<story><title>When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)</title><url>http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151003-animals-science-crows-birds-culture-brains/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>SiVal</author><text>A VERY timely article for me. About a month ago here in Silicon Valley, I noticed that a crow had been violently torn apart and the pieces scattered all over my backyard lawn. I assume the killer was a raccoon--another improbably intelligent animal. How those fat, little ninjas do what they do is beyond me, but one had apparently caught a crow. A few hours after I noticed the carnage, I grabbed a paper grocery bag and some rubber gloves and went outside to collect the crow parts.&lt;p&gt;As soon as I touched the first piece (a large, black, detached wing), a dozen crows appeared out of nowhere flying in tight circles over my head (about the height of the roof of my 2-story house) and shrieking. They must have been standing watch for hours waiting to see what would happen. Within a minute or so, their numbers had doubled, swarming like bees and screeching. They went so berserk that I thought for sure they would swoop down and peck at me like Alfred Hitchcock&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;The Birds&amp;quot;, but they didn&amp;#x27;t. They stayed up there and screeched the whole time I was cleaning up (maybe ten minutes).&lt;p&gt;I took the bag over to the recycling bin on the side of the house. Property is expensive, so the houses are close together leaving only a narrow slit of sky above me. The crows followed me and flew back and forth right above the gap, still screeching at me. &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; hadn&amp;#x27;t killed the bird, but they were acting like an angry mob blaming the wrong guy.&lt;p&gt;I was already aware of the studies showing that crows recognize individual people and can bear grudges for years. I was afraid that&amp;#x27;s what I was going to end up with, but after that event, they never bothered me again, and I see crows around my house frequently. Maybe they DID know that I wasn&amp;#x27;t the killer, but they had some other agenda. From my perspective, they (and raccoons) are essentially alien intelligences living among us that I always underestimate and still don&amp;#x27;t understand.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>resolaibohp</author><text>You are right, they are very interesting in their displays of intelligence. One time when I was hunting, there were a group of crows near my camp site. They would come down and investigate where I was staying looking for any scraps of food. As soon as my gun was visible they would all fly several hundred yards away and observe me from a safe distance. Once I put my gun away they would all return back to my camp site to look around.&lt;p&gt;It was very clear they knew exactly what the gun was, and knew to stay clear of it when they saw it. I never thought about crows the same after that.</text></comment>
<story><title>When a crow dies, the other crows investigate the cause of death (2015)</title><url>http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151003-animals-science-crows-birds-culture-brains/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>SiVal</author><text>A VERY timely article for me. About a month ago here in Silicon Valley, I noticed that a crow had been violently torn apart and the pieces scattered all over my backyard lawn. I assume the killer was a raccoon--another improbably intelligent animal. How those fat, little ninjas do what they do is beyond me, but one had apparently caught a crow. A few hours after I noticed the carnage, I grabbed a paper grocery bag and some rubber gloves and went outside to collect the crow parts.&lt;p&gt;As soon as I touched the first piece (a large, black, detached wing), a dozen crows appeared out of nowhere flying in tight circles over my head (about the height of the roof of my 2-story house) and shrieking. They must have been standing watch for hours waiting to see what would happen. Within a minute or so, their numbers had doubled, swarming like bees and screeching. They went so berserk that I thought for sure they would swoop down and peck at me like Alfred Hitchcock&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;The Birds&amp;quot;, but they didn&amp;#x27;t. They stayed up there and screeched the whole time I was cleaning up (maybe ten minutes).&lt;p&gt;I took the bag over to the recycling bin on the side of the house. Property is expensive, so the houses are close together leaving only a narrow slit of sky above me. The crows followed me and flew back and forth right above the gap, still screeching at me. &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; hadn&amp;#x27;t killed the bird, but they were acting like an angry mob blaming the wrong guy.&lt;p&gt;I was already aware of the studies showing that crows recognize individual people and can bear grudges for years. I was afraid that&amp;#x27;s what I was going to end up with, but after that event, they never bothered me again, and I see crows around my house frequently. Maybe they DID know that I wasn&amp;#x27;t the killer, but they had some other agenda. From my perspective, they (and raccoons) are essentially alien intelligences living among us that I always underestimate and still don&amp;#x27;t understand.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Unklejoe</author><text>[They stayed up there and screeched the whole time I was cleaning up (maybe ten minutes).]&lt;p&gt;I probably would have went inside and left the remains to nature. I commend your bravery. It seems like a squad of crows could do some real damage to a person.&lt;p&gt;Also, I can confirm that raccoons are very intelligent. They&amp;#x27;re basically like dogs but with more &amp;quot;street smarts&amp;quot;. I learned this after trying to get one to leave my attic.&lt;p&gt;Also, a side note about Raccoons: be sure not to expose yourself to their droppings (for example, if one is living in your attic, don&amp;#x27;t go and clean up their droppings without proper protection). They can apparently contain some airborne parasite which can kill you in days if inhaled.</text></comment>