Subject: [Tweeters] Lifespan of Crows?????? Crow Behavior
Date: Jun 6 08:09:05 2011
From: Thomas Knight - dipperdog at gmail.com


The oldest wild crow recaptured (and then released still alive) from banding
data was over 16 years old when last caught- it could well still be alive.
A study of adult crow survivorship showed an annual survival rate of
94-95%, so once they reach adulthood they can live quite a long time. So
yes, it could easily be the same bird, but it also could just as easily be a
different bird. Crows definitely learn calls from each other as well as
from other sources, so it could be the same bird that nested somewhere else
for a few years and has now returned, the offspring of the original bird
that learned the song from its parents, another local bird that learned the
song from your original bird (or perhaps taught your original bird the
song), or an unrelated bird that learned the song from bitterns as a juvie
and has now dispersed into your neighborhood to try to set up a breeding
situation. Very cool nonetheless- I've never heard them imitate a bittern!

Thomas
Seattle


On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 7:36 AM, Lydia Gaebe Bishop <lydiagaebe at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello Tweeters!
>
> I've got a question about crows. Our next door neighbors have semi-tame
> crows frequenting their property. One crow makes sounds that remind me of
> American Bitterns. When I first moved here I thought bitterns were indeed
> frequenting the area wetlands......including the ones on our property! No
> bitterns, just a crow with an unusual "vocabulary". Our neighbor called
> this semi-tame crow CawCaw! Well, CawCaw! vanished sometime in 2009, and a
> pile of crow feathers suggested the bird may have been killed. We didn't
> hear the distinctive call again until recently. Now, another crow is
> hanging out at our neighbor's property and making the same unusual
> bittern-like call. We're calling it CawCaw! 2.0.
>
> Okay, how long do crows live? Could this bird we're calling CawCaw! 2.0 be
> the offspring of the original bird?
>
> Oh, and this crow gets along with our neighbors' more traditional pets.
> The traditional pets ignore the crow, and even when the crow in on the
> ground and one of the traditional pets walks by, the crow walks away or flys
> just a short distance like to the top of a fence post and then hops down
> when the traditional pet has passed.
>
> Could this crow not only be the offspring of CawCaw! 1.0, but learned from
> the parental birds that our neighbor's place is friendly territory? And
> learned the unusual call from the parental birds? Watching the interspecies
> interactions on the other side of the fence is remarkable!
>
> Lydia,
> Near Snohomish
>
>
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