Crows, Rooks, Ravens, Jackdaws, Jays and Magpies

Crows, rooks and ravens I have a lot of problems telling apart. What are those giant black birds that hang out on Blackheath? I don't like them, they're clearly evil.

We get a lot of magpies round my way but I've never seen a jay. Don't think we have them here.

well i got my gun out and shot those sqwakin fuckers

http://website.lineone.net/~ssleightholm/dict/glossary/rook.jpg

I love this rhyme:

One for sorrow, two for joy
Three for a girl, four for a boy
Five for silver, six for gold
And seven for a secret that can't be told.

I always thought it went on... or maybe it was a variant that went something like

Eight for England, Nine for France
Ten for a wedding, X for a dance...

It was in a picture book I had as a child.

Our birds are pretty dull, but then there's the Kingfisher. Alas, I have never seen a kingfisher either.

Perhaps Ravens are the huge shaggy fellas.

My school was called Ravenspark because the trees surrounding it were hoaching with ravens, rooks, crows etc. I like hooded crows. One day I'll train an army of them to hang around me and look menacing.

http://www.copyright-free-pictures.org.uk/animals/birds/carrion-crow-in-flight.jpg

Man, they even *look* evil.

(I found an albino crow, too, but the site wouldn't allow linkage.)

We have lots of lovely little native birds in our garden like Honey-eaters which look a bit like hummingbirds. We get very cross when the cats decide to *play* with them.

On another note, there's fireworks outside!

She died, and the day after her funeral the old chap was sitting in the garden when a magpie dropped something on the path. It went 'ting!' Old chap tottered over to investigate and discovered it was his wifes ring.

He thinks the magpie stole the ring years ago and then felt guilty about it.

Awwww......

What *is* folk physics? It sounds like the COOLEST THING EVAH!!!

If someone runs off a cliff, gravity has no effect until he or she notices their error.
Everything falls faster than an anvil (the fundamental principle of anvilology).
No matter what happens to cats, they always return to their default shapes.
A large amount of explosives, even if detonated close to a character's face, will only cause scorching of the skin.

http://www.stockhillhouse.co.uk/jackdaw.jpg

I also saw a raven attack and start to eat a crow in Richmond Park while all the crow's mates were divebombing the raven. It was cool.

ie: when a man and a woman are lying in bed the sheet will cover him from the waist down but will cover the woman up to the armpits

x-post

ravenscourt park often has a posse of crows just wandering about menacingly. wormwood scrubs was full of the bastards last year when i went, about 100 of them i reckon. i like them too. (um, maybe the crows in ravenscourt park are ravens? they are very large)

saw a confused woodpecker perched on a lightning conductor on friday.

only time i've seen a blue jay was in Big Sur. was very tame, hopping around picking stuff off abandoned plates. was very blue.

http://scrubs.ground-level.org/lnr/

here are a bunch of alternatives: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/boardarchives/2000/oct2000/countingcrows.html

the magpie was back again today. i think i might have to start encouraging it with mealworms.

I may have seen a crow or blackbird at some point but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a raven. Do we even have ravens in the US? Should look it up.

HOLY SHIT, CROWS TALK!

I was walking around with friends after having a drink or two yesterday in my neighborhood. We pass under a crow, and I yell out "HELLO, CROW! :-D". A few seconds pass, then really loudly, the crow sounded back in this distorted robotic voice "Heeeee-LO". Then we all turned around and went WTF at each other.

I said "HELLO" again. The crow said "HeEeEeE-LO" again.

I had no fucking idea.

Corvids are the smartest damn things in the world.

I was thinking the other day, the thing I miss the most about Idaho is magpies.

Yes, I knew this from reading George RR Martin books in which some crows talk. I learned everything I ever knew from genre lit.

You should read Mind of the Raven, Mackro. And everyone else. They roll down snowy hills together, playing and scooping snow at one another. They talk, too.

Ca-CAWWW ca-CAWW

I was thinking the other day, the thing I miss the most about Idaho is magpies.

I guess I can see missing them - I kind of miss seagulls now that they aren't around all the time - but magpies are so annoying. Especially when you have a flock of them squawking right outside your bedroom window early in the morning.

It is kind of awesome to watch a crew of magpies battle a red-tailed hawk though.

