to Cuppa Joe's to read the Globe and have my morning cup when it opens at six.
Well of course it wasn't long before my crows were waiting outside my door at the crack of dawn . . . which was earlier and earlier. I pretended not to see them sitting on the wires as I made my way to the coffee shop, which is the opposite direction from the beach, where I feed them.
Guess what? They started dropping pebbles on me to get my attention. It is true, and it was sometime before I could establish some healthy boundries around our whole relationship. Now there are two 'sentinels' posted outside my apartment to watch my comings and goings . . .but no Tom-foolery unless I head for the shore. < : I love them . . .they are smart, funny, quirky . . .and absolutely fascinating.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
what a great story, Linda! thanks for sharing.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
> pair of jays
what's this about, Zed?
The blue jays are recent arrivals. I've never seen them in the neighbourhood before and I enjoyed watching them. But they were really a slim excuse for a sort of in-joke. Linda signed herself "from Vancouver" and Marpole is my neighbourhood in Vancouver.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
We were graced with a family of six magpies in our garden (US: yard  ) recently, parents and four young almost as large as the adults, but scruffy. Funny to see all six in a beak-inward squabbling circle tugging at a piece of rye bread. Now I'm waiting for the gold to arrive.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
Does anyone know the whole sequence of magpie omens? 6 for gold apparently and ? for luck. I knew it once upon a time.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
there's a magpie omen sequence? edit:huh. whadya know. One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told.from: http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/redmond6.htm
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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There's a fine congregation of magpies that arise squawking in alarm from my red gooseberry bushes in the morning - I leave at least one bush unpicked to share the bounty, but the clever sods have been raiding *my especially ripe and easier-to-pick ones recently! Crows are also wonderful to watch in their family groupings and tribal gatherings - immensely sociable birds, and extraordinary communicators. Their range of distinct sounds make an obvious sense, and watching mass 'flying school' for the young fledglings is a great experience each year.
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