Crow Education

Fig is studying 13 colors using cards, strings, foam shapes, and most recently this reward box I made with wood, and ice-cream sticks. Sometimes I give her two colors to choose from, sometimes a few, or several, sometimes all 13. If she cannot get it, I just remove colors one at a time, until she feels more confidence about answering. She answers by lifting off the tab with her beak.  I wish I had the time to work with her more because time with Fig is always full of humor, and play, and delight.

Her favorite reward so far is chopped dates. The amazing thing about studying with Fig is that she does not cheat. I completely expected that she would simply open all the boxes looking for the treat, but she doesn't.  Fig is very childlike in her relationship with me.  She knows that I am asking her to find the treat by telling her which color box to open.  She will not open boxes randomly searching for the reward.  She intuitively understands, right from the start, that I am placing an expectation on her, that it is a listening exercise, and that she has to try and find THE box which contains the reward, that she is supposed to earn it, by answering correctly. If she is uncertain, but thinks she knows the answer, she will lean towards the box she suspects, sort of pointing to it, looking to me for some extra assurance. She even tips her head when she is thinking about it, much as humans tend to do. And she is thrilled when she gets the answer right.

Fig is so similar to us humans in her moods, in her personality, in her interactions,  at times it makes me feel like I am actually talking to a Crow no differently than I might talk with a human child if we were to do the exact same activity. The only difference being that a human child might want an m&m or something other than a small bit of date.