I liked waking up to all the magpies.

here is a neat talk about crows: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html

Who on earth was TGL?

Where was this thread when Mark H, Johnny B and I were arguing about whether the massive black birds on Hampstead Heath were crows or rooks?

Where there's crows, that's a rock. Where there's a rook, that's a crow.

I'm so confused. WHITE SPOT. WHITE SPOT ON BEAK = ROOK. Is that the rule of thumb? (or beak as the case may be?)

Timely!

Nice. You can see the iridescence on the wings which makes them look slightly blue.

Oh, there was a guy with about 30 crows around him in Hyde park this afternoon, feeding them something.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/28/return-canuck-crow-notorious-birds-bloody-attacks-force-canada/

This is a typical view when eating lunch on clapham common. No crumbs from me, pals.

http://i.imgur.com/6VeZgEv.jpg

Tom, that link is insane

great doc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89C5gsdaSXg

I fucking love crows

Photo from Clapham common also seems to be behaviour during storms here and after it's rained. Do they eat worms? Would seem to be the one likely explanation for them doing that here since there are rarely p[eople around when I see them doing that.

Also really interesting watching interplay of different bird species around teh marketplace on Sunday when it becomes more of a food court.
Tend to be some kind of corvid, seagulls and pigeons. Corvid which is probably a crow has intelligence and can open closed food containers i.e. can undo the catch on the plastic food tray that my Indian takeaway running friend uses or can work out where to peck through on a plastic tray among other skills. Seagulls have apparently learnt how to peck through food trays from the crows. Pigeons seem to need food to be placed in front of them for it to register.
Wondering now if that is over-domestication or something.

Crows tap the ground to simulate rain so worms come up, yeah

There's a tree along my driveway that's dense enough to keep out most predators so for the second season running, the local scrub jays have used it for their HQ nest. They like grabbing pieces of dead flowers from my dining room window, but split as soon as we're done regarding each other and I try to take a photo. This one is through the kitchen window.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1735/41667779635_369c0f504a_k.jpg

i saw a sunbathing crow last friday. the path i was on went within 6ft of it and it just sat there not caring.

https://t.co/6phuVtAlEK

^ crows leave gifts for people who feed them

Living in the land of ravens rn. Truly aliens among us.

how have i not seen this thread before

i regularly (once a week) pass through clapham common almost at the exact spot from where ledge's photo was taken. the crows of clapham common are a most fascinating and abundant community

love any revelation of corvids' vast intelligence

Broken image link from 13 years ago...

> These dudes are all over Richmond Park

Jackdaws. Was amazed at how many jackdaws I saw in Richmond park and how they don't care about you being 5ft away. Didn't think I'd seen a jackdaw before then until my dad pointed out that all the pairs of birds sat on the chimney pots around home were jackdaws. (At that distance it's hard to guess how big they are and in silhouette you don't get to see the giveaway grey heads)

there's nothing more enigmatic and honestly disturbing than being out in the desert wilderness with hardly any signs of animal life for minutes at a time and hearing or spotting a single raven usually perched in a place that has a quality of absurd obviousness to it as if it wants to communicate some kind of cosmic joke to you, and then feeling yourself being watched by it as you pass. it seems to have both an understanding of what space and placement mean in the context of the human world and an otherness to its intelligence that falls outside of it.

i saw hi to my crows daily. no gifts but we cool

Same! A pair of crows has been living on top of our office building for a couple of years, directly above me it turns out. They hop around the parking lot most of the day (we're next to a supermarket, plenty of food to be found on the ground). They'll get out of the way when a car approaches or take the high road esp when esp kids walk by, but they're completely cool with me. We'll exchange glances in a 'howdy neighbour' kind of way. It's one of those small daily pleasures tbh

I caw back at my local crows when I hear them cawing. I hope they know that means I think they're cool. I want to start throwing them peanuts or something, but am concerned about what might happen if I decided to stop.

jackdaw is an alltime great bird name

crows are good, I love them

want to submit that grackles are good, some Austinites have expressed a sort of exhausted loathing for grackles, but on my one visit I was charmed by them

Grackles are awesome, they may not have corvid brains but I love them

Booming map post re raven placement

Recently moved to a high-up place where crows perch in the treetops outside. Wish I could open up the windows and invite them in, but our neighbors are total narcs and would rat us out to management.

