(Growing List) Crow Study Ideas

I am making this list as a creative exercise. If I ever get around to doing any of these hair-brained studies, I will follow up below the item on the list in the provided space. It occurred to me that every time I make a guess as to what Crows will do, they surprise me, so I thought I had better think a bit more seriously about them. If anyone wants to try any of these experiments, please do, I would love to hear what you discover.

Contents (Questions and Study Ideas):
17. Whose Talking to Who in a Flock?
16. Sex Related Questions to Study: Are males or females, wild and captive more or less vocal, talkative, able to pick up human language sounds. Do males and females occupy trees, the ground in a particular pattern? Or are they spread about evenly? Do pairs sleep together? Do they cheat? Do they have sex for pleasure? What's the mating dance? Does sex involve penetration or not? Man, I know nothing about Crows.
15. I am teaching Fig 12 colors.
14. Do Japanese Jungle Crows eat worms? Fig sure loves spaghetti. I suppose I ought to get digging.
13. Captive Crow- Human Caretaker Communication Questionnaire
(Ask for yours by emailing Matt at reospa68@i.softbank.jp
12. Do Crows communicate via pivotal, precise, head angle movement? It seems likely to me that head movement is a gestural language, or more, by which birds coordinate their movement in pairs, or larger groups. Their head movements seem to have prearranged angles the head skips to. Perhaps like the Blue Angels birds coordinate movements well with a set of pre-sets?
11. Do Crows help injured mates long term, or abandon them?  Unfortunately, I have lost track of my local murder's injured Crow. She and her mate or sibling were doing well last I observed.
10. Do Crows eat/catch live fish?  Torn about the ethics of putting a fish in Fig's bath to see what she does. Perhaps I'll net some river minnows. If she doesn't eat them, I can just let them go again.
9. How do Crows avoid being pooped on in large roosts?
8. Do Crows meet mates and make mating pairs in large winter roosts? Yes, according to the expert.
7. Do Crows sit in trees in height hierarchies? Grandpa up top? No, according to the expert.
6. How long do Crows typically spook for when observed, and they get spooked about it?
5. Crow weight in summer vs. winter. Does it vary? Possibly, but likely not by much according to the expert.
4. Taming a Wild Thing
3. Behavior of Wild Crows Towards a Captive Crow
2. Communication, and Cooperation of Crows in a Family
1. Movements of Crows in Trees (Begun Dec 16, 2013. Goal: 1,000 Observations)

17. I hypothesize that in a congregation of flocking Crows swirling about in the sky in apparent chaos, the majority of the conversation is pairs talking to one another in midair. How would one go about testing such an idea?
16.
15. Color Study: Fig was learning 4 colors to start, but I upped it to 13 due to her ease and skill with the task. It is purely an attempt to engage and stimulate her mentally, a game, with no pressure or expectation, but I am admittedly hoping she'll try to speak the color names so I gave the colors names in sounds she has uttered. I started with color cups and balls, but I didn't have plastic balls in 13 colors so I switched to large laminated cards. I think she missed the cups and the balls. Pecking at a card is just not as fun. I think her favorite part was when I closed my hands and asked her which hand has red, or which has blue, so I am going to switch to small cards which I can hide in my hands like I did with the color balls. She used to always peck my hand to indicate a choice, but with the cards she gets this lack luster expression, and stops pecking at the cards; instead she'll just tip her head towards the card she wants to choose. I am not sure if that indicates boredom, or uncertainty, but I am assuming I have successfully killed all the fun the activity originally had for her. Time to listen to her body language.
She has been learning Black, White, Brown, Gray, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Gold, Clear as, respectively, Ko, Ah, Ha, Arrr, Aka, Oh, Ki, Do, Ao, Oa, Ka, Raaa, No. So far she can choose correctly from pairs with good accuracy. She may have tried to say some of the words, it's hard to say with certainty, but only recently is she starting to show some ability to curb her enthusiastic, uproarious Crow voice for a more civilized tone. I chose colors as a first word set in order to allow us to expand our outdoor play, and communication. Not sure if that will pan out.
Note to self: Post up color cards in Figs living space so she can practice on her own.
Funny Observation: Fig likes looking at her distorted reflection in the silver card.
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9. ^
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6. Would like to study Crows being observed. When they get hip to being observed they inevitably spook. I am wondering about how long they spook for on average before returning to the food, or other thing which held their interest. I notice pairs spook much more easily than individuals. Hmm.

