Some of you know that I have a slight obsession with crows in the real world. I preface this post to add that although searching through youtube for crow videos is something I would do for fun, there is also a lot of scholarship still erupting on the potential syntax in crow communication and I am also studying linguistics. Ie, I don't sit around staring lovingly at them (all the time).

These are just a few of the cool crow videos I've stumbled across in my search for examples, and I thought I'd share them with you all! I thought it was relevant because of the Blacktalon, etc.

Here they are:

It is as if Lusternia caused this video to manifest...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sOw3mCz4Oc&feature=related

This crow plays fetch-- and seems to try its hand at communication
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqLU-o7N7Kw&feature=related

Another champion of crow intelligence (it's a longer video, but it's really interesting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhmZBMuZ6vE

Betty, the smart crow from the previous video, using tools sequentially
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofjo26O0z_o&feature=related

A crow adopts a kitten!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fAGzY9rnaA&feature=related



Let me know what you think! And if anyone has any nerdy crow videos -- or nerdy videos that somehow relate to the topic of animal intelligence -- feel free to post them!

Fixed some of the links. Sorry about that!

There is a really involved PBS documentary on crows, which really, you've probably seen.

Watch them grow! Watch them be devoured by hawks and hit by cars! Its like a horrible, banned episode of Pokemon!

I love crows, and ravens. Basically corvids are my favorite things ever. If it was legal, I would totally have a pet crow...but in the meantime I will settle for befriending the campus crows so I have a bunch of birds following me around like a creep.

@rainydays I believe the far reaching prejudice against crows creates documentaries like that one under the guise of educational value.


If it's the same one I'm thinking of, it's basically 10 minutes about how adept they are at everything and then 30ish minutes about how you can exterminate them and blame it on natural causes. :P How rude.

@Phoebus I would love a crow entourage. And really, it would be a truly stunning defensive weapon to have an army of corvids. Crow murder attacks are nuts.

I'm pretty much obsessed with crows, ravens, and other corvids. I have a book that I need to get around to reading - In the Company of Crows and Ravens, by John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell. Corvid enthusiasts unite!

Crows vs. Squirrel, 3 on 1, why does that seem familiar. :P

Kidding aside, when I first joined I was really torn between Hartstone and Blacktalon, 'cus I wasn't really feeling the dark corrupted vibe of Glom, but damn are crows awesome.

Yay! I was afraid people were going to reply and tell me how weird I am because of my obsession. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this fanaticism!

@Shikari: Check out The Language of Crows by Michael Westerfield, too, if you haven't. It's pretty interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2rJoIhgWmw

Crows are scary with how smart they are. This one is doing something for fun, something that was generally assumed only humans do.

Calixa:

Crows are scary with how smart they are. This one is doing something for fun, something that was generally assumed only humans do.

That. Is probably the best thing I've seen all year.

Heh, I actually posted "The Amazing Intelligence of Crows" TED talk video on here a couple years ago.

Also, I found this site a while ago. It is apparently actually possible to adopt specially raised crows as pets: http://www.corvitude...orvidranch.html

I totally would if I lived anywhere near there/it was legal where I live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s87RV8crRtc

(According to the video description, the girl found him as a nestling that had fallen out of his nest with his parents nowhere in sight, so she took him home and raised him.)

On the subject of ravens rather than crows, this guy had a series of videos about this particular raven who followed him around for a bit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2E7akTESzA&feature=related

(His raven vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/snardlefarb/search?query=raven)

I like this one in particular:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJBJEY3TM5c&feature=plcp&context=C3c82ed6UDOEgsToPDskLMowQWqBA60j9u3Li0FwmL

The only thing I can think while watching that first video is, "Corn?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANZBs8Za0Q

Druken:
Yay! I was afraid people were going to reply and tell me how weird I am because of my obsession. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this fanaticism!

@Shikari: Check out The Language of Crows by Michael Westerfield, too, if you haven't. It's pretty interesting!

You're still weird, just not in relation to this. :P (everyone on these forums is weird)

I like Ravens. Crows are cool, but I've always preferred Ragles, Hawks, and Falcons.

Touche, sir. Touche.

Also, check this one out. It's a video of a flightless raven playing and bathing in the snow. Kind of weather appropriate for my fellow New Englanders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_z49voC3gQ&feature=related

"If I can't fly, I'll be a groundhog."

Well, it looked like he was trying to dig under the snow a few times.

http://youtu.be/XxRXYdFD99s