Caw of the wild

Dark crow, with beady black eyes and menacing beak, cocks its head and studies passersby. This harbinger of autumn featured in Halloween displays is associated with bad luck, death and all things sinister. A crow's attention can be unnerving.

Indeed, ancient people watching crows devour their dead kin on the battlefield believed they saw evil incarnate. And that cluster of crows crossing the October sky has come to be called not a flock, but a murder. Crows are also despised for tearing into garbage bags, raiding songbird nests and engaging in raucous morning caw-fests.

But they really aren't such bad characters, say wildlife experts. They're just misunderstood. Corvids -- crows, ravens and similar birds -- are some of the smartest birds around, with a highly developed social structure.

"Mentally, crows and ravens are more like flying monkeys than they are like other birds," writes John Marzluff in the book, "In the Company of Crows and Ravens." Since our own cave days, Marzluff says, corvids have taken advantage of every human action, adapting as humans advanced.

Consider, for example, the country crow turned city crow. Crows weren't seen in cities or towns in significant numbers until the mid-1950s, according to Carroll Henderson of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Non-game Wildlife Division. Urban sprawl is probably one reason for their current presence in cities.

As forests and farmlands gave way to housing and shopping centers, life became easier for crows. Development brought back-yard bird feeders, fast-food trash, road kill and myriad other food opportunities. When researchers in Washington State offered crows a choice of plain brown bags and McDonald's bags, the crows consistently went for McDonald's.

Proportionally, the crow brain is the same size as the chimpanzee brain. And like chimpanzees, crows will use tools, even making them when necessary. A crow at the University of Chicago, who preferred his mash wet, would take a toy plastic cup, fill it with water from a trough and wet his meal. If it spilled along the way, he would return and refill it. When Betty, a captive crow at Oxford University, was presented with food in a long narrow tube and a thin metal wire, she fashioned the wire into a hook to fish out the food.

And it's not just smarty-pants lab crows that can solve problems. In Sweden, crows have learned to fish by watching fishermen place a baited line through a hole in the ice. When the fisherman moves off, the birds pull the line from the water to eat the bait -- or the hooked fish.

Crows in Tokyo wait at busy intersections for the light to turn red, then place walnuts in front of the car tires. Returning to their perches, they wait for the green light and the cars to clear, then retrieve the nut meats.

Notorious scavengers, crows also "hunt," even cooperatively, according to Henderson. Observers at a Minnesota wildlife feeding station found that a group of crows took up posts surrounding the feeder, but at some distance. One crow in the group flew in close to the feeder, causing the birds there to scatter. The waiting crows picked them off as they flew away.

Planning ahead

Crows can plan, often engaging in caching -- hiding food for the future. That explains the dead frogs in the birdbath and baby rabbits in rain gutters.

They generally mate for life (although some might stray ), raise their young in families and gather into bigger groups for safety and to "visit." Unlike the young of many other birds, crows aren't chased out of the nest by parents who will never knowingly see them again, Henderson said.

They also gather into larger groups an hour or two before darkness, according to Kevin McGowen, a Cornell University crow researcher. The birds spend a lot of time calling, chasing and fighting, and sharing information. They size each other up. Those that appear well-fed are noted and followed the next day.

Although crows communicate mostly in caws, they also use clicks and rattles. They can imitate sounds -- barking dog, crying child -- even English words, or any other human language, for that matter. Unlike birds that sing to attract a mate, crows will get close and whisper.

Crows can even recognize individual humans. McGowen, who has fed peanuts to crows, reports on his website that crows recognize him, even when he is far afield, and follow him for peanuts. They even recognize his car, following it down the street. If he doesn't respond with peanuts, they swoop in front of the windshield.

Still, the experts say there's nothing to fear from a murder of crows, other than being hit by droppings. The birds are just living their crow lives -- which includes watching you.

Karen Youso • 612-673-4407 • kyouso@startribune.com