5. Would like to weight Crows in winter and summer to see if they lose weight.

4. (Taming a Wild Thing) (Not and Experiment per se)
It is very clear to me after 7 months at caring for Fig, that a wild song bird is very different from a cat, a dog, or a parrot. Her disposition, her personality, her energy level, her imagination, her body language and vocalizations, her dietary habits, sleeping habits, social and exercise needs, everything is totally new to me. I have experience with parrots and a variety of wild birds, but never a Crow. I certainly never imagined that I would be caring for one long term. I have come to the conclusion that taming Fig is in her best interest, and that doing so would not put her in harms way, even if she becomes fully outdoors-independent. She is simply too smart, and too wary of anything, or anyone new to take even the slightest chance with her own safety. I do not have any experiment in mind regarding taming, I just wanted to talk about the process here so I have a place to update Fig's progress from time to time.
(The Mirror) In seven months she has come a long way. She started off being afraid of every sound, light change, movement, foreign object, heck she seemed to be afraid of air, water, and her own reflection. Well, she is still a bit afraid of her own reflection, actually, she is more afraid of mine. She does not seem to have figured out yet, when we are talking to our reflections, which is part of her training, and taming process, that the other Matt in the mirror, is me. I don't think she has figured out that the other her is her either, but at least they talk. If I draw near to the mirror, and give Fig a kiss, it feels to her as if two people, one apparently who looks and sounds and moves just like Matt, but could not possibly be Matt, right, is coming in for a smooch, and that is terrifying. Smooching the other Crow is all good. Smooching the other Matt is a no go for now. It seems that whoever I am is dependent on tactile reality for now.
(Affection) I have been observing Crow affection in the wild, or attempting to. It's hard to find, but I finally discovered the where, when and how much, or some of it anyway. It is vitally important to know how it goes if I am to meet Fig's normal psychological needs with the limited time we have together. Fig is a baby, well, a juvenile, so she probably wouldn't give or get much love-love affection, if any in nature just yet. I am confident she is not capable of feeling love-love emotions yet; she certainly does not express any towards me. But she would get parenting affection, and sibling-sibling affection. This is good news because I think in her eyes, I am her older adopted sibling. I do not think she views me as a blood relative, but she certainly does view me as her family, even if it is only adoptive. I know this with utter certainty because Fig has had numerous trips outdoors untethered, on her own, free to go where she chooses, and if she wants to she could very easily evade me forever. She is faster than I am, she is sly, clever, and nimble. Yet, everytime she has been out, she "comes" back. I can see that she is conflicted about it, that she struggles with re"capture" each and every time, but each time it becomes clearer and clearer, that she trusts me like she would trust another Crow family member. To illustrate how it goes these days, this is what happened the last time she "went out" a few days ago.
I was exercising her on the balcony. This involves her jumping on my hand. Then I move her to a start position, give her a command, and she leaps onto, or does a short series of leaps on her perches. During exercise, she is high enough to jump over the containment fence, but she usually doesn't because she likes doing exercise together. I lost my balance when Fig was on my knee, and she jumped up on the top of the fence, where she turned around to jump back down to the balcony. It's a bit high and a bit narrow, so she sat there a while thinking it through. Suddenly, my son's friend charged by the window wielding a noisy electronic flashing toy sword. So, Fig got frightened and jumped into the tree. She hates electronic noises more than anything. The sounds must be totally foreign in nature. Anyway, she was out again. So here is how it went down.
I went outside and asked her politely to get out of the tree. You have to be pretty strict, like older siblings do. She obliged me by getting on the roof of the neighboring building, and climbing up on the antenna. It was rush hour, and having Fig fly down from three stories up can be a bit risky as she has to come down near the road. So I let a couple hours go past just keeping her company, letting her enjoy a bit of freedom. There are no Hawks in my neighborhood so it is generally safe. Night fell. And there are no owls either. At least I never see any, or hear any. The traffic settled down. Fig decided to go to sleep on the antenna. Crows are not really night travelers, having poor night vision, and a deathly fear of owls. Finally, I asked her to come down. She tried and tried, but she lacked confidence, not having been up quite so high in a while, and it was dark. Please remember she only has one good wing. Eventually, she cowarded out, and went back to sleep. So, I decided to go get a hot cup of coffee, and let Fig spend the night outside. Collecting her in the morning would be easier because she'd be cold and hungry. As I left the parking lot, I turned around for one last glance, and who do you think I see gliding down into the parking lot? Yeah...Wait for me!!! She said. She made me chase her around a bit more, but eventually, as always she relented and came back in with me, thankfully, still in one piece. This is the way it goes. We have a developing bond, and a fragile trust. But it's growing stronger. There is not one other person on the earth who could catch Fig, even with her injury. This trust, and our bond is the only thing Fig has in the world. She is very much like my son in that regard, only Fig has just one family member, and no friends; It makes me sad to think about it.
