Crossing crows can be risky business

Article by: VAL CUNNINGHAM , Contributing Writer
Updated: March 2, 2010 - 3:46 PM

Crows, one of the smartest - and least liked - of all common birds, may have enough memory to make them formidable foes.

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A pair of American crows perch in a snowy pine tree.

Photo: Jim Williams, Special to the Star Tribune

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Q Do crows hold grudges?

A Crows are known to be very smart and to have good memories. But do they hold grudges?

Many people, including the late animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz, tell anecdotes about the perils of getting on a crow's bad side. Here's my story: A couple of summers ago, I noticed a young crow on the ground under a tree near my home. I approached it, thinking it might need help. Suddenly the tree erupted with screeching crows that kept diving at my head until I scrambled out of the area.

For the rest of the summer, whenever I was outside in the same green jacket I wore on that day, a family of crows would instantly gather to scream and dive at me. Seemed to me like they were holding a grudge.

Val Cunningham, a St. Paul nature writer, bird surveyor and field trip leader, can be reached at valwrites@comcast.net.