I started using a crow call a few years back.. (haydels is the best, it's clear with a image of a crow on it..nothing else I've tried worked that well), and I've been feeding my neighborhood crows for years.. though now they know they only get food when they sit above my porch.. they are amazing animals.. I'm pretty sure they even saved my life or atleast stopped a terrible thing from happening. Back when I'd randomly throw food whenever I saw them. I used to walk through my neighborhood cemetery very early about 5am..same path everytime..every day.. but I'd usually stop for a moment at a bench and feed my crows.. though there were a few large bushes about 30 feet from me on my path that I'd take ahead of me.. well, that day I didn't see my ink babies.. and it was quiet.. when out of nowhere one was cawing LOUDLY on a branch just above one of the large bushes.. screaming at somthing in them.. I figured it was a cat.. but when I looked.. a man's head popped out ever so slightly, like he was trying to be sneaky.. so I slowly got up and walked the outer edge to the entrance.. the crow flew over by me so I dumped all my snacks for him.. and I'd watched that man get up out of the brush.. he was carrying fucking rope..and another small bag filled with shit.. looked crazy as fuck and stared back at me... Fuck that. And that.. is why I spend atleast 20$ bucks a month in crow feasts. I owe the lil' bastards. And I love them and their personalities.
Miss Mir Ink babies I love it! I have been feeding my family of crows at work for about four years. They are the fattest shiniest funniest cutest birds you’ve ever seen. My main guy is called Askew. I started calling him that because when I met him he had little feathers hanging down off his tummy and I thought oh his feathers are all askew. I have now developed a relationship with his wife Mrs. Askew and Junior 123 and 4-A & 4- B. That’s right! They had two babies this year. It’s amazing how individual the personalities of those babies are not to mention the individual crows themselves. I call to them and I feed them every day at work. It all started innocently enough when I started throwing pizza crust out on the curb for them. Then he brought his wife. Well you know how that goes. Pizza crust eventually turn into hamburger mixed with liver mixed with special crow seed mix mixed with bread and garlic because crows garlic you know! If I go out for pizza across the street, he follows me and waits on the awning of the pizza place fully expecting to get his share when I return when I return to the other side of the street where I work. And of course he does get his share. And if I go to the other side of the street to the local coffee shop to get a doughnut, well he and Mrs. Askew will sit right on the fence outside the door waiting for their’s which of course they get. Sometimes when I have called them there has been up to 17 crows that show up! It’s a good thing they’re cute because that was getting expensive. Next Tuesday will be my last day of work at this place where I’ve worked at for 10 years. I speak the truth from the bottom of my heart I will miss them more and I will miss most of my coworkers. Those little ink baby as you call them, gosh I love that, have helped me in more ways than most people can imagine. I’m retiring to the Prescott Arizona area in a couple weeks and I’m very excited! But they don’t really have crows there and I’m going through a real grief process regarding that. Askew used to sit in a tree by the rooms were I would work just to keep me company. He knew I saw him and he was not expecting food. Sometimes he would wait for me to come out of work and we would just sit and be with each other. I know that he just wanted my company because many occasions (I always keep a large tune of pro mix in my car) and I would sprinkle some for him. He would ceremonially peck at it for a second or two and then jump up on my jeep and just stare at me occasionally caw at me. We have spent up to a half hour, just hanging out together. Sometimes during the summer he would follow me down the back alley from where I work swoop down just enough to ruffle the hair on the top of my head drop to the ground for 5 feet in front of me and start preening himself as if to say aren’t I the cutest funniest bird you ever saw! And he was and is. It amazes me that most people never even see these birds, never noticed how incredible these creatures are. They are not human but they certainly are persons and wonderful persons they are! Twice, when I have told him I wanted some feathers, he has left one for me. The last time I will never forget.I complained to him that I hadn’t received a feather in a long time. I swear the next day, walking along the sidewalk almost to the entrance to where I work, something made me look down at the sidewalk. To my right a foot away from my foot was a pristine feather. Not a half second later, I hear his caw, looked up to see His Majesty look at me to say ok, satisfied now? And then he flew off. He is my dear friend and I will miss him so. Thank you Askew for all you have done for me. A lot of people won’t or can’t understand but for those of you who can, he and his family helped to bolster my faith in life. What a gift from someone who most people don’t even realize exists!
Christopher Geer I'm happy they've helped ya. I know how ya feel. They are so intelligent and can recognize faces easily. I started collecting feathers when my friend passed away. And after a bunch of other stuff happened that's when I started hanging out with my neighborhood crows. I have one pair I can always Count on seeing, the others just like to steal their food. But they all come when I do six loud clicks, it's the dinner bell. Lol their names are Hotdog(girl), and Mr. Molt (because he looked a tad molty when i first saw him) They have brought me alot of happiness, especially when I'm stressed etc. I love em. Wish more people would give them a chance. Lol obly downside is they will hide stores of food.. somtimes throwing it in my neighbors chimney and rain gutters. But he is an ass, so I think it's funny he has lunch meat on top of his house.
I have somewhere an old Tibetan text on Crow Language given to me by a monk from Tibet. I went to Yellowstone about 9 years ago and a Raven was nearby and I talked to him, just a caw at first...within 15 minutes there were 20 to 30 ravens all over my truck and neighboring cars all taking to me. It was awesome.and funny. People were grabbing their kids and making a wide berth around us. One of the best moments of my life, they were so communicative and were even poking their heads into the window.
We had a pet wild born adult Crow live with us for 10 years. He was blinded (detached retinas) following a collision with a truck or car and that's when I found him. He ended up becoming a family member and he'd mime out things to us whilst making Crow calls. We'd tell him the words for what we called whatever it was and that's how we communicated. Sometime we'd never figure out what he was miming and he'd become very frustrated. It took us 10 minutes to figure out that he was trying to tell us his food and drink bowl didn't have an water in it to wash a piece of cooked meat we'd just given him. We heard a whole bunch of sounds and calls that normally aren't the usual "caw" call, even cooing sounds when the Crow was happy. The "I'm extremely pissed off" call is pretty easy to recognise,.as is the "I'm unhappy and sad" call. Soon learnt that "Wharll" meant "I want food" / "food" as he'd sit outside the backdoor and yell this if his outside food bowl was empty. He interacted with the local murder of Crows and they'd interact back. There was an interloper juvenile Crow the would attack him and steal our Crow "Blackie" food. Some of the local Crows saw this and chased the interloper around. Eventually they held a parliament in the tree at the bottom of the garden and decided to all chase the interloper out of the territory because we never saw it again. If a Buzzard flew over they'd yell the Buzzard warning and even now, years later, when I hear the Buzzard warning I look up and around for it. They have another one for a Raven warning which has a different end sound.
Crows have a way of eating from the oldest crow in charge down to the younger ones. They stick to the rules and dont steal food before their turns.if they do so and it becomes a habit they will drive them away and they will have to find another murder to join which isnt an easy thing to do. So they recognized this crow was stealing from your crow and drove him off.Good job on their part.
was walking in the woods, came to a small tree completely covered with crows - they all cawed very loudly continuously - i stopped and stared at them and they immediately all went dead silent - i walked a little more and they all started up again together, i stopped and tuned and they went dead silent - did this many times, they never got tired of the game
Looked this up because crows were following me this morning. Every 50 meters or so they would fly to a new perch and watch me. There were about three and they all took turns with the last one following me the farthest while the others stayed back. All the calls they made were the evenly spaced ahh ahh ahh... about 8 or 9 times each time they landed while following me. Glad to know they thought I was interesting enough to follow me but didn't really think I was a threat. At one point I started imitating them and they seemed confused or perplexed. Then it seemed like one imitated me imitating them and at that point I just wanted to get out of there, that was creepy, they probably said the same thing about me like, "caw caw caw, caw caw, caw Caw caw caw, cacacacaca!"
Why would you be freaked out? Yes, they are just as, if not more, intelligent than human beings. You are one of the few humans on this planet to experience that. Celebrate your gift.
@@amab2738 I have lived in a few countries since the comment so I am not even sure which contry these partticular crows were in. probably Spain or Japan. I kinda wish I looked into it more at the time and tried communicating more with them.
Was hearing crows around my neighbourhood, just doing that irregular pattern. Peered out to see they had spotted a cat, the suburb predator ;) This video was sooo helpful!
That's awesome Jeanne! It's so simple once you know what to listen for! We have a barred owl right now that's causing some major crow alarms. Thanks for sharing :-)
I let my inside cat outside sometimes. Crows used to hang on my property but, when I let her out they caw’d at me and left :( They don’t know shes basically harmless, shes scared of everything but bugs! Lol. I will have to attempt to apologize later with food.