One of the things I am doing to strengthen our trust, is to try and uncondition Fig out of her paranoia about the bathroom, where her injuries were treated. She still thinks if I have a cellphone, or a tube of ointment, or some unfamiliar thing in my hand, that I am planning to subject her to horrible nursing. These days I spend 30-60minutes each night, talking to her, very gently touching her face, and giving her affection in the space she came to dislike so much during rehabilitation. It is a slow process.  She has an incredibly strong memory, a deep association, and she had a long rehabilitation. She has moved on mostly, but I can see that the bad memory still lingers just under the skin. It just takes time. After watching the wild crows, I came to realize that Crows are not naturally super affection needy animals. Time being close to her physically, is equally important as time spent with a bit of distance. When they are affectionate, sessions usually last no more than 30 minutes, then they are happy to sit with space between them again. Fig seems happy when I follow this protocol. If I pet her too long, she does not like that. She has a natural nervousness, and a large personal space. She comes for a hug over and over again if I ask her to, but hugs are very invasive into her personal space, so they can only last for about 5 seconds. She likes to be petted, and massaged, but it is best to do this when she is sleepy, and calm in the morning and evening. She likes to have her beak rubbed, her eye, her ear, and her neck petted, but don't touch the feet the tail or the wings. The morning is a time to eat and exercise a bit, or play with toys, noon is bath time and preening, early afternoon is siesta, and late afternoon is play time. Evening is dinner, and puzzle or language lesson time. Crows pretty much follow the same schedule as humans in a way.
Anyway, I have figured out that communication is very important between us. If I plan to pet Fig, it is very helpful for now if I announce my intention by saying PetPet first. She never refuses a pet. If she wants more than a pet, she lowers her head like a parrot, to say, Massage please! Likewise if I want to give her a kiss, I ought to say KissKiss first. Fig is very keen on verbal communication. Generally, if I say it first, it's a done deal. I also give Fig a chance to communicate with me by giving my hand a peck. You might think it isn't the best idea to allow her to peck, but she understands that I am going to let her peck me on the hand, and I am going to give her lots of chances to speak to me, and she will always have the last word. If she pecks me hard, it means she is nervous about, or did not like something. If she pecks me softly, it means things are groovy. You would be very surprised how communicative a simple touch to my hand, from her beak is. If she is feeling really happy, she will open her beak and "bite" very softly, to indicate, I feel so safe, so happy, so anxiety free right at this moment, that a peck is not necessary; I am just going to acknowledge your kindness to listen to me by softly taking your knuckle in my grasp. It is a very tender gesture, and she concocted it entirely on her own. Humans do the exact same gesture when we touch eachother on the shoulder. It means, Hey, are you okay? and we do it to indicate affectionately, Yeah, I'm fine thanks, please don't worry. Listening to Fig in this way is a key way that we communicate and I keep her psychologically balanced. We all need someone to listen, and check in. Fig certainly does. After I listen to her, she usually fluffs up and dives into playing her favorite activity which is to pull fibers out of her bath towel.
Anyway, I will try and write a bit more as the taming process progresses. It is very interesting to see where it goes because it is a relationship which is determined by the bird. It could not be any more interesting if Fig were a Space Alien. That is how removed we humans are from our natural world. We just do not get chances to interact like this with wild life, and that is why I am trying hard to appreciate all that I am learning from the experience, and to share it.
(Update December) Fig is 8 months old today. She took some major steps towards improving her ability to recieve and express affection recently. I took her to the park at night one evening. It was cold and windy on the way home, so I wrapped her up in my scarf, and snuggled her under my chin on the 15 minute walk home. She seemed to enjoy that a lot because sat in that scarf nibbling my jacket zip all the way home, and she has been much more affectionate ever since, letting our hugs go two or three times longer than usual, even in the dreaded shower room aka hospital, and she looks lovingly up into my eyes when I kiss her on the head. It's a little embarrassing to write about, but she needs to have a bond in life; we all do; I think back to Tom Hanks talking with Wilson on that deserted Island. She is the only animal in my life which I have seen consistent day to day observable mile markers in behavior. She is a very special creature. She and the cat seem to be acquainted now too. They have their standard thing they do. There is no fear between them. Used to be the cat would run away and poop somewhere dreadful when she was a kitten if Fig was in the bathroom. Thank goodness that is over. Fig is still very scared of other cats though, outside. She does not seem to be afraid of dogs though, and this is very worrisome to me because I take her for walks at the local dog fancier's hangout, and they often let their dogs off the leash, as I do with Fig. Fig can out run me, a dog can out run me...so, I think I had best to keep her tethered until I have more confidence about controlling her. That's all for now.

