BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 06:41 PM

I used to occupy the young children with broomsticks up country. I would give them each a broomstick and tell them I would give them $5 for each bat they could kill. The bats had great fun teasing the children. The kids slept well due to the exercise. I never shelled out a dime.

There's only one easy way to catch bats that I konw of without a net but it's cruel. However, it was used up Kent County years back to catch large (and small) bats which were a source of food in the second last century. That's where I learned it. It was not often done but a hungry person will eat darn near anything so this knowledge helped some people survive... especially the elderly with no children to look after them.

Not much meat on a bat but there is enough. They taste like a duck but worse so ya reeeeally gotta be hungry.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 07:10 PM

Yesterday a sky river of crows passed overhead. It took 30 minutes for the entire flock to pass.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 07:19 PM

They fly on this moon. The Blue Arsed Flies hatch on this moon. The last mating of deer happens on this moon. The moon rules... no matter what the naysayers say.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: olddude
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 08:04 PM

Donuel
did one of them have a smug look on his face cause he had a belly full of frog ... The bastard, I will find that crow oh yes he will be mine.

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Beer
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 10:30 PM

I have been fascinated with crows ever since my brother Norman raised two back when he was 14/15. He called them (what else but) "Heckle & Jeckle". Well Jeckle didn't live to long because brother was told that if you split it's tongue you could teach it to talk. Didn't work. Sorry for you bleeding hearts that are now pissed at what my brother did. But that was back in the 60's so report him.
Heckle however lived for many years and Norm would have a special whistle for him (or her)and he/she would come out of no where and land on his shoulder. It really was a special time.
Have a good listen to the following video and as much as I hate being awaken at 5 in the morning there is no bird more intelligent than the crow.
ad.


http://youtu.be/NhmZBMuZ6vE

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: GUEST,Eb
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 10:34 PM

In Oregon where I spent most of my life I never saw any ravens outside the mountains. I always liked them. In Juneau, Alaska, there are some here all year 'round but in winter all you see are ravens- the crows leave in the fall. Don't know where they go.

I get a kick out of ravens' self-important strut and their evident relish for life.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Beer
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 10:57 PM

Question Eb. And maybe you don't have the answer. But are ravens as smart as crows? We tend to group them all as one specie , but they are a branch or a relative to the crow or vise versa.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: olddude
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 12:41 AM

ya but they will eat the frog right out of your genuine plastic water fountain on your front lawn. The greedy bastard. I only had one frog and it was his home ... then some crow gotta swoop down and eat him.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 01:07 AM

GREAT video, Beer! Crows are amazingly bright birds.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: GUEST,Ebbie
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 02:32 AM

I think it is well documented that ravens are even smarter than crows. (Olddude, a raven might eat your frog but would probably bring you another as a replacement:)

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Darowyn
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 04:03 AM

I've never thought of crows or rooks as migratory birds. Here in the Staffordshire Moorlands they seem to hang around all year, along with the jackdaws and magpies. I'd guess that corvids are the most plentiful species around here.
It is fascinating to watch their techniques fro getting seeds and peanuts out of the bird feeders we have put up for the little birds. It's also interesting to see that they wait and take turns with no squabbling.
On the other hand, the seagulls have arrived from the coast for a warmer winter in the woods on Congleton Edge.
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 07:21 AM

Beer... "there is no bird more intelligent than the crow."

No way, quoth the raven. As Ebbie said, ravens are of superior intelligence (and physical prowess).

Darowyn. If almost all of our crows did not migrate, they would starve as there is simply not enough sustinence at -25C with 1.5m of snow cover.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Bettynh
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 11:13 AM

Have you folks read the books of Berndt Heinrich? His Ravens in Winter is about the puzzle of why ravens share food, seemingly against their own interests. And Winter World describes exactly how animals survive winter. Heinrich is (was? he's gotta be about 80) a professor at U. Vermont, and his first area of study was thermoregulation in insects, but his writing is wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 12:49 PM

Gotta get me a copy of that one. I have admired ravens since I was a tad. Just read this at Wiki... Juvenile Common Ravens are among the most playful of bird species. They have been observed to slide down snowbanks, apparently purely for fun. They even engage in games with other species, such as playing catch-me-if-you-can with wolves and dogs.

I have seen them (and, once, a flock of ruffed grouse) play with a fox until it was exhausted but I've never seen them sliding. THAT would be cool.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 01:02 PM

About a week back, I saw snow geese fly and land in the river just above the rapids (class 2 water). Some of the adult geese led the juveniles down the rapids. It really seemed like a kids day off from the practice the had been undergoing in prep for the flight south.

I've seen a mountain chickadee and a nuthatch fooling around with each other, taking turns chasing each other. There was NO violence between the two, just a couple of birds having some fun.

There was a squirrel who would jump ointo the back of a mourning dove. The dove responded by fluffing its wings and giving the squirrel a dirty look. The squirrel would do it again and the dove seemed to play along and when the game was over, the dove flew off.