I have lived with the crows for many years and when I am out in the field there is one super big old crow who hangs around, the sounds this crow makes is way beyond anything I have ever heard, so much so that one day I stopped working with the horses just to discover what bird was making the sounds? The owl like sounds, but not an owl, just the only way that I can describe the sounds this old crow makes, when I am hanging with my horses and its so amazing cause I never knew that they had such a large database of sounds :D
I live in Cornwall England.. I rescue animals but mainly Corvids... Not at present because I'm homeless. My best friend Seth a white winged crow, whom I picked up as a nestling as two cats were moving in on him. I put him in the warm, kept him in my mums shed. I wasn't looking for a pet so I was the only human around. He got bigger and started to stay in a tree overnight. He was interacting with his family and friends but started leaving the garden less and less? Still didn't bring him in house... He loved his baths. Twice a week, same time and day. Then one day I went to a shop down the road to buy Seth a new bath/big washing up bowl.. Never saw or heard from him again. He couldn't fly that well and loved his food to much to bugger off. I looked for day's around the local corvid hangouts nearby... I noticed other bird's looking towards his favourite spot wandering where he was... I miss walking around with Seth on my head or shoulder, .. I think I was Seth's pet actually. Miss you Seth..x
I know you must miss your Crow friend. I have been feeding a crow I named Blackjack for 4 years now and he leaves me occasional love gifts. It's very easy to get attached to crows because they are so extremely intelligent and can be very interactive and friendly. I hope your friend Seth returns some day.
@@thelmamaria Hi Thelma, that little rascal put a juicy red strawberry right in the middle of my 4th floor patio railing - exactly where I leave his snacks. He definitely wanted to make sure I saw it. So sweet! 🍓
@@tiamia7139 How cool! I am writing a children's story for my class about crows leaving gifts. I hope it's ok if I use your strawberry as an example. :)
I am befriending my local crows and reading this reminded me I had not put out treats today. I 'call' them by making four caws in a row and then listening. I usually hear one or two caws in the distance, and the crows will answer each other back and forth. After a short amount of time one or two will do a 'fly over' to check out the goods. Usually it is peanuts and often it also includes wet cat food (rejected by my indoor cats) or fruit and other goodies. Then they perch nearby and finally swoop and pick up their choice of food. They are shy and wait for me to go inside, but lately I have noticed they caw loudly very near my house if I have not yet fed them. I've gotten one 'gift'--a small white rock. Guess I'll have to be a bit more consistent to earn their trust and devotion. I do love those birds!
I live in the Country in New Brunswick Canada. I've been recording crows and I've been accustomed to their sound in my area. I was in another area where I heard a dog have a conversation with a Crow. Unbelievable. I should have recorded it. It was an Indian reserve. The dog's bark was similar to what another crow would respond.
I studied a flock of crows and found the cawing is used by this flock for their sentry crows, to tell other crows, that the coast is clear, no danger. thats 4 caw's. 3 caw's something is seen but still far away. 2 caw's it's closer, 1 caw means take flight. I think they have 2 forms of communication. The other form they use is the multiple ticking sound used between them. This ticking form, I think, may be more complex than we think. It sort of reminds me of the use of morse code. The speed and intensity can change to give different meaning. I have also watched this flock of over 500 birds morn the death of what most likely was their Alfa Male or Female. They were all very silent and mostly facing the direction of the dead crow. I have seen many crows wait till others are not nearby, and then hide a piece of food, then come back the next day to eat it. I've seen them play with colorful or shiny objects. and twice crows have left such object by me after I gave them scraps of food. I have no doubt, that if they had more leisure time, and not have the struggle of every day surviving, they would evolve a very sophisticated society. What I don't know, is how much change their might be, between flocks, in their language.
Saw a documentary of crows, so amasing ! They are so smart, can use tools, give gifts to humans, grieve when some of them dye and have cind of memory gathering , they can recognice a human face for 2 years and teach the others about If they are dangerous that the crows children can remember 2 years after! They warn eshother If a human amongst others were a mask, they groome eshother and the children are with the mother and family for 4 years. They are the most intelligent burds even tho parots have bigger brain. They are as smart as chimps and they are so smart and incredible birds. If you treat them good, they remember, but If you throw stones or try take a hurt baby burd, they will not like you, try pick youre head and remember you and warn the other crows of you. We should be nicer to them ! 🌬🔱〰🍇🍞🌲🕊❣️
I've just started feeding crows in my backyard and I hear the calls you speak of and that very simple distinction between the two kinds of calls is very helpful to me at this early stage. I love feeding all the birds and even the squirrels, but I especially enjoy the crows. I'm learning about them daily and it is fun and rewarding, Thank you for your video.
13 crows at the beach were asking me to dig up turtle eggs. The awesome thing is these crows had never seen anyone dig up eggs but they did remember in the egg genetic inheritant memories from their ancestors.
I found several crow call apps and I've been using the restful and conversational caws with individuals and when a flock flies through. I just found the app and I'm still learning. I'm hoping to call a few to my yard to feed them
Interesting video, bud! I heard a crow make a strange sound today while I was walking back home... kind of hard to describe but I would go with... a watery gargle? Like, liquid poured from a can, or something. It was quite strange!
I read that they make that sound in presence of (what they consider) family! Check out this video, I think it's the sound you refer to: th-cam.com/video/WTGtxbIXfBw/w-d-xo.html
lol randomly decided to google about why crows caw so much because I have so many out here where I live. I am fascinated about how you know so much about these things. Strangely attractive.
Yeah, it would be fun to create a more demonstrative version of this video (with better production quality). People will be able to get the core information from this video but it would be awesome to have some clips to go with it.
I have always been curious about one call that you will hear the odd time from crows.It sounds like awah awah .Then they will usually cluck a little. I don't hear it very often but it always puts a smile on my face when they do.😊
That's really interesting Joe. It sounds like you might be seeing sentinel behavior. Many species of flocking birds will alternate feeding with watching for predators as a way to save energy & stay safe. Whether or not what you saw is standard for crows I think depends a lot on the environment & context. At times when the crows aren't experiencing a lot of pressure from predators they might be less vigilant. That behavior might be standard for that park or at certain times of day.
I knew I wasn’t making it up! I’ve recently started feeding my neighborhood murder every morning, and today I gave them a treat by scattering hard boiled egg on the lawn for the first time. There were probably close to 20 crows on my lawn, until another crow came in chasing one of the small hawks that recently have taken residence in the neighborhood and live mostly off squirrels. There’s two hawks, a VERY young couple, barely past ‘teens’, and the male is very loud for the sake of being loud (he’s wised up and quieted down in recent weeks bc he was scaring away prey) and a bit foolhardy. Despite being incredibly outnumbered the hawk began to menace the crows, which seemed unusual because I’m used to seeing crows attacking hawks together to get them away from nests, and due to their outnumbering solitary hawks and being able to maneuver around more easily than hawks can I’ve not seen even large hawks come on the offense and do much more than fight in self defense or try to flee the mob. But this young hawk, around the same size as a crow, was just chasing them and getting chased off. While the exciting novelty of the hard boiled egg had previously gotten almost all the crows on the lawn, they quickly dispersed down to five or less at a time. I could’ve sworn up and down they were going in “shifts”; the few on the lawn would get a few bites of egg, then fly off towards the area the hawk was under the eye of most of the murder, and one or two would fly back to get a few bites of egg, and they’d keep going like that, rotating out, a few scouts off elsewhere on the perimeter with the majority of the murder in the trees near the hawk to better defend their brethren through numbers. The hawk started getting more and more aggressive, and often the group surrounding him and defending each other seemed at a loss; at one point the hawk brazenly alighted on a branch right in the middle of the whole cluster of high alert crows, sitting only feet between crows like he was part of the flock, and the crows were side eyeing him and tensed ready for the hawk’s next move. That was when one of the scouts called and the remaining 3 crows eating egg looked up and all alighted at once in the same direction, giving up the sentinel behavior for their entire combined strength and protection. One crow at one point in the process of hesitated when the hawk flew over to a tree right above him, and didn’t join the group across the street who were mostly just trying to find safety in numbers and avoid the crazy bird of prey. He was all alone on my lawn and the hawk fucking DOVE at him, right down to the grass, and I feared I was for sure about to witness a murder of a Murder member. Fortunately, between hawks being unable to land on the ground easily and crows being a bit better at maneuvering the crow hopped to the side and was able to take off in the other direction. In retrospect the whole interaction looked like two guys who were trying to look tough and bluff-lunge at each other without the follow through purely for intimidation; hawk really didn’t seem to be trying to ACTUALLY physically fight or even make contact with the crows. It was a full aggression territorial bluff, bc no WAY did he actually want to go up against 20-30 crows. Anyway that was a lot of unnecessary detail but I thought I might’ve been imagining them taking turns on their break, like guards doing rounds, centering on the place with the most pressing threat but still having a few scouts scattered out in different directions giving updates. Come to think of it, even before today I’ve seen them “take turns” on the lawn, grabbing a nut and flying off only to be replaced by a few others a moment later. Usually they’re a lot more vigilant with only 1-4 being on the lawn for snacks at a time, but as they’ve gotten more comfortable with me (they used to fly off way across the street or further if I so much as opened my front door, now they stay watching me on the tree if I go out to the lawn and will stay on the lawn if I sit on the porch) their groups have gotten bigger (fewer scouts) and sentinel shifts less rigorous. They were SO excited about the egg today, though, that there were over 20 and they reacted to the hawk very slowly; I was so worried that I’d distracted them so much with the hard boiled egg someone would get hurt or killed, but they regained their focus and remembered their training as the hawk picked a fight with more and more crows, but mostly they pulled it together the more the egg bits disappeared and there was less to be distracted by. Forgive me for the novela, I have adhd, haven’t slept in over 24 hours, and am currently hyper fixating on crows (currently fighting the urge to buy a $40 wooden crow call that will last a long time and would look nicer to wear semi permanently around my neck than cheap plastic ones) and this all happened a few hours ago, my family didn’t fully believe me that the crows were taking guard shifts so this was exciting to see confirmed!. Also writing this on mobile which makes it really difficult to read back and edit so this is complete unfiltered stream of consciousness.