A magpie came and sat on my (open) window just now - I think it trying to work out how to get into my room.

you and your twinkly trinkets

Yeah I've had a couple of them doing that recently too

Something's going down

When we were in Istanbul the place was full of hooded crows and you’d see them attacking - and seeing off - seagulls that were easily three times their size. Fearless lads.

since moving to a city where crows dive bomb pedestrians during mating season and caw aggressively at every passerby, i don’t love crows so much

Definitely the lesser evil where seagulls are concerned.

Crows harrass hawks and eagles here (PNW) , follow them around and caw and just bug them. Funny from a distance!

Raven Joins Road Trip, Drafts Off Car for 45 Minutes

A couple driving along a lonely stretch of snowy Canadian highway had some unexpected company — a raven that used their car’s draft to hitch a ride for 45 minutes.

Alex Lavoie, Jodi Young, and their cat were driving from a job in the Yukon back home to British Columbia when an enterprising avian swooped in front of their car, spread its wings, and soared along in front of them for the better part of an hour. Lavoie couldn’t quite believe his eyes.

After about 25 minutes, Lavoie and Young stopped to feed their feline, and to their surprise, the raven joined them in their pit stop. The couple tossed the bird some cat treats, then all four travelers got back on the road. The clever Corvid drafted along for another 20 minutes or so before flying off with another member of its species.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Eu_3j8-uwM

two gangs of four pies on the way out to the shops and back again: perhaps the same gang twice (?) silently but gleamingly letting me know that IT'S A BOY

tho not where i might meet him or how i might (*creepy pinocchio voice*) become him

got to say when these gentlemen have promised me JOY they've rarely delivered

magLIE moar liek

I recently saw a magpie absolutely torment a big dumb seagull who was sitting in a pool of water that the magpie wanted. After a while the seagull grumped off, it was a joy to behold.

the internet is trying to convince me that the magpie's call is "wock wock wock-a-wock, wock pjur, weer weer"

https://gifdb.com/images/high/fozzie-bear-waiting-for-laughter-pl9qhp2nb2job4ck.gif

there was an almighty cachinnation of jays in a client's garden earlier. yesterday two jackdaws let me walk right past them. they're waiting for their moment I swear

In Canberra visiting my brother, a small grey butcher bird came and sat on the chair beside me for a few minutes at eye level. I wasn’t sure if it was interested by me or deciding whether to take my eye out. Magic experience. It flew a short way away into a tree and I cut a scrap of steak for it, which it caught off the bounce.

time to accept that the numbering of magpies is far and away my strongest shaping superstition. there was "one" on the big lawn as i passed it on the way to lidl and i had to stop and gaze around to spot its "two" (camouflaged close to a nearby bush). only once i knew they were both safe and foraging together was i prepared to continue to the shops

(i don't know how territorial they are year on year. given location i am assuming as a massive sentimentalist that they are one of the two pairs mentioned above as part of a foursome, but they don't live all that long so maybe not)

The feral cat colony in our Brooklyn backyard has been getting owned daily by the blue jays for the past week, 2-4 jays just mercilessly dive-bombing the cats (and one cat in particular I think the jays track 24hrs a day, which makes sense b/c it's the tree-climber of the colony). Jays go absolutely psychotic in the spring, any time they see a cat, squirrel, or raccoon they go ham.

the scrub Jay has not grazed my head in several mornings, I’ve decided it’s because I hissed at it.

I live on the 4th floor and at the top of the tree just across from me a couple of magpies are building a nest, flying off and coming back with bits of stick - no shiny things or NHS spectacles. In fact one of them is sitting on a roof just in front of the tree right now as I type this.

... now the other one has returned and they're both back in the *in construction* nest.

Two for joy. Do magpie chicks just look like any other corvids? Maybe they bring shiny things back when the nest is constructed.

The magpies are still diligently working on that nest. Just watched one of them struggling manfully (appropriate as I believe it's the males who collect the material for the nest) with a large twig. The other one is around, for those of a superstitious nature.

Every morning now we have a lovely train of Jackdaws appear, sometimes as many as 14, total agents of chaos on the feeders (so messy, but the smaller birds pick up the scatterings) and compulsive watching.

This channel about a domesticized raven - Russian, 2M subs - is insane

https://youtube.com/@voron_tv