Have you ever
spent any time observing the corvids (corvidae)? By that I mean
crows, ravens, jays and magpies. They are the most intelligent of
the bird families and their intellect has been compared to dogs or
a two-year-old child. Not bad for a brain the size of a hazelnut!
Some of the things I have seen corvids do over the years could be
a book in itself! But I'm not that ambitious. Although, just
thinking about their antics makes me laugh.
Magpies have been termed 'the coyotes of the sky'. . . and with
good reason! The magpies I am most familiar with are the
gregarious black-billed magpies. Such a beautiful bird of
iridescent green, and long, sleek, black tail. I have seen these
birds steal dog food from a dog's dish, right in front of the dog,
then sit in a tree and tease the poor thing!. I have also seen
them steal golf balls right off the course, sit is a nearby tree
making laughing noises while the golfer searches the ground in
vain!
Many interesting things have been found in corvid nests: golf
balls, tabs from beer cans, bottle caps, coloured thread, coins,
even jewelry! They tend to like shiny things. Grandpa tells me
that there used to be a bounty on crows when he was a kid in the
Canadian prairies. Ghastly thought!! He said that he made more
money from what he found in the nests than what he could by the
head!
One of the most interesting things I have ever seen was when I was
observing a raven. I had been camping and on the way home had
stopped at a remote highway rest stop for lunch. I took the
opportunity to empty the remainder of the cooler's contents,
including some ground beef that was of questionable age. The trash
can was just a large metal can with a green garbage bag inside.
Not long after discarding the meat a raven landed on the edge of
the can. As if an expert at this, the raven reached in the can
with his foot, grabbed a piece of the bag, pulled it up and hung
on to it with his other foot. He continued in this way until the
bottom of the bag, and hence the meat, was within beak range. He
then proceeded to throw all the meat out onto the ground. When he
was done he hopped down, picked up a chunk on meat, walked over to
another chunk and pressed it into the piece in his beak. Somehow
he knew it would stick together!
I don't know where he took the bits of meat but kept coming back,
pressing the pieces together like so many bird-sized meatballs
until they were all gone. One has to wonder how he learned to do
this. What's even more amazing is how he learned to pull up the
bag like that! Its pretty interesting when you think of how much
forethought had to go into this entire activity. So next time
someone calls you a bird brain don't take it as an insult!
Posted by Jadzia