One bright afternoon a crow was perching on the outside window sill by my house and cawed loudly. it sounded as if it was warning me about something. Then a few minutes later when I looked back at the spot, it wasn't there. A while later, a huge thunderstorm came into our area. I thank that crow for warning me about the storm.
This was so informative. I hear crows in the early morning and it's just as you say, three or four caws and a break, and all seems well and at peace. But when we hear the frenzied non stop caw we know there is a predator. Which has been so useful to recognise as it alerts our rabbit! Good video and nice info. Many thanks.
This is exciting! I, myself, I'm trying to find out about the crow language since five years by a crow couple which lives in the neighbourhood of our house. I could identify some pattern so far and i can understand them in a certain way quite well. But with other crows it seems to me, the more complicate pattern are some what different. I'm not able to simulate any of their sounds, at all, so i'm just watching and listening. This topic is very exciting.
I can tell from "your" language you may live somewhere near Virginia? The howss and abuowt are the give aways. My neighborhood crows sound the alarm when hawks circle or are nearby. I luv em because I have chickens and move them to safety when I hear them. They seem to be frantic unstructureded calls (?) that cannot be ignored. I am thankful for them.
Ha! Yeah people always comment about my aboot. I live in Nova Scotia Canada so that usually explains it for people. You're spot on to identify those alarms as frantic unstructured calls. Once you tune into the pattern it's really just common sense to know when there's danger lurking. Thanks for sharing :)
NatureMentor Oops, I was way off on the accent but I guessed right about the calls eh. I am learning about the bird language in Florida mainly because the preditory hawks have moved into neighborhood as roads are being built nearby. They have very intricate societies and communication systems. Never realized how interesting they are until now. Thanks for the video/tutorial.
My first crow friend I called Bird. She learned to say hello. This family is all named Bird. If they are nowhere to be seen n their is an eagle over my lambs, I call for Bird n they come from every direction. I get lots of crackles. No more hellos. I don't really no how long they live for but I pray for them every crow season. I thought there is 3 predator calls. One for birds of prey, one for felines n woodchucks of a sort even foxes, I'm still trying to find the human alarm 😊
Just understand that crows and ravens seem to absolutely hate it when humans try to imitate their calls, especially when you are actually good at it. It really freaks them out and usually scares them away
mikis i depends. I have a professional call. And they don't seem to mind.. but u also feed them when they get close. And research food, and predator calls. If you don't know the patterns.. even the best calls will scare them. It would be like someone speaking perfect english.. but with all the words jumbled up.. that's enough to creep anyone out.
Reminds me of Americans attempting to speak French in Paris - if it's not absolutely perfect, you get admonished by caws and cackles of disapproval from the local humans.
I learnt a subset of crow vocabulary when I lived in Michigan. Then I moved to Washington state and was surprised to find that I could not understand the crows there. Who knew that crow dialects were localized?
There's also the calm "burst" call structure starting one to two long, and ending with two or three short, that seems to be a sort of "Hey gang, check out over here", the "Cawwww, cawwwww, caw-caw-caw".
Thanks for the insight. This is brilliant. Btw, I noticed that every time I go feed the crows there is one, usually the one that spots me first, that makes 3 caws in quick succession and than the rest of them comes from different parts of the park. I guess that 3 caws is a massage about food.
@Ax Martel My crow does that. He is definitely leader of the pack and announcing to the others in his murder that there is food out. I've been watching him for four years and there's a definite pattern to his caws. He usually starts this pattern with three loud caws and then repeats them three more times.
Yep, same happens here when I arrive to feed. They see me get the bag of food out and then one of them gives off a very distinct caaaw-caaaw-caaaw, then silence for a while. It sounds different to their normal 'chatter'. More like an alarm you hear when a truck is reversing, no pitch bend.
I LOVE MY CROWS THEY FOLLOWED WHEN I MOVEDand INCLUDE ME IN TEACHING THEIR YOUNG TO FLY,I ALWAYS FEED MY CROWS AND WHEN I OPEN MY DOOR THEY GREET ME THE YOUNG OF EACH YEAR BECOME AQUAINTED WITH ME EARLY ON and even in the nest begin to recognize me as friend. when they shed featers it is in the path i take while feeding I always feel honored to receive one from them
What I've observed: Structured caws> crows gather above and/or near food source (Picnic leftovers, persimmon tree, etc) > silence> some of the crows raid while others watch > 'raiders' exit as 'watchers' enter the raid.
Ohh God !!! This video is 10years old and I am watching now ... Compared to birds I have a spcl interest towards crows .. making crows as ur frnds is the hardest thing ever but once if they become frnd of u and believes in u trust me they are best and they are the most loyal ones in this world ...I used to have a crow and I named it chittu ... I really loved him I never kept it in a bird cage but every day it used to come eat drink and used to listen to my all non sense stuff and when I am going to college it used to say bye and when I came it used to greet me with a hi and when I used to cry it used to stay at me til I stop crying ...but suddenly one day due electric shock it was died every thing became hell to me and I felt no frnds are left to me in this world and then I realised it gave me his two babies and one other bird which my chittu used to grow kept at my tree and left the world ...its been 37 days that my chittu left and I am still trying to make chittu babies as babies they are cute though .... I used to communicate to my chittu very easily but communicating to my chittu babies felt little bit difficult because they are small still so the reason I wanna learn crow language .... 😅
Yep, they seem to have the same, "Danger, danger!", warning call as my Amazon too. My male Amazon got upset and tired of watching me feed his treats to the crows one day. He yelled out the warning call and everyone headed off in a flurry of wingbeats and caws.
This is a very informative video. Thanks so much for publishing it. We have a crow that stayed near our property alone last winter due to an injured wing. His friends are now back this spring and he is communicating with them at our feeder.
1:29 Yea I agree, the crows around my area often warns of incoming rain/drizzle before it hits the area. Plus they vocalise differently when amongst themselves at a safer spot, particularly when feeding their young/getting fed. Different groups of them have slightly different higher pitch calls that sounds completely different from what is usually associated with them (Sounds more like song birds, but still not continuous), when trying to warn each other of something/to gather around. Some times once in a while, a bunch of them from different groups get together then they proceed to convey information (Especially obvious during the time when one of the huge tree got fell, I think they got together to scout and decide which is the next best spot for them to continue on).
Came here because the crows I feed every day were making bizarre noises. The calls were all over the place, sounded different, etc. All from one crow. Was unsure if they were happy noises to get fed, or if something was off.
There's a group of four or five crows living in a park near my house. I've noticed that when feeding, two will be on the ground and the rest stay up in the trees and watch. One of the tree crows will give off a non-contextual call, and then they sort of rotate positions. This happens every few minutes... is that standard crow behavior?