I've seen many instances of animals and birds engaged in play. Of course, one day the lion will lay down with the lamb, but one of them won't get a good night's sleep.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 01:14 PM

I watched a young Spruce Partridge and a squirrel taking turns chasing each other. Partridge, grouse, are very fast on their talons. I wish I had carried a camera and videocam along with a gun all those years when I used to hunt.

A squirrel to squirrel game of tag is one of the best.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Bettynh
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 02:43 PM

There's a PBS documentary on ravens.. If your connection takes too long, there's a short beside the main screen of one rolling in the snow.


A funny youtube of a raven in the snow.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: GUEST,Ebbiekeepslosingzecookie
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 03:01 PM

I've recounted this before but - once I saw three ravens and a juvenile bald eagle playing in a thermal updraft. They were essentially equidistant, going round and round, having a high old time.

After awhile the eagle broke off and flew away; the ravens closed the gap and kept circling.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 11 Nov 11 - 04:10 PM

I watched two ravens pull a neat trick. A bald eagle came near their nest in a lone pine next to a bog. The male jumped off the nest and swooped in the opposite direction under the eagle. The eagle cocked his head to eye the male and flared his wings to turn to follow the male. The female did the same thing as the male, caught up to the eagle and nailed the eagle in the back of the head so hard it made his flight erratic. She cawed just before she struck the eagle. Upon her caw, the male immediately went up with great flapping of wings, inverted, looped and dove on the eagle, striking him in the back of the head. She did the same... he did the same. Six times the eagle was smacked in the head until it hit the ground.

They circled the eagle and cawed for about 30 seconds. I think they were telling the eagle to caw off. It did.

I got some stories I wouldn't tell here but ravens and moosebirds (Canada Jays) can be trained to aid a hunter.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Bettynh
Date: 12 Nov 11 - 08:05 AM

Heinrich tells stories of ravens helping hunters and, where there are no human hunters, wolves. Since they can't kill large animals, it's to their advantage to point out vulnerable prey to the big predators. In places where humans hunt with guns, they've learned to investigate gunshots for a possible meal. Historically, of course, they flocked to battlefields.

Our turkey vultures are still here. We never had them until after DDT was banned. Suddenly, sometime in the 1990s, there they were, nesting in a riverside park near the high school, cruising over the local landfill. At the dump, seagull population dropped from many thousands to a few hundred. The vultures have raised families. Last fall I counted more than 40 over the dump. They leave for a few months in the coldest part of the winter. Now, a cruising vulture in March is a sure sign that spring has arrived. I don't think Thoreau mentioned vultures. Do you see them at all in Atlantic Canada? It may be that they're extending their range north, as did the cardinals and mockingbirds = partly because of human activity providing food and city heat islands, and partly from global warming.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: olddude
Date: 12 Nov 11 - 02:44 PM

some of the birdwatchers are down at the pier on Lake Erie here in town. I guess there is some black something or other arctic seagulls down there that are rare in these parts. Don't know what they are called. I have a close friend she is nuts about birds and her and her husband were telling me

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 12 Nov 11 - 02:53 PM

No turkey vultures here that I know of.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: maeve
Date: 12 Nov 11 - 04:45 PM

Turkey Vulture Breeding Distribution Map

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Beer
Date: 12 Nov 11 - 08:49 PM

The Turkey Vulture is a common sight here in Quebec. And I would say Bettynh that the 90's sound about correct.

Dan, one of the pristine birdwatching area's is on Pelee Island located on lake Erie. Don't know how far you are from it but it could explain your that particular sighting.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: GUEST,Eb
Date: 12 Nov 11 - 11:30 PM

Turkey Vultures- I haven't read about them recently but it has always been my understanding that they are the clean up crew. Are we implying that they are predatory?

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: Bettynh
Date: 13 Nov 11 - 11:46 AM

I don't think the vultures were eating the seagulls, just outcompeting them in the sky and feeding at the dump. We're about 20 miles upriver from the ocean, so the gulls can go back to the shore. I'm happy to see the vultures, though. I think it means healing from the damage done by DDT. There's an osprey nest in the next town over, too. Thoreau did spot an osprey. He kept it secret, because the locals would shoot any bird they could, for food or because they were deemed "pests." Or just because they had guns. I dunno. I go back to Thoreau a lot, because he lived a few miles from here and describes places I know pretty well, but they've changed enormously in the past 150 years.

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: bobad
Date: 14 Nov 11 - 04:48 PM

A short video of a crow using three tools in sequence, without explicit training, to get a piece of food. According to the narrator this is the first time this has been observed in a non-human species: http://www.wimp.com/threetools/

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: maeve
Date: 14 Nov 11 - 05:49 PM

More about Ravens and Bernd Heinrich

Subject: RE: BS: Birds & weather. The crows are massing.
From: gnu
Date: 20 Nov 11 - 11:24 AM

Well now, THIS is very odd. I didn't see THE migration... I saw one migration. At about 5AM I was wakened by cawing. I went to my kitchen window and saw about a hundred crows in my maple tree, the telephone and power wires lined with crows, the pine trees filled with crows and the apartment building(s) rooves behind my house covered with crows. I looked out the front window and it was equally awesome. Thousands of them.