Quinneapolis
who wants some wholesome bird content
柯拉.
OH MY GOD
柯拉.
Quinneapolis
thanks for coming to my ted talk
A Grinning DM
Corvids have a real sense of community and society
A Grinning DM
They mourn their dead too and will even seek revenge if they know who killed the bird
oh i'm scary
DryadGurrl
even if you're just a dick to them, they will remember and they will tell their friends, and suddenly all the rubber on your car is pecked off by crows one day in a completely different city
pure starfall
I love corvids so much
DryadGurrl
also they do things for fun like sledding on plastic container lids on a snowy roof
A Grinning DM
I read a story once about how a man killed a crow in his yard once with a rock and tons of crows sat on his property for a week, squawking loudly at all hours and pooping everywhere, and have returned the same week every year for thirty years to do it again
Many mistakes
^^^^^ this is why I'm always sweet to crows
Many mistakes
I mean, why be MEAN to birds at all, but especially smart ones
Beep Beep
any animal that can learn how to barter with you is an animal you do not want to piss off
DryadGurrl
I wish I could find the article now, but there was a study with a pair of crows, giving them a task, in this case using a straight piece of wire to pop a treat out of a tube, and one of the tests was giving them a bent piece and a straight piece
Snowdrops ﾐ☆
they found out the extent to which crows remember people at UW actually
DryadGurrl
and the researchers expected there would be a fight over the straight piece, but there was not. They both went for the bent one, one of them standing on it and the other one beaking at it to un-bend it so they could both get a treat
Snowdrops ﾐ☆
people who took part in studying crows before they realized they need to use masks still can't walk around that campus anymore
ʙᴇᴄᴋ 🍂
Corvids are too pure for this world
Crow Witch
so much love
Corgi
Crow Uses Plastic Lid to Sled Down Roof Over and Ove...
DryadGurrl
Yes that one! having such a good time
pure starfall
what a good birb
skerple
corvids... are so good
skerple
there's also the little girl who made friends with a bunch of crows by regularly feeding them and now they bring her presents all the time
skerple
but also, like
skerple
her mom's a photographer
skerple
and lost a lens cap one time
skerple
and the crows fucking, brought it back
skerple
meaning that AT LEAST ONE CROW is keeping tabs on the Nice People They Like and noticed that one of them lost a thing
DryadGurrl
I love that one too
DryadGurrl
because they know man, they know that this is something that the people need, and they know where the people are, so it just makes sense to bring it back
A Grinning DM
I had this idea for a sci fi story before where ravens get just a tiny bit smarter and start to volunteer to do jobs for people in exchange for bartering and they end up with this whole economy and then there's a fight for corvid rights
skerple
right, like, probably no idea what the thing is but they know that the humans love things, and will probably want this thing back
A Grinning DM
They've been proved to understand the concept of currency in at least one experiment
skerple
A Grinning DM
: I would read the shit out of that
Hooded Figure
Yeah, that sounds really good.
A Grinning DM
In the experiment they taught a raven it could use a coin to buy food and after that would offer the raven a choice of a coin or food but less food than the coin could buy
A Grinning DM
And the raven would consistently choose the coin
Hooded Figure
smart birbs
skerple
yeah there was also one where they'd give the raven a piece of bread, which it liked okay, and then tried to teach it that if it waited for a bit, it could trade the bread back for some cheese, which it liked much better
Beans
skerple
and of course it learned! it would patiently hold the bread when it looked like the cheese trade would be offered
skerple
so they understand delayed gratification too
DryadGurrl
there's been a suggestion of a trash bin for cigarette butts that dispenses a treat, to train crows to pick them up off beaches or out of parks etc. And my favorite argument against it is: "How soon do you think it will be before crows are just snatching lit cigarettes right out of people's hands?"
Quinneapolis
sounds fine to me
THE BRAWLER
Crows are extremely good
skerple
also there was an experiment with a jackdaw that showed they could understand communication using only eye movements
skerple
two opaque cups, a mealworm under one of them, and the researcher held still and made no movement that would indicate the correct choice - but she conspicuously moved her eyes to look at it
skerple
and the jackdaw figured out very quickly that that was how she was telling him which cup had a reward
E.S. Levi
Corvids also understand water displacement. Given a u-tube full of water and a treat just out of reach in the narrow end, they'll drop weights in the wider end to raise the water level. Even if they can't see the connection between the tubes.
E.S. Levi
I also saw an experiment where the crow was given an extra, disconnected tube, and the crow dropped a couple weights in it and then ignored it.
duck bastard
Bolt Vanderhuge
Corvids are a delight, I love hearing all this stuff about them
Guardian Bear J
Basically, Corvids are great, and I wholely expect them to be one of the first species to be uplifted when we reach that point of cultural advancement.
621st Raven
I would vouch for the uplifting of corvids
ShootingXC
can we lift them over us
THE BRAWLER
Let crows vote right now
milkycrown
good content
a turtlephi
crows are already able to lift themselves over us and that's amazing
Exacerangutan
very wholesome birbs
Exacerangutan
very birbsome
Exacerangutan
but yeah corvids are great
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
wasn't there a study that showed that, on top of being able to recognize individual humans, crows can describe individual humans to each other? so crows would recognize mean/nice people, even if they'd never seen them before?
