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Snakeadelic · 08-29-2015, 08:04 AM

Crows are not only intelligent but highly trainable and communicative. Studies have shown that they can recognize individual human faces (including with disguises applied) and teach their offspring which of us bald pink monkeys to avoid. My own personal studies support this

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I have some fun little twitches thanks to mild OCD related to severe anxiety, and one such peeve is loud, unmelodic, erratic noises; I lack the brain circuitry to "just ignore it". I'm sure y'all can imagine what trying to sleep was like as a kid when my mom always managed to land us in a neighborhood where at least one dog would bark ALL <unladylike word here> NIGHT. Fast-forward to about five years back when a 2-story-high streetlight was installed directly across the street from my computer room window.

The local crows would, of course, fight over who got to perch on it because the 20-ish even taller ones are a whole half a block away at the high school. It took almost no time whatsoever for me to get super-sick of 'KAAAAAW KAAAAAAW KAAAAAAW' for hours on end. I knew a secret, however--crows really loathe being stared at intently. It took two years of piling down my front steps with camera in hand every time they landed on said streetlight, but for the last two or three years there have been no more than 3 attempts to land on that light per spring and fall and none in winter and high summer. Now all I have to do is let them see the range-finding light on the front of my camera blink on and they're gone.

The ravens we have around here are quite a different bird altogether and very rarely even fly close by, much less land unless it's midwinter and they're really hungry.

08-29-2015, 08:04 AM	#34
Snakeadelic Banned Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 660	Crows are not only intelligent but highly trainable and communicative. Studies have shown that they can recognize individual human faces (including with disguises applied) and teach their offspring which of us bald pink monkeys to avoid. My own personal studies support this . I have some fun little twitches thanks to mild OCD related to severe anxiety, and one such peeve is loud, unmelodic, erratic noises; I lack the brain circuitry to "just ignore it". I'm sure y'all can imagine what trying to sleep was like as a kid when my mom always managed to land us in a neighborhood where at least one dog would bark ALL <unladylike word here> NIGHT. Fast-forward to about five years back when a 2-story-high streetlight was installed directly across the street from my computer room window. The local crows would, of course, fight over who got to perch on it because the 20-ish even taller ones are a whole half a block away at the high school. It took almost no time whatsoever for me to get super-sick of 'KAAAAAW KAAAAAAW KAAAAAAW' for hours on end. I knew a secret, however--crows really loathe being stared at intently. It took two years of piling down my front steps with camera in hand every time they landed on said streetlight, but for the last two or three years there have been no more than 3 attempts to land on that light per spring and fall and none in winter and high summer. Now all I have to do is let them see the range-finding light on the front of my camera blink on and they're gone. The ravens we have around here are quite a different bird altogether and very rarely even fly close by, much less land unless it's midwinter and they're really hungry.