An Elephant Never Forgets!…or Was That a Crow?

nest-birds1-crowCrows are a very well-known species they seem like they almost cover the planet.  Some of that may be because there are approximately 40 species of these beautiful omnivores with only a few of them considered endangered.  A contributing factor to this may be that they are smart birds. 

Research has shown that it is possible that a crow may recognize, and remember a person’s face, and they use this information to help keep their selves out of danger of any particularly evil spirited human being. 

As omnivores they are not picky eaters in the least bit in fact food seems to be the only thing crows in the wild will collect while some birds are comically known in different forms of media for the collection and yearning desire for “shiny” objects like coins or such.  With some exceptions, crows are beautiful birds covered head to toe in black and can sometimes be mistaken for a raven.  However, ravens are bigger than crows and tend to flap more often than they would soar in comparison.

For years, crows have been thought of as a nuisance for hard working farmers.  The old well-known invention known as the “scarecrow” was given to us indirectly by the American Crow as they were known to destroy crops.  The scarecrow was made, hence the name, to scare away crows by putting what is supposed to look like a farmer up in the field.  These days if you see a scarecrow it’s typically in a horror movie instead. 

Studies in more recent years have led professionals to believe that crows don’t harm crops as they previously found.  Since they pretty much will eat anything they appear to help farmer’s fields by eating the most pestilent insects.  They can see them sometimes in a field trailing behind a farmers plow to gather up any worms that it may have dug up.  Off of the farmer’s field, they are great for helping us out with things like clearing up roadkill from the middle of a road that’s left to rot.

As well as being part of a large family known as the Corvidae family they are known to be quite social to each other.  We have yet to understand their broad spectrum of vocalizations and calls fully.  They are typical to stay somewhat in the area of which they are born until they die doing things such as protecting their chicks. 

Dependent on the particular species of crow a female crow is known to lay anywhere between three and nine eggs.  At around four weeks they can leave the nest, and have a lifespan in most cases of somewhere in between fourteen, and twenty years.  Unlike other species of birds that may gather in a “flock,” when a bunch of crows begins to gather together it is known as a “murder” of crows.  Some of them in more northern and colder regions will tend to migrate, but for the most part, as long as they are in a reasonably warm climate not all of them will migrate.

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