3. (Behavior Towards Captive Crow)
I have already observed wild Crows' reactions to Fig on numerous ocassions. I do not have any study ideas but here is what I have observed so far.
Follow-up:

When I take Fig out in her territory, her immediate family often comes to roost all around on building tops. Sometimes they circle around in flight, cawing and putting on a big show. It all seems good natured and supportive. It is very clear that her parents, and siblings know who she is, and who I am.
Near my house is a park where the local Crows congregate in the hundreds in the Fall evenings before making their winter migration to larger evening roosts. I suspect these congregations are made up of younger, unmated birds mainly, and they come from many inter-married families, as I understand it. Anyway, the local congregation, and I suspect any congregation of Crows would rally in support of Fig, and call me into question. Congregations are not aggressive in nature. Sometimes circling Crows fly in very close to ask Fig if she is okay, and have a gawk at me. They seem to quickly figure out that Fig cannot fly, and that I am not intent on harming her. Congregations seem to be non aggressive groups, getting together to play, flirt, court, and do things young Crows would be interested in doing to burn off steam. I think they are part school, part night club.

Now, when I walk into another Crow family territory with Fig on my arm, when the family unit is present, I get a very different reception. Those Crows are very alerted, and aggravated. They have not become aggressive, but the tone of their activity is very much, let me show you the door buddy. I will try to tape this behavior next year. Right now is winter and family units are congregating, so they are lacking the cohesion they have in the Spring and Summer.