I've noticed something similar too. I may only see one or two birds on the ground but as soon as the ones in the trees notice they're eating something they'll fly down quickly. I only have little experience with them so I haven't paid attention to whether they'll switch places. I'll certainly try to pay attention to it next time.
Yes because they eat in order of oldest to youngest, the crows who are at the top of the list eat first while others play lookout. Then the next oldest group goes while the ones who have eaten look out for them. And it goes on down the line until everyone has eaten. One thing is that a crow will never eat under a covered porch or an area with a roof or large overhang. They have to be able to see above them to look out for danger if they dont have lookouts available. So as a general rule u will not see a crow eat under any type of roof or covered area.
Recently fed some crows, gave them some seeds so I could see them closely (Seeds were too close to my car, so I backed my car up a bit and they went for the seeds), had a hawk call out and the crows absolutely were attentive to that the first time, but after the second call they seemed to relax more. They ate a few seeds, and started to bury and cover the rest of the seeds. I'm no expert, and their calls still have me baffled. I have fed these specific birds before as I have seen where they usually go during certain days of the week. They seem to have a pattern of where certain birds are posted given the week, and they even break that pattern during holidays. I wish I could have a career learning about corvids, they are so cool. Also saw a lone Crow beating the shit out of a bald eagle recently, not sure what that was about, but damn that crow was a badass. It wasn't even in the crows usual area, that was the magpie's area, but that crow was fucking that eagle up, no mercy.
I had a crow encounter this morning that really threw me. I live in mid-coast Maine and have been around crows my whole life. I throw bread out each morning, especially in the winter, and they come and eat. Well this morning this crow was clicking and trilling - it was awesome and also a bit unsettling. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary but I wouldn't have been surprised if an alien came around the corner, it was that urgent sounding.
Loved your video! What about the rapid, 'clicking' sound they make? Would love your opinion on this. My friend 'Simon', will say hi, with a normal caw, caw, caw ..... then start 'clicking' at me. It's a soft, rapid clicking sound. Any information would be appreciated!
Do the caws of unstructured calls also change in duration ? And when multiple crows are calling at the same time but are still in structured burst could it be an alarm call or do they wait to speak back to each other in the pauses between bursts ?
Yes, unstructured calls often do change in duration. In general - as length, pitch & volume become more variable... the more likely you're hearing alarm. It is possible to hear multiple crows giving structured calls simultaneously... which is not an alarm, but remember to also pay attention for times when you hear structured calls and unstructured calls simultaneously, which tells you there is something happening. Hope that helps
Cool story moominu, crows speak volumes with their body language & it's more a language of emotion than words. If she comes close to you then maybe she's saying that she feels comfortable & safe with you :)
I live near Wash., D. C., and I feed these guys every day. When they have babies, you can hear the nestling and the parent calling back and forth; I think it reassures the baby: "Ah oh!" The baby will call, and parent's response is immediate. Oh, they love grapes on a hot day. Otherwise, cat kibble or leftover plates of cat food will do. They are opportunists!
I have two crows I feed that follow me everywhere. One, I believe the female, gives me a beautiful, melodic love-type call. She rarely does it. Sometimes they purr, which is different from rattling. I love my crows.
Thank you SOOOOO much!!! I just learned ive been unintentionally scaring away my crows!!! ☹️ im gonna go set things straight with my baes. 👌 let em know this IS a zone of safety. Im going to scan other videos. Hope you have other videos regarding the language of the crows in more depth 🖤 Your work is much appreciated. Namaste good sir 🧚🏼♀️
I almost got into a bad motorcycle wreck on my way to my parents, when I arrived a crow landed right over me and starred and cawed, I wish I knew what he was saying.
7:05. I can't "hold onto" anything with my ears except maybe water from the shower. Has anyone else ever heard a crow make a sort of "bong" bell-like sound? It's amazing. I emailed a crow expert and he said it's extremely unusual to hear a crow make that sound, but it has been known to happen. The crow that used to "bong" in my neighborhood has been gone for over a decade. Never again heard another crow make such a wonderful bell sound. I wonder what he was saying?
There is one sound I hear and am mystified by that a certain rook make when they are in or near the rookery... it is not a caw but I hear it after some rook caws... it is a gluck sound that one of them makes... I have heard this a few times now...
Hey bud, glad to see you are still into the bird language and digging deep. I've kept it up myself. I'm gonna try to visit NEBLI this year if I can make it.
Hey Dustin, I just saw your comment here. Hope you're still birding it up. By the way - I think you live close to one of my friends from Wilderness Awareness School (Eric H.) He mentioned that he met you at a Christmas party.
thanks really good video. I like to feed them peanuts by throwing them from my balcony onto the roof of a lower house, they sometimes sit on chimneys in the distance watching me throw peanuts, but usually only come to pick em up when I am gone, they are pretty cautious, for good reason I guess. Also many other flats in my house with people. I wonder if I could buy an ACME crow caller and try it to notify them its "feeding time" here. lol. I'll try, although my neighbors might get pretty pissed once they figure out I am making that noise, lol...
They seem to love when I make the purring sound or the melodic love song call to them. I'll often use the purr call to attract them to come and go on a dog walk with me. They fly really close and land within a few feet of me.
Thank you for the education on the crows and ravens mainly crows there are a lot of ravens where I live I have a small Chihuahua and they always seem to be around but they never make any noise my dog is 7 pounds and they look like they're 20 they are rather frightening to me.
If they make a quiet clucking noise what does it mean? I had one maybe 2 feet from me and it kept doing it. I’m pretty sure they knew me does it mean anything?
I cawed like the first one first at crows they flied up and starting doing the same were they afarid of me? or were they trying to alert others as well?
Can you maybe help me with a call from a crow. I did'nt know, what he wanted 🙈 It is a crow that i feed almost daily. He gave me this purring- sound beginning with a f- tone. But not loud it was in a more whispery voice. I can't find anything in the internet to it. Thank you!
One time at the beach we brought chips and sandwiches, and this crow was staring directly at me from a tree no more than 4 feet away and making this quiet "mmfh" noise. I think that probably meant something like "You have something I want, can I have it"
I started using a crow call a few years back.. (haydels is the best, it's clear with a image of a crow on it..nothing else I've tried worked that well), and I've been feeding my neighborhood crows for years.. though now they know they only get food when they sit above my porch.. they are amazing animals.. I'm pretty sure they even saved my life or atleast stopped a terrible thing from happening.
Back when I'd randomly throw food whenever I saw them. I used to walk through my neighborhood cemetery very early about 5am..same path everytime..every day.. but I'd usually stop for a moment at a bench and feed my crows.. though there were a few large bushes about 30 feet from me on my path that I'd take ahead of me.. well, that day I didn't see my ink babies.. and it was quiet.. when out of nowhere one was cawing LOUDLY on a branch just above one of the large bushes.. screaming at somthing in them.. I figured it was a cat.. but when I looked.. a man's head popped out ever so slightly, like he was trying to be sneaky.. so I slowly got up and walked the outer edge to the entrance.. the crow flew over by me so I dumped all my snacks for him.. and I'd watched that man get up out of the brush.. he was carrying fucking rope..and another small bag filled with shit.. looked crazy as fuck and stared back at me...
Fuck that.
And that.. is why I spend atleast 20$ bucks a month in crow feasts.
I owe the lil' bastards. And I love them and their personalities.
Jeeeeeesus.
Miss Mir Ink babies I love it! I have been feeding my family of crows at work for about four years. They are the fattest shiniest funniest cutest birds you’ve ever seen. My main guy is called Askew. I started calling him that because when I met him he had little feathers hanging down off his tummy and I thought oh his feathers are all askew. I have now developed a relationship with his wife Mrs. Askew and Junior 123 and 4-A & 4- B. That’s right! They had two babies this year. It’s amazing how individual the personalities of those babies are not to mention the individual crows themselves. I call to them and I feed them every day at work. It all started innocently enough when I started throwing pizza crust out on the curb for them. Then he brought his wife. Well you know how that goes. Pizza crust eventually turn into hamburger mixed with liver mixed with special crow seed mix mixed with bread and garlic because crows garlic you know! If I go out for pizza across the street, he follows me and waits on the awning of the pizza place fully expecting to get his share when I return when I return to the other side of the street where I work. And of course he does get his share. And if I go to the other side of the street to the local coffee shop to get a doughnut, well he and Mrs. Askew will sit right on the fence outside the door waiting for their’s which of course they get. Sometimes when I have called them there has been up to 17 crows that show up! It’s a good thing they’re cute because that was getting expensive. Next Tuesday will be my last day of work at this place where I’ve worked at for 10 years. I speak the truth from the bottom of my heart I will miss them more and I will miss most of my coworkers. Those little ink baby as you call them, gosh I love that, have helped me in more ways than most people can imagine. I’m retiring to the Prescott Arizona area in a couple weeks and I’m very excited! But they don’t really have crows there and I’m going through a real grief process regarding that. Askew used to sit in a tree by the rooms were I would work just to keep me company. He knew I saw him and he was not expecting food. Sometimes he would wait for me to come out of work and we would just sit and be with each other. I know that he just wanted my company because many occasions (I always keep a large tune of pro mix in my car) and I would sprinkle some for him. He would ceremonially peck at it for a second or two and then jump up on my jeep and just stare at me occasionally caw at me. We have spent up to a half hour, just hanging out together. Sometimes during the summer he would follow me down the back alley from where I work swoop down just enough to ruffle the hair on the top of my head drop to the ground for 5 feet in front of me and start preening himself as if to say aren’t I the cutest funniest bird you ever saw! And he was and is. It amazes me that most people never even see these birds, never noticed how incredible these creatures are. They are not human but they certainly are persons and wonderful persons they are!
