Subject: Re: cyber-crow hunter
Date: Jun 27 18:29:53 1996
From: Janet Hardin - wings at olympus.net
Oh -- I can't resist. Maybe we *should* start a Web page just for crows.
Michael Patrick took a different view of the discussion by observing that
>> at Microsoft I've wondered if crows observe
>> other species and learn from them.
>
>Oh no!
>
>If this behavior continues the crows will soon invade the internet and
>begin predating on the financially weak, just like ____ _____ ;-)))
;-) indeed! Actually, I wouldn't put it past 'em to profit from such
observation. In Forks the woman at the garbage/recycling company told me
how they have learned what black garbage bags mean, and how they learned to
open her father's metal lunch box. Here in Port Townsend they know what the
wood-and-brass cans are for downtown.
My next door neighbor has put a birdbath out in the very center of his
front lawn. It attracts mostly starlings, house sparrows (probably
including broods of both from *our* wonderful, holey house), and crows. Our
neighbor takes a keen interest in the fading red of the flag on our mailbox
and the height of our lawn. The last time he came over to offer free advice
on the ancient mower I was using, he blamed the crows for spreading the odd
bits of garbage that show up neighborhood lawns (neverminding the wind's
part in it). When he said he'd found an onion in his birdbath the other
day, I burst out laughing. Then he said grudgingly that, yeah, the crows
are pretty smart -- they've learned to bring snails to the bath, put them
in the water until they come out of the shells, then pick them out and eat
them. He complained that his birdbath is full of empty snail shells.
So where did they learn that trick?
-- Janet Hardin
Port Townsend, WA {On second thought, the crows could probably set up
wings at olympus.net a Web page on their own!}