Fig's reactions are appropriate and expected:
To her family, she calls out, and joins in the ruckus, if they leave she wants to follow along. She knows who they are, and gets tremendous satisfaction from even a short interaction. If they leave she will call out for a short time, but quickly stops. Sometimes her family members will fly down and sit with her. The chatter they exhibit is very very intricate and interesting. I hope I can tape it someday.

To another family while trespassing, she will call, but something is different. It is not a desperate Hey, Mom, Dad! It is more of a Yeah, I heard you. Keep your pants on, sort of a thing. She stops immediately when we walk through the trespassed zone. What was totally unexpected was the low level of aggression the foreign family exhibits. After witnessing first hand Crow parents defending fledglings they are still caring for on the ground, I really expected that invading a territory with a Crow on my arm might initiate a serious attack on the both of us. I was very wrong about that.

To congregations Fig just joins in going wild and crazy. She obviously wants to leap into the sky and join in the swirling mass of playing juveniles. She is after all only 8months old herself.  She seems to be okay on the sidelines though. She starts fluffing up happily and preening on my arm. Psychologically, this kind of encounter is invaluable, so I try to expose her to congregated masses as often as I can.

I do not think I would let Fig tag along on any wild Crow experiments as she would clearly shift the focus of attention, and upset the experiments. Also, I cannot be certain that a family of Crows would not become aggressive towards her, and obvioiusly that is not a risk I want to take.


2. (Cooperation/Communication)
 I would like to do a series of studies of Crow behavior on a known family in the Fukuoka Castle park area.
Step One: I plan to count the Crows around. Then, I will place plates on a flat area in a grid. Then I will place food on the plates. Then I will observe for as long as necessary. I suspect from what I know already, that Crows will show interest, and come to look, but that only one dominant male will fly in to collect the food. I will probably be wrong about this.
Follow-up:

Step Two: I would like to repeat the above experiment to see if the Crows change their behavior.
Follow-up:

Step Three: If the Crows learn that the plates are a source of food, and come to trust them enough to collect the food, I would like to try turning the plates over to see what happens. I suspect the Crows will avoid the plates entirely for forever.
Follow-up:

Step Four: If the Crows learn to look under the plates, I would like to use two different color plates. I plan to put food under only one color. I want to observe and see if, and how Crows might communicate to one another about where the food is. I want to see if they cooperate, or if they are greedy. I suspect they communicate, and cooperate.
Follow-up:


1. (Movement in Trees)
I would like to do a counting study of Crow movements in the trees to accurately know how often they move a certain way, and what movement is their proferred means of getting around when in trees. The plan is to count how many times a bird moves forward, side to side, up, down, level, and twisting, how many times it jumps in place, lands flat, sideways, on a vertical perch. I realize there are times birds will go upside down or other wild poses, but the aim of this count is to get an accurate idea of their most common, usual movements. I thought to study this in detail because it seems to me that the birds have a range of options as to how to move for any given move, but that the choice they make is very telling about their personality, and perhaps their survival strategy, or other things; in any case, it is not simply that they can move in certain ways, it is that they are choosing to do what they do for a variety of possible reasons as yet unbeknownst to science, I mean me.

The following page can be used to record Crow movements in trees accurately.
How to use it: (Work left to right)
First: Observe one Crow's single movement in the tree.
1. Did the Crow jump(hop), or step
2. Did the Crow move to, the same spot (jump up and down), move forward, left, or right?
3. Did the Crow move up, level, down?
4. How much rotation was there? Indicate 0,90,180,270,360, or degree marks between.
    Was the Crow's rotation to the left (counter clockwise), or to the right (clockwise)?
5. How did the Crow land? On an Angle, Vertical Post, Level?
6. I did not include a space to record the distance of the movement, because I thought it very difficult to judge, but I will think about this along the way.
Follow-up:
Dec 16, 2013  Study Began
Study Goal (1,000 observations to complete)
I may try and get my JHS students to help me making observations, but their level of interest in anything sciency is very low.

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