Twice, when I have told him I wanted some feathers, he has left one for me. The last time I will never forget.I complained to him that I hadn’t received a feather in a long time. I swear the next day, walking along the sidewalk almost to the entrance to where I work, something made me look down at the sidewalk. To my right a foot away from my foot was a pristine feather. Not a half second later, I hear his caw, looked up to see His Majesty look at me to say ok, satisfied now? And then he flew off. He is my dear friend and I will miss him so. Thank you Askew for all you have done for me. A lot of people won’t or can’t understand but for those of you who can, he and his family helped to bolster my faith in life. What a gift from someone who most people don’t even realize exists!
Christopher Geer I'm happy they've helped ya. I know how ya feel. They are so intelligent and can recognize faces easily. I started collecting feathers when my friend passed away. And after a bunch of other stuff happened that's when I started hanging out with my neighborhood crows. I have one pair I can always Count on seeing, the others just like to steal their food. But they all come when I do six loud clicks, it's the dinner bell.
Lol their names are Hotdog(girl), and Mr. Molt (because he looked a tad molty when i first saw him)
They have brought me alot of happiness, especially when I'm stressed etc.
I love em. Wish more people would give them a chance. Lol obly downside is they will hide stores of food.. somtimes throwing it in my neighbors chimney and rain gutters. But he is an ass, so I think it's funny he has lunch meat on top of his house.
One of the secrets of life is to recognize the intelligence and love that our fellow creatures possess.
Oh Wowowowowo
I have somewhere an old Tibetan text on Crow Language given to me by a monk from Tibet. I went to Yellowstone about 9 years ago and a Raven was nearby and I talked to him, just a caw at first...within 15 minutes there were 20 to 30 ravens all over my truck and neighboring cars all taking to me. It was awesome.and funny. People were grabbing their kids and making a wide berth around us. One of the best moments of my life, they were so communicative and were even poking their heads into the window.
Can you message me the language in DM of TH-cam?
That’s amazing! Is there a way for me to see that language?
Same request as them 😅
I'd appreciate a copy, or more info about the book, if you have the time to share
Same here, can you send a link?
We had a pet wild born adult Crow live with us for 10 years. He was blinded (detached retinas) following a collision with a truck or car and that's when I found him.
He ended up becoming a family member and he'd mime out things to us whilst making Crow calls. We'd tell him the words for what we called whatever it was and that's how we communicated. Sometime we'd never figure out what he was miming and he'd become very frustrated. It took us 10 minutes to figure out that he was trying to tell us his food and drink bowl didn't have an water in it to wash a piece of cooked meat we'd just given him.
We heard a whole bunch of sounds and calls that normally aren't the usual "caw" call, even cooing sounds when the Crow was happy. The "I'm extremely pissed off" call is pretty easy to recognise,.as is the "I'm unhappy and sad" call.
Soon learnt that "Wharll" meant "I want food" / "food" as he'd sit outside the backdoor and yell this if his outside food bowl was empty.
He interacted with the local murder of Crows and they'd interact back. There was an interloper juvenile Crow the would attack him and steal our Crow "Blackie" food. Some of the local Crows saw this and chased the interloper around. Eventually they held a parliament in the tree at the bottom of the garden and decided to all chase the interloper out of the territory because we never saw it again.
If a Buzzard flew over they'd yell the Buzzard warning and even now, years later, when I hear the Buzzard warning I look up and around for it. They have another one for a Raven warning which has a different end sound.
Crows have a way of eating from the oldest crow in charge down to the younger ones. They stick to the rules and dont steal food before their turns.if they do so and it becomes a habit they will drive them away and they will have to find another murder to join which isnt an easy thing to do. So they recognized this crow was stealing from your crow and drove him off.Good job on their part.
I, too, learned the word for "Buzzard" from my local crows. But then I forgot it because the Buzzard left the area after stray cats ate all the mice.
Thank you for sharing this. Amazing story it’s life-changing.!
was walking in the woods, came to a small tree completely covered with crows - they all cawed very loudly continuously - i stopped and stared at them and they immediately all went dead silent - i walked a little more and they all started up again together, i stopped and tuned and they went dead silent - did this many times, they never got tired of the game
You weren’t invited to the family reunion have a good day sir lol
What would make this video better would be actual video cllps of actual crows cawing.
Oh
No this is perfect
Yes
As Examples
Yeah I agree, he’s got great info and some visual support and actual calls, etc, this would’ve been so awesome!
I cawed at a Raven a few times and he flew high over me one day and dropped a nice fat pecan at my feet.
Spivagirl he obviously thought you earned it.
hahaha a treat for the trained human
A love gift.
That's cool as f**k
Looked this up because crows were following me this morning. Every 50 meters or so they would fly to a new perch and watch me. There were about three and they all took turns with the last one following me the farthest while the others stayed back. All the calls they made were the evenly spaced ahh ahh ahh... about 8 or 9 times each time they landed while following me. Glad to know they thought I was interesting enough to follow me but didn't really think I was a threat. At one point I started imitating them and they seemed confused or perplexed. Then it seemed like one imitated me imitating them and at that point I just wanted to get out of there, that was creepy, they probably said the same thing about me like, "caw caw caw, caw caw, caw Caw caw caw, cacacacaca!"
Why would you be freaked out? Yes, they are just as, if not more, intelligent than human beings. You are one of the few humans on this planet to experience that. Celebrate your gift.
You gave them a name 😂 that's your name now, your intimidation attempt.
@@amab2738 I have lived in a few countries since the comment so I am not even sure which contry these partticular crows were in. probably Spain or Japan. I kinda wish I looked into it more at the time and tried communicating more with them.
Was hearing crows around my neighbourhood, just doing that irregular pattern. Peered out to see they had spotted a cat, the suburb predator ;) This video was sooo helpful!
That's awesome Jeanne! It's so simple once you know what to listen for! We have a barred owl right now that's causing some major crow alarms. Thanks for sharing :-)
I let my inside cat outside sometimes. Crows used to hang on my property but, when I let her out they caw’d at me and left :(
They don’t know shes basically harmless, shes scared of everything but bugs! Lol. I will have to attempt to apologize later with food.
I have lived with the crows for many years and when I am out in the field there is one super big old crow who hangs around, the sounds this crow makes is way beyond anything I have ever heard, so much so that one day I stopped working with the horses just to discover what bird was making the sounds? The owl like sounds, but not an owl, just the only way that I can describe the sounds this old crow makes, when I am hanging with my horses and its so amazing cause I never knew that they had such a large database of sounds :D
I live in Cornwall England.. I rescue animals but mainly Corvids... Not at present because I'm homeless.
My best friend Seth a white winged crow, whom I picked up as a nestling as two cats were moving in on him. I put him in the warm, kept him in my mums shed. I wasn't looking for a pet so I was the only human around. He got bigger and started to stay in a tree overnight. He was interacting with his family and friends but started leaving the garden less and less?
Still didn't bring him in house... He loved his baths. Twice a week, same time and day.
Then one day I went to a shop down the road to buy Seth a new bath/big washing up bowl..
Never saw or heard from him again. He couldn't fly that well and loved his food to much to bugger off. I looked for day's around the local corvid hangouts nearby... I noticed other bird's looking towards his favourite spot wandering where he was... I miss walking around with Seth on my head or shoulder, .. I think I was Seth's pet actually.
