This is one of my favorite nesting locations I’ve discovered so far. Rather than being deterred by the bird spikes, they’ve essentially used it as rebar!
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A poem to guide you through flightless baby crow season... . Although their blue eyes we adore Please leave them be, I implore. This flightless baby needs mom & dad Not your home, though it might be rad. Unless she’s injured, do not catch her. Don’t become a baby snatcher! . As tempting as it might be, never collect baby wildlife without first contacting an expert. Lots of babies are left for prolonged periods of time but are still in the care of your parents. If you must collect them in order to bring them to a facility keep them in a comfortable dark space and do not offer them food. Some babies can’t process food that their parents can, do leave this part to an expert to ensure proper care. For more info see the link in my bio! #crow #Americancrow #scicomm #spring #babycrow #wildliferescue #abandonedwildlife #corvid #ilovecrows #keepcrowssafe #cutebaby #babybirdWeek three of #CrowOrNo theme: baby time! Who is this rather soulful looking fledgling? Answer at 5:30 PST! Can’t wait for your responses! ANSWER... Thanks for your patience in waiting for the answer this week-had a long day in the field! Ok ready? This week’s baby is an all American crow! So what were the key ID tips? First the nasal bristles tell you it’s a corvid. Then the blue eyes indicate that it’s not an oceanic corvid species. The pink rather than yellow gape tells you it’s not a jackdaw. From there it’s about proportion. The bill on a fledging raven is kind like the feet on a Great Dane puppy. It’s too big for its current size. But on a crow the bill is nicely proportioned (see story for comparison). So by now you might be wondering why I’m dedicating a whole month to babies. Sure babies are cute but is there some greater purpose? Yes. I want you to know your babies so you don’t accidentally abduct them. Because here’s the thing...lots of baby corvids (and other songbirds) leave the nest before they can fly. It’s a mistake to think these birds are in trouble and need to be taken away but it’s a mistake MANY, MANY people are going to make. So unless a baby is injured or naked, assume it’s in the care of its parents and leave it alone. For more info check the link in my bio. And if for good reason you do find yourself in the temporary care of a baby don’t post pictures of yourself fondling it on the internet. These images encourage people to take babies. For example, last year a gentleman posted a photo of himself with a baby crow he rescued to Reddit. I commented with my usual spiel about it not being a great message and he basically told me I was being too dramatic. Then after a few weeks I got a message you can read in my story, basically saying I had been right. So why am I focusing so much on babies this month? Because it’s important to understand how to ID baby crows, what to do if they need help, and what not to do while you’re providing that help. It can literally mean life and death for these kiddos. So that wraps up another week of #CrowOrNo! I hope every enjoyed today’s challenge and will join me next week for your final baby! Soon your feeds will be flooded with jays and Denali but until then here’s a gorgeous AF crow. Not sure if this is a male or a female as you cannot sex them visually. You can however figure it out now (during the breeding season) if you can find the nest. Once you do, just watch for who is incubating the eggs and that’s your female. Males will sit on the eggs temporarily to insulate them while the female is gone, but they do not have a brood patch (an area on the female’s stomach that loses feathers to allow for skin to egg contact) so males cannot actually incubate. Sometimes you can catch a glimpse of the brood patch when the females are preening but I’ve never been so lucky with a crow. How many of you have conclusively figured out which is the female for the pair you watch? #crow #seattlecrow #corvusbrachyrhynchos #ilovecrows #breedingbirds #birdfacts #scicomm #goldengardens #nature #wildlife #pugetsound #crowtographDuring a recent interview with the @animalsathomeca podcast we discussed my earlier work looking at whether crows learn the faces of people they see holding dead crows. To test this we used masks instead of real faces, both because that was a convenient way of dealing with a rotating team of volunteers and because it prevented those volunteers from getting dive bombed in the future. Why would they have gotten dive bombed? Because it turns out crows definitely do learn faces associated with dead crows! To learn more about this study check out the newest episode of #AnimalsAtHome. You can find the full pub and my popsci write ups on my blog. #crow #americancrow #fieldwork #science #corvus #corvids #masks #uw #joethemask #podcast #crowfuneral #womeninstem #researchThanks to a breakdown in technology, FB/IG weren’t able to post yesterday’s #CrowOrNo challenge. But worry not, because it’s here today! As a helpful reminder all this month we are celebrating babies. You just have to decide if each challenge’s baby is #CrowOrNo! Good luck!.......................ANSWER: This week’s bird is...not a baby crow! It’s a baby jackdaw. Jackdaws are Corvus sps native across Europe. To detect this baby-crow look alike you needed to pay close attention to differences in plumage color and bill size/shape. Jackdaws have blunter bills relative to crows and even when comparing babies this difference is evident. The second feature was the hints of gray creeping around the nape of the neck, shoulders and the top of the breast. Check out my story for helpful photo comparisons. Lastly, while it’s not so obvious in this photo, generally speaking the most conclusive difference is that jackdaws have yellow gapes while crows have pink gapes. For those that aren’t familiar with the term “gape” it basically refers to the special mouths of baby birds. See, baby birds can open their mouths wider than adults can. This helps facilitate feeding by the parents. Eventually the mouth corners will seal but until then the corners and mouth lining are collectively referred to as the gape. Just something to keep in your back pocket. So thank you for playing this week and that you to @ CAWnithologist for the photo! PS if you have a photo you’d like to see used in a future game please let me know!#crow #raven #corvid #scicommgame #scicomm #birdid #birding #ilovecorvids #babybirdThis contest is now closed. ⚠️GIVEAWAY⚠️ Want to plaster your stuff with corvids? Of course you do! To win this three pack of @madisonerinmayfield designed vinyl stickers all you have to do is follow me on Instagram and tag a friend in the comments. If you get tagged and want to enter yourself, please comment on the original thread and tag a new friend. One entry per person. Contest closes March 9th at 6:00pm PST. Good luck! #giveaway #corvid #magpie #canadajay #grayjay #camprobber #corvidresearch #stickers #stickermule #blackbilledmagpie #corvidswag #whiskeyjack #bird #birdstickers #crow #nature #wildlife
