I was in Nepal having breakfast. Some crows are sitting there watching me eat. I look down to read my book, and in not more than a few seconds, I hear the clinking of dishes. I look up and the crows are flying off with my toast and jam. It was right in front of me, but they were quick enough to get in and out before I could react.
I realized that they are probably aware of my lack of attention to my food and that their in-built modeling of other agents had given them an advantage in this situation. I thought it was pretty impressive.
I had lunch with a crow in Austin once! It was my favorite experience. I was having pizza on an outside table on 3rd/2nd ave, and a Crow was standing nearby looking at me, probably waiting until I finished so it could swoop in on the left-overs. I motioned it to come closer, left a bit of pizza on top of the table, and it flew up on the table with me. Then I'd munch on a bite, tear off a piece for the crow, and it would eat the piece. Went like that for like 20 minutes before I had to get back to work, but it was so cute. I had a little crow buddy! :)
Speaking of corvids. Magpies are ones of the more social birds, I'm always amazed how vocal and varied their communications are. You could teach them to speak simple phrases. They can engage in gang violence (especially between two groups of juveniles). Magpies can establish "friendship" with crows if it helps them scavenge food.
I once watched three ravens raid a McDonald's trash can.
Two of them held the "flap" open, and the third went in for fries. Once they'd made a decent pile on the ground outside the can, they all set in to feast.
Why do programmers talk about living beings in software terminology, it's so clinical and cold. Other species are sentient beings, but for many it helps combat cognitive bias by not thinking of them as such.
I saw a crow steal a credit card off an outdoor table in Seattle once. They really are remarkable animals. Also I swear they have regional accents to their calls.
> Also I swear they have regional accents to their calls.
Its actually true they do this. Two noted ornithologist's describes it in one of their books on crows:
As ornithologist John M. Marzluff and author Tony Angell noted in their 2005 book In the Company of Crows and Ravens, the calls these birds use "vary regionally, like human dialects that can vary from valley to valley." And there's more: If a crow changes its social group, the bird will try to fit in by talking like the popular guys. "When crows join a new flock," Marzluff and Angell wrote, "they learn the flock's dialect by mimicking the calls of dominant flock members."
I live in an area that's got crows and ravens -- the ravens don't come into the city much, except for large forested parks. The crows in such parks have a few calls similar to the ravens. To me, it sounds like a rural dialect -- which is reinforced by my observations that crows don't seem to talk like that in noisier parts of the city.
Here in Australia most people now buy food and drink by tapping their bank cards on a reader. Can't be long now until a particularly smart crow sees this at a beach side shop, and steals a card to copy this. Is a shopkeeper obligated to serve other species? I for one will welcome our new flying thief overlords.
Joshua Klein built a crow vending machine with some success (using coins). Tap to pay could be quite a bit more profitable, though I assume you'd have a pretty high chargeback rate.
His research claims have been disputed, and an initially favorable NYT story about him ended up being retracted. I think he probably can't be cited anymore as a credible source on the question of crow intelligence.
I think I saw a video of some bird puzzle where they have to tap the right thing with their beak to get a treat. It doesn't seem too far removed from entering a PIN code. I bet you could teach them to do that.
Also, it doesn't seem unreasonable to think they would learn to insert a credit card into the machine given that they're good at manipulating sticks and stones and putting them into places.
I've observed Grand Canyon South Rim is a great example. They actively work the tourists who make hand-to-mouth gestures and steal when items are unguarded. Their team strategizing while hacking bear-proof garbage cans is impressive, too. One handles the door/partition while one or more enters for the snacks. I spent 1/2 a day watching them.
And, damn, they're as good as human thieves at reading situations for opportunism.