Miss you Seth..x
scott williams sorry he's gone,maybe he found a good mate not human..hmmm
I know you must miss your Crow friend. I have been feeding a crow I named Blackjack for 4 years now and he leaves me occasional love gifts. It's very easy to get attached to crows because they are so extremely intelligent and can be very interactive and friendly. I hope your friend Seth returns some day.
@@tiamia7139 What gifts did Blackjack leave you? I would love to know. xo
@@thelmamaria Hi Thelma, that little rascal put a juicy red strawberry right in the middle of my 4th floor patio railing - exactly where I leave his snacks. He definitely wanted to make sure I saw it. So sweet! 🍓
@@tiamia7139 How cool! I am writing a children's story for my class about crows leaving gifts. I hope it's ok if I use your strawberry as an example. :)
I am befriending my local crows and reading this reminded me I had not put out treats today. I 'call' them by making four caws in a row and then listening. I usually hear one or two caws in the distance, and the crows will answer each other back and forth. After a short amount of time one or two will do a 'fly over' to check out the goods. Usually it is peanuts and often it also includes wet cat food (rejected by my indoor cats) or fruit and other goodies. Then they perch nearby and finally swoop and pick up their choice of food. They are shy and wait for me to go inside, but lately I have noticed they caw loudly very near my house if I have not yet fed them. I've gotten one 'gift'--a small white rock. Guess I'll have to be a bit more consistent to earn their trust and devotion. I do love those birds!
I live in the Country in New Brunswick Canada. I've been recording crows and I've been accustomed to their sound in my area. I was in another area where I heard a dog have a conversation with a Crow. Unbelievable. I should have recorded it. It was an Indian reserve. The dog's bark was similar to what another crow would respond.
Cheers from saint john
I believe it. They don't have a canine alarm they follow them for clean up. I sure the situation would be different if juvenile crows were near by
I studied a flock of crows and found the cawing is used by this flock for their sentry crows, to tell other crows, that the coast is clear, no danger. thats 4 caw's. 3 caw's something is seen but still far away. 2 caw's it's closer, 1 caw means take flight. I think they have 2 forms of communication. The other form they use is the multiple ticking sound used between them. This ticking form, I think, may be more complex than we think. It sort of reminds me of the use of morse code. The speed and intensity can change to give different meaning. I have also watched this flock of over 500 birds morn the death of what most likely was their Alfa Male or Female. They were all very silent and mostly facing the direction of the dead crow. I have seen many crows wait till others are not nearby, and then hide a piece of food, then come back the next day to eat it. I've seen them play with colorful or shiny objects. and twice crows have left such object by me after I gave them scraps of food. I have no doubt, that if they had more leisure time, and not have the struggle of every day surviving, they would evolve a very sophisticated society. What I don't know, is how much change their might be, between flocks, in their language.
Your comment was so interesting, thankyou for sharing this information :)
Saw a documentary of crows, so amasing ! They are so smart, can use tools, give gifts to humans, grieve when some of them dye and have cind of memory gathering , they can recognice a human face for 2 years and teach the others about If they are dangerous that the crows children can remember 2 years after! They warn eshother If a human amongst others were a mask, they groome eshother and the children are with the mother and family for 4 years. They are the most intelligent burds even tho parots have bigger brain. They are as smart as chimps and they are so smart and incredible birds. If you treat them good, they remember, but If you throw stones or try take a hurt baby burd, they will not like you, try pick youre head and remember you and warn the other crows of you. We should be nicer to them ! 🌬🔱〰🍇🍞🌲🕊❣️
e causey damn! you should go back to help the poor bird out!
@e causey that's so sad :( you should definitely go back and try to help him, how precious that he called you the name only your grandfather used
I've just started feeding crows in my backyard and I hear the calls you speak of and that very simple distinction between the two kinds of calls is very helpful to me at this early stage. I love feeding all the birds and even the squirrels, but I especially enjoy the crows. I'm learning about them daily and it is fun and rewarding, Thank you for your video.
13 crows at the beach were asking me to dig up turtle eggs. The awesome thing is these crows had never seen anyone dig up eggs but they did remember in the egg genetic inheritant memories from their ancestors.
Sir, you just taught me how to understand one of my all time favorite animals. Thank you!
I found several crow call apps and I've been using the restful and conversational caws with individuals and when a flock flies through. I just found the app and I'm still learning. I'm hoping to call a few to my yard to feed them
Interesting video, bud! I heard a crow make a strange sound today while I was walking back home... kind of hard to describe but I would go with... a watery gargle? Like, liquid poured from a can, or something. It was quite strange!
I read that they make that sound in presence of (what they consider) family! Check out this video, I think it's the sound you refer to: th-cam.com/video/WTGtxbIXfBw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks!
I LOVE crows, ravens, and all corvids.
lol randomly decided to google about why crows caw so much because I have so many out here where I live. I am fascinated about how you know so much about these things. Strangely attractive.
Me too babe
Yeah, it would be fun to create a more demonstrative version of this video (with better production quality). People will be able to get the core information from this video but it would be awesome to have some clips to go with it.
I have always been curious about one call that you will hear the odd time from crows.It sounds like awah awah .Then they will usually cluck a little. I don't hear it very often but it always puts a smile on my face when they do.😊
That's really interesting Joe. It sounds like you might be seeing sentinel behavior. Many species of flocking birds will alternate feeding with watching for predators as a way to save energy & stay safe.
Whether or not what you saw is standard for crows I think depends a lot on the environment & context. At times when the crows aren't experiencing a lot of pressure from predators they might be less vigilant. That behavior might be standard for that park or at certain times of day.
NatureMentor - hello baby
@@freshlove7926 TF
I knew I wasn’t making it up! I’ve recently started feeding my neighborhood murder every morning, and today I gave them a treat by scattering hard boiled egg on the lawn for the first time. There were probably close to 20 crows on my lawn, until another crow came in chasing one of the small hawks that recently have taken residence in the neighborhood and live mostly off squirrels.
There’s two hawks, a VERY young couple, barely past ‘teens’, and the male is very loud for the sake of being loud (he’s wised up and quieted down in recent weeks bc he was scaring away prey) and a bit foolhardy. Despite being incredibly outnumbered the hawk began to menace the crows, which seemed unusual because I’m used to seeing crows attacking hawks together to get them away from nests, and due to their outnumbering solitary hawks and being able to maneuver around more easily than hawks can I’ve not seen even large hawks come on the offense and do much more than fight in self defense or try to flee the mob.
But this young hawk, around the same size as a crow, was just chasing them and getting chased off.
While the exciting novelty of the hard boiled egg had previously gotten almost all the crows on the lawn, they quickly dispersed down to five or less at a time. I could’ve sworn up and down they were going in “shifts”; the few on the lawn would get a few bites of egg, then fly off towards the area the hawk was under the eye of most of the murder, and one or two would fly back to get a few bites of egg, and they’d keep going like that, rotating out, a few scouts off elsewhere on the perimeter with the majority of the murder in the trees near the hawk to better defend their brethren through numbers.
The hawk started getting more and more aggressive, and often the group surrounding him and defending each other seemed at a loss; at one point the hawk brazenly alighted on a branch right in the middle of the whole cluster of high alert crows, sitting only feet between crows like he was part of the flock, and the crows were side eyeing him and tensed ready for the hawk’s next move. That was when one of the scouts called and the remaining 3 crows eating egg looked up and all alighted at once in the same direction, giving up the sentinel behavior for their entire combined strength and protection.
One crow at one point in the process of hesitated when the hawk flew over to a tree right above him, and didn’t join the group across the street who were mostly just trying to find safety in numbers and avoid the crazy bird of prey. He was all alone on my lawn and the hawk fucking DOVE at him, right down to the grass, and I feared I was for sure about to witness a murder of a Murder member. Fortunately, between hawks being unable to land on the ground easily and crows being a bit better at maneuvering the crow hopped to the side and was able to take off in the other direction. In retrospect the whole interaction looked like two guys who were trying to look tough and bluff-lunge at each other without the follow through purely for intimidation; hawk really didn’t seem to be trying to ACTUALLY physically fight or even make contact with the crows. It was a full aggression territorial bluff, bc no WAY did he actually want to go up against 20-30 crows.