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
I wanna try to dig that up but I'm supposed to be looking up literature for my thesis, not for corvid cognition 
Doctor Ansem
So refresh my memory, what species of birds are considered corvids? I know crows and ravens, but I'm sure there were others.
A Grinning DM
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
: well obviously the problem is that you didn't do your thesis on corvids
DryadGurrl
Jackdaws, Rooks, Magpies and some species of Jay
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
A Grinning DM
I'm sorry, birds have spines
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
invertebrates only in my house :V
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
Doctor Ansem
: crows, ravens, magpies, rooks, jays
Sleepwalker
E.S. Levi
Eurasian magpies, specifically. Australian magpies are not corvids.
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
australia's just gotta be different, huh?
Striving Spark
Your magpies probably cut out eyes, so I'd prefer they never remember seeing me. BT
A Grinning DM
Australian magpies are actually really mean
Striving Spark
SEE!? I KNEW IT.
Striving Spark
I'm glad they're not corvids
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
they're not magpies
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
they're meanpies
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
murderpies
Striving Spark
They make murderpies out of your eyes and serve it to their children. I'm starting that rumor about australian magpies and teaching it to children
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
skdfj
A Grinning DM
Iirc there's actually a bug problem with then deciding a park or something is their territory and then sneak attack people that walk or even bike through
A Grinning DM
Big*
A Grinning DM
Like you don't have to make up scary stories about them, just google "Australian magpie attacks"
Guardian Bear J
Swooping season.
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
so I've wondered for a long time now
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
is magpie swooping what the "swooping" Cards Against Humanity card is referencing?
Guardian Bear J
Probably
A Grinning DM
Video from a rear facing camera mounted on the helmet of bicyclist riding through magpie territory
A Grinning DM
Magpie Attacks Cyclist in Australia 😱😱😱
~Mei~
they not only swoop you... they remember who you are and target you
~Mei~
they will also chase you long distances
~Mei~
in primary school you get warnings when magpie season starts and where to avoid walking
A Grinning DM
I don't think I've ever learned an animal fact about any animal from Australia that made me want to visit
A Grinning DM
Though to be fair if all the animals in the world were like Australian animals the world would probably be better off if for other reason than there'd be a lot less of us probably and maybe we'd respect nature a bit more
~Mei~
only animal you gotta worry about are the drop bears
how about no
how about no
just adding to wholesome bird content here
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴍᴀɴ
THAT IS SO PURE
Hooded Figure
More wholesome birb<3
More wholesome birb<3
Becca Stareyes
Crows are good birds. I recall hearing that they discovered crows could alter tools when they trained them to use a bent wire to get food... but one time, they forgot to bend the wire, so the crow was like 'it needs to be a hook, I'll make it a hook' and bent it.
Becca Stareyes
Corvids and cephalopods are some of my favorites because they are smart.
A Grinning DM
^this^
moontouched
australian magpies swoop people because they're trying to get people to stay away from their kids
moontouched
so like
moontouched
yknow theyre not just being assholes for no reason
moontouched
swooping season only happens specifically because they're hyperprotective of their growing children
A Grinning DM
I want a pet octopus and a pet African raven
Exacerangutan
Seijin CC
;~;
Just Lore
Wonderful Leaf
Exacerangutan
(attack) helicopter parents
Seijin CC
yes
𝔄𝔠𝔢𝔒𝔣𝔖𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔰
fallenappleinc
Wonderful Leaf
yes this is good birb content
StupidSexyV⚠der
Tɪᴇʟ Dᴇᴀʀ
Tɪᴇʟ Dᴇᴀʀ
yes good all of this
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
Australian magpies can be very sweet if you make friends with them
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
Science has shown that they remember people they like, like crows do
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
I’ve heard anecdotes (and experienced it myself) that if you talk to them and are friendly (or feed them) they get used to you
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
and science backs it up
Beep Beep
so basically like most humans if you feed them and are not an ass you're a friend now
Jay
excellent birbs!
Wild Child
I think I read a post on tumblr about someone who was nice to the magpies near their house and when they went to college they were the only person who didn't get attacked by the magpies living in one of the campus trees
Moulin_Hearts
I like the one about the guy who basically created a crow war. He fed fries and treats to one group of crows, and shooed away/was mean to a different group and now the group he feeds protects him at all costs from the other group who want him dead
skerple
omg
skerple
why would you do this. why would you SOW DISCORD
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
I mean magpies don’t like strangers walking through their turf but neither do humans
A Grinning DM
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
: it's worth noting that the article you posted is about real magpies, which Australian magpies are not
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
No it’s not, it’s by an Australian academic from my alma mater and the photos are of Australian magpies
Ashen Key
Yeah, seconding that maggies aren't swooping arseholes for no reason! They are protecting their tinies. Now, cockatoos, those are arseholes. But, well. Parrots, so what you gonna do.
Ashen Key
- but, man, I've never heard until today that our magpies aren't real ones, lol. Just that they aren't related to the Eurasian ones.
Ashen Key
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
: Yeah, my late nana used to feed the magpies in her yard, for DECADES. And they all knew her as a friendly person.
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
I chatted to the ones on my university campus and I got one warning swoop the whole four years I lived there. No trouble in known swooping hotspots.
ψ Jк Aѕunvαh ☀
Plus whatever else they do, they sing beautifully
Ashen Key
warble warble waaaaaaaarble