Simply remembering an approximate time and associating it with food was no big deal for my corvid friend.
Image by Steve Smith, unsplash.com
One of my most unforgettable jobs (as well as one of my first) was working
at a farm that hosted events for kids. As an assistant manager, I handled
events and safety along with many of the animal caretaking responsibilities.
This meant that, on my shifts, I fed most of the animals at roughly the same
time – and as I loved them all – I often brought treats. My schedule was
predictable enough that the farm animals became excited around feeding time.
I started to notice that a wild bird friend had the same reaction.
On the farm, there were many birds who found shelter and scraps – sparrows,
swallows, hawks, cowbirds. There were also many crows. When I saw the birds
dive down to pick for scraps, I’d toss them a handful of chicken scratch or
some fruit. One crow learned this routine, and began to show up for
scheduled feedings.
At first, he was anxious and refused to come close, cawing demandingly from
nearby trees. He continued to come closer, until he'd drive and swoop up
food dropped at my feet. The crow began to not only know my feeding times,
but demand for them to come sooner! He would appear as early as an hour
beforehand, and follow me from tree to tree around the property, screeching
and flapping until I eventually caved and tossed something his way.
It grew to the point where I had to hide my bird-feeding habits from my
employers – the crow spotted me through a window and began screaming
directly outside the building for an extended period until I tossed some
food out the back door in an urgent attempt to silence him. No, it wasn’t
random, in my case, the crow only begged for food from me, regardless of who
was around at feeding time. This behavior was surprising, but also not
unheard of – crows have demonstrated extreme animal intelligence, and are
quite good at solving puzzles and problems, so simply remembering an
approximate time and associating it with food was no big deal for my corvid
friend. Crows have strong memories and object association, as demonstrated
by studies showing crows can remember human faces for years on end.
Patrick Kuklinski is a published nature writer and bird fanatic currently
residing in New Hampshire while he works towards a Bachelor’s in Zoology.
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