Anyway that was a lot of unnecessary detail but I thought I might’ve been imagining them taking turns on their break, like guards doing rounds, centering on the place with the most pressing threat but still having a few scouts scattered out in different directions giving updates. Come to think of it, even before today I’ve seen them “take turns” on the lawn, grabbing a nut and flying off only to be replaced by a few others a moment later. Usually they’re a lot more vigilant with only 1-4 being on the lawn for snacks at a time, but as they’ve gotten more comfortable with me (they used to fly off way across the street or further if I so much as opened my front door, now they stay watching me on the tree if I go out to the lawn and will stay on the lawn if I sit on the porch) their groups have gotten bigger (fewer scouts) and sentinel shifts less rigorous. They were SO excited about the egg today, though, that there were over 20 and they reacted to the hawk very slowly; I was so worried that I’d distracted them so much with the hard boiled egg someone would get hurt or killed, but they regained their focus and remembered their training as the hawk picked a fight with more and more crows, but mostly they pulled it together the more the egg bits disappeared and there was less to be distracted by.
Forgive me for the novela, I have adhd, haven’t slept in over 24 hours, and am currently hyper fixating on crows (currently fighting the urge to buy a $40 wooden crow call that will last a long time and would look nicer to wear semi permanently around my neck than cheap plastic ones) and this all happened a few hours ago, my family didn’t fully believe me that the crows were taking guard shifts so this was exciting to see confirmed!. Also writing this on mobile which makes it really difficult to read back and edit so this is complete unfiltered stream of consciousness.
One bright afternoon a crow was perching on the outside window sill by my house and cawed loudly. it sounded as if it was warning me about something. Then a few minutes later when I looked back at the spot, it wasn't there. A while later, a huge thunderstorm came into our area.
I thank that crow for warning me about the storm.
I have befriended a wild crow and I want to get to know them more. They come by every single day and yell at me for more almonds.
This was so informative. I hear crows in the early morning and it's just as you say, three or four caws and a break, and all seems well and at peace. But when we hear the frenzied non stop caw we know there is a predator. Which has been so useful to recognise as it alerts our rabbit! Good video and nice info. Many thanks.
Nice. A pleasure to listen to you speak about these beautiful corvids.
10 years later I'm watching this and learning so much. Thanks. :)
This is exciting! I, myself, I'm trying to find out about the crow language since five years by a crow couple which lives in the neighbourhood of our house. I could identify some pattern so far and i can understand them in a certain way quite well. But with other crows it seems to me, the more complicate pattern are some what different. I'm not able to simulate any of their sounds, at all, so i'm just watching and listening. This topic is very exciting.
Thanks for this video! I’m excited to hear the crows today and determine between these 2 types. I appreciate it!
I can tell from "your" language you may live somewhere near Virginia? The howss and abuowt are the give aways. My neighborhood crows sound the alarm when hawks circle or are nearby. I luv em because I have chickens and move them to safety when I hear them. They seem to be frantic unstructureded calls (?) that cannot be ignored. I am thankful for them.
Ha! Yeah people always comment about my aboot. I live in Nova Scotia Canada so that usually explains it for people.
You're spot on to identify those alarms as frantic unstructured calls. Once you tune into the pattern it's really just common sense to know when there's danger lurking. Thanks for sharing :)
NatureMentor Oops, I was way off on the accent but I guessed right about the calls eh. I am learning about the bird language in Florida mainly because the preditory hawks have moved into neighborhood as roads are being built nearby. They have very intricate societies and communication systems. Never realized how interesting they are until now. Thanks for the video/tutorial.
Hey NatureMentor your video is really cool and birds are so amazing and cool ☺
"Aboot" Canada, obviously.
My first crow friend I called Bird. She learned to say hello. This family is all named Bird. If they are nowhere to be seen n their is an eagle over my lambs, I call for Bird n they come from every direction. I get lots of crackles. No more hellos. I don't really no how long they live for but I pray for them every crow season. I thought there is 3 predator calls. One for birds of prey, one for felines n woodchucks of a sort even foxes, I'm still trying to find the human alarm 😊
What I learned is that when any bird lowers it's head an neck down, it's angry and will attack soon. Thank you for great video!
Thanks for educating everyone about crows and crow language. Very interesting and informative!
Just understand that crows and ravens seem to absolutely hate it when humans try to imitate their calls, especially when you are actually good at it. It really freaks them out and usually scares them away
mikis i depends. I have a professional call. And they don't seem to mind.. but u also feed them when they get close. And research food, and predator calls. If you don't know the patterns.. even the best calls will scare them.
It would be like someone speaking perfect english.. but with all the words jumbled up.. that's enough to creep anyone out.
@@eptile GOOSE HANDS POOR SHEET CLOWN CHIVES
Reminds me of Americans attempting to speak French in Paris - if it's not absolutely perfect, you get admonished by caws and cackles of disapproval from the local humans.
I learnt a subset of crow vocabulary when I lived in Michigan. Then I moved to Washington state and was surprised to find that I could not understand the crows there. Who knew that crow dialects were localized?
There's also the calm "burst" call structure starting one to two long, and ending with two or three short, that seems to be a sort of "Hey gang, check out over here", the "Cawwww, cawwwww, caw-caw-caw".
Thanks for the insight. This is brilliant.
Btw, I noticed that every time I go feed the crows there is one, usually the one that spots me first, that makes 3 caws in quick succession and than the rest of them comes from different parts of the park. I guess that 3 caws is a massage about food.
@Ax Martel My crow does that. He is definitely leader of the pack and announcing to the others in his murder that there is food out. I've been watching him for four years and there's a definite pattern to his caws. He usually starts this pattern with three loud caws and then repeats them three more times.
Yep, same happens here when I arrive to feed. They see me get the bag of food out and then one of them gives off a very distinct caaaw-caaaw-caaaw, then silence for a while. It sounds different to their normal 'chatter'. More like an alarm you hear when a truck is reversing, no pitch bend.
I LOVE MY CROWS THEY FOLLOWED WHEN I MOVEDand INCLUDE ME IN TEACHING THEIR YOUNG TO FLY,I ALWAYS FEED MY CROWS AND WHEN I OPEN MY DOOR THEY GREET ME THE YOUNG OF EACH YEAR BECOME AQUAINTED WITH ME EARLY ON and even in the nest begin to recognize me as friend. when they shed featers it is in the path i take while feeding I always feel honored to receive one from them
What I've observed:
Structured caws> crows gather above and/or near food source (Picnic leftovers, persimmon tree, etc) > silence> some of the crows raid while others watch > 'raiders' exit as 'watchers' enter the raid.
Ohh God !!! This video is 10years old and I am watching now ... Compared to birds I have a spcl interest towards crows .. making crows as ur frnds is the hardest thing ever but once if they become frnd of u and believes in u trust me they are best and they are the most loyal ones in this world ...I used to have a crow and I named it chittu ... I really loved him I never kept it in a bird cage but every day it used to come eat drink and used to listen to my all non sense stuff and when I am going to college it used to say bye and when I came it used to greet me with a hi and when I used to cry it used to stay at me til I stop crying ...but suddenly one day due electric shock it was died every thing became hell to me and I felt no frnds are left to me in this world and then I realised it gave me his two babies and one other bird which my chittu used to grow kept at my tree and left the world ...its been 37 days that my chittu left and I am still trying to make chittu babies as babies they are cute though .... I used to communicate to my chittu very easily but communicating to my chittu babies felt little bit difficult because they are small still so the reason I wanna learn crow language .... 😅
Some of my crows coo coo at times... never heard that sound from crows before..
I love this video.
I was surprised to hear crows making the exact same sound when they saw a hawk as my parrot.
Yep, they seem to have the same, "Danger, danger!", warning call as my Amazon too. My male Amazon got upset and tired of watching me feed his treats to the crows one day. He yelled out the warning call and everyone headed off in a flurry of wingbeats and caws.
This is a very informative video. Thanks so much for publishing it. We have a crow that stayed near our property alone last winter due to an injured wing. His friends are now back this spring and he is communicating with them at our feeder.
1:29 Yea I agree, the crows around my area often warns of incoming rain/drizzle before it hits the area. Plus they vocalise differently when amongst themselves at a safer spot, particularly when feeding their young/getting fed. Different groups of them have slightly different higher pitch calls that sounds completely different from what is usually associated with them (Sounds more like song birds, but still not continuous), when trying to warn each other of something/to gather around. Some times once in a while, a bunch of them from different groups get together then they proceed to convey information (Especially obvious during the time when one of the huge tree got fell, I think they got together to scout and decide which is the next best spot for them to continue on).
I’ve been reading up on bird language lately and this video was super helpful and interesting!
This is actually really really helpful😊
Haha I'm glad you find it helpful! The video desperately needs an update but at least the information is still true.
yeah I feel that and she also fluffs up her feathers . I feel really happy to have her and not all crows do this too . Thanks :)
I love crows, They do an awesome air show
Nice, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Came here because the crows I feed every day were making bizarre noises. The calls were all over the place, sounded different, etc. All from one crow. Was unsure if they were happy noises to get fed, or if something was off.
thank you. it’s definitely helpful
Thanks for your video. Yesterday the crow was calling out and I saw the squirrels run up trees and then hawk came. I've been trying to learn crows.. 🙂
320 million years of evolution between us. No wonder it’s so hard to understand them.
There's a group of four or five crows living in a park near my house. I've noticed that when feeding, two will be on the ground and the rest stay up in the trees and watch. One of the tree crows will give off a non-contextual call, and then they sort of rotate positions. This happens every few minutes... is that standard crow behavior?
Joe Ure share and share alike?
I've noticed something similar too.
I may only see one or two birds on the ground but as soon as the ones in the trees notice they're eating something they'll fly down quickly.
I only have little experience with them so I haven't paid attention to whether they'll switch places. I'll certainly try to pay attention to it next time.
Yes because they eat in order of oldest to youngest, the crows who are at the top of the list eat first while others play lookout. Then the next oldest group goes while the ones who have eaten look out for them. And it goes on down the line until everyone has eaten. One thing is that a crow will never eat under a covered porch or an area with a roof or large overhang. They have to be able to see above them to look out for danger if they dont have lookouts available. So as a general rule u will not see a crow eat under any type of roof or covered area.
@@annsilliman6184 thank you for your reply! 7 years later and I still think about those crows all the time
Recently fed some crows, gave them some seeds so I could see them closely (Seeds were too close to my car, so I backed my car up a bit and they went for the seeds), had a hawk call out and the crows absolutely were attentive to that the first time, but after the second call they seemed to relax more. They ate a few seeds, and started to bury and cover the rest of the seeds. I'm no expert, and their calls still have me baffled. I have fed these specific birds before as I have seen where they usually go during certain days of the week. They seem to have a pattern of where certain birds are posted given the week, and they even break that pattern during holidays. I wish I could have a career learning about corvids, they are so cool. Also saw a lone Crow beating the shit out of a bald eagle recently, not sure what that was about, but damn that crow was a badass. It wasn't even in the crows usual area, that was the magpie's area, but that crow was fucking that eagle up, no mercy.
I love your strong Canadian accent ❤❤❤
I chirped at the crow on the telephone pole across from my house and then it flew down and landed in a tree 5ft above me then flew back to the pole!
Our crows let us know when a mink came very close to our back steps.
That's awesome! How many crows were involved in the alarming?
I had a crow encounter this morning that really threw me. I live in mid-coast Maine and have been around crows my whole life. I throw bread out each morning, especially in the winter, and they come and eat. Well this morning this crow was clicking and trilling - it was awesome and also a bit unsettling. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary but I wouldn't have been surprised if an alien came around the corner, it was that urgent sounding.
Great tips , thank you
Loved your video! What about the rapid, 'clicking' sound they make? Would love your opinion on this. My friend 'Simon', will say hi, with a normal caw, caw, caw ..... then start 'clicking' at me. It's a soft, rapid clicking sound. Any information would be appreciated!
Do the caws of unstructured calls also change in duration ? And when multiple crows are calling at the same time but are still in structured burst could it be an alarm call or do they wait to speak back to each other in the pauses between bursts ?
Yes, unstructured calls often do change in duration. In general - as length, pitch & volume become more variable... the more likely you're hearing alarm. It is possible to hear multiple crows giving structured calls simultaneously... which is not an alarm, but remember to also pay attention for times when you hear structured calls and unstructured calls simultaneously, which tells you there is something happening. Hope that helps
Thank you, it helped alot
Cool story moominu, crows speak volumes with their body language & it's more a language of emotion than words. If she comes close to you then maybe she's saying that she feels comfortable & safe with you :)
I live near Wash., D. C., and I feed these guys every day. When they have babies, you can hear the nestling and the parent calling back and forth; I think it reassures the baby: "Ah oh!" The baby will call, and parent's response is immediate. Oh, they love grapes on a hot day. Otherwise, cat kibble or leftover plates of cat food will do. They are opportunists!
I have two crows I feed that follow me everywhere. One, I believe the female, gives me a beautiful, melodic love-type call. She rarely does it. Sometimes they purr, which is different from rattling. I love my crows.
Hey Marcia, you probably could contact a local wildlife rehabilitation center. They'll have lots of experience dealing with injured animals.
So, cool... so many crows near my house, great to know.
Thank you!
We have a crow that sits on a neighbouring roof and it clicks and warbles, it's like its trying to talk.
How appropriate that you look like Ethan . . . HAWKE.
Thank you SOOOOO much!!! I just learned ive been unintentionally scaring away my crows!!! ☹️ im gonna go set things straight with my baes. 👌 let em know this IS a zone of safety. Im going to scan other videos. Hope you have other videos regarding the language of the crows in more depth 🖤 Your work is much appreciated.
Namaste good sir 🧚🏼♀️
Thank you
my mother is first nations mi'kmaqi......crows are apparently my spirit animal
I almost got into a bad motorcycle wreck on my way to my parents, when I arrived a crow landed right over me and starred and cawed, I wish I knew what he was saying.
Nate Nimon probably thought you were roadkill
probably saw what happened,and checked if you were ok..
7:05. I can't "hold onto" anything with my ears except maybe water from the shower. Has anyone else ever heard a crow make a sort of "bong" bell-like sound? It's amazing. I emailed a crow expert and he said it's extremely unusual to hear a crow make that sound, but it has been known to happen. The crow that used to "bong" in my neighborhood has been gone for over a decade. Never again heard another crow make such a wonderful bell sound. I wonder what he was saying?
Need to know the caw for grizzly bear behind you.
There is one sound I hear and am mystified by that a certain rook make when they are in or near the rookery... it is not a caw but I hear it after some rook caws... it is a gluck sound that one of them makes... I have heard this a few times now...
How did you know that this is what i was thinking. I haven't ask yet. This isn't the only idea or think i have been pondering for.
Need to hear the sample voice. Or maybe can you mimic them yourself?
Hey bud, glad to see you are still into the bird language and digging deep. I've kept it up myself. I'm gonna try to visit NEBLI this year if I can make it.
Hey Dustin, I just saw your comment here. Hope you're still birding it up. By the way - I think you live close to one of my friends from Wilderness Awareness School (Eric H.) He mentioned that he met you at a Christmas party.
thanks really good video. I like to feed them peanuts by throwing them from my balcony onto the roof of a lower house, they sometimes sit on chimneys in the distance watching me throw peanuts, but usually only come to pick em up when I am gone, they are pretty cautious, for good reason I guess. Also many other flats in my house with people. I wonder if I could buy an ACME crow caller and try it to notify them its "feeding time" here. lol. I'll try, although my neighbors might get pretty pissed once they figure out I am making that noise, lol...
Good video, wish you had some audio demonstrations, but otherwise solid. good work.
I linked to some audio examples in the article - www.nature-mentor.com/crow-language.html
I'm sitting here wondering what two long caws and two short caws with a short pause between.
I love birds..
They seem to love when I make the purring sound or the melodic love song call to them. I'll often use the purr call to attract them to come and go on a dog walk with me. They fly really close and land within a few feet of me.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge brother
You should do a present day version this one looks a bit older.
Yeah that's a good idea. It is definitely very old. Thanks for the idea!
Thank you for the education on the crows and ravens mainly crows there are a lot of ravens where I live I have a small Chihuahua and they always seem to be around but they never make any noise my dog is 7 pounds and they look like they're 20 they are rather frightening to me.
Fascinating and very helpful! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
This video would be greatly improved by having SAMPLE CROW CALLS.
Talk about the different types of calls and then PLAY them.
If they make a quiet clucking noise what does it mean? I had one maybe 2 feet from me and it kept doing it. I’m pretty sure they knew me does it mean anything?
I cawed like the first one first at crows they flied up and starting doing the same were they afarid of me? or were they trying to alert others as well?
Great video! Thanks so much.
i always loved crows - thanks :} (i speeded it up to 1.25)
Can you maybe help me with a call from a crow. I did'nt know, what he wanted 🙈 It is a crow that i feed almost daily. He gave me this purring- sound beginning with a f- tone. But not loud it was in a more whispery voice. I can't find anything in the internet to it. Thank you!
The nature observation report will not download. Is it still available please?
One time at the beach we brought chips and sandwiches, and this crow was staring directly at me from a tree no more than 4 feet away and making this quiet "mmfh" noise. I think that probably meant something like "You have something I want, can I have it"