Corvid Pics and Clips

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Corvid Pics and Clips

Post by PeteE »

I thought I would put my Raven, crow, magpie pictures, and video clips in a separate thread.

Here is a raven I saw only this one time at Logan Pass as I waited on chip and mzambo. He was quite a character for a young bird.
And no I wasn't feeding him.
He pinched me because, as a young bird, he was just "exploring" my finger. I could feel his lil tongue :)
And I'm no anthropomorphist. These are wild birds. There's no good way to discuss their behaviour without using "human" terms.
It runs 7 minutes

later
pete :wink:



A couple pics of Chatty
Image
Image
Last edited by PeteE on Sat Nov 22, 2014 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

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Re: Corvid Pics and Clips

Post by PeteE »

Here's a couple of Clyde. Same pic cropped.

Clyde really is a great "specimen" of a raven. They are beautiful birds in winter.
Image

Here is a closeup. Bummer he had snow on his bill.
That massive bill is Clyde's "Swiss Army Knife" and he knows how to use it well :)
You can see the "hook" on the end of the upper mandible. That hook is what Chatty used on me when he drew blood. He "twisted" as he pinched.
That is the same general motion they use excising a hunk of meat off of a carcass.

Image

Here is a good shot of Clyde's feet and lower legs. He has very stout, strong legs with sizable toe claws.
Strong legs and toes well equipped to grip aid a raven when they are ripping into a carcass.
They need the leverage to aid their back and neck muscles to carve off hunks of meat that may be frozen hard as a rock.
Ravens are very well adapted to life as a scavenger-predator.

Image

later
pete :wink:

And so says Clyde from my truck box and Bonnie as she patrols 8)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAMkG-DRqP0
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

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Re: Corvid Pics and Clips

Post by PeteE »

Here is a video from April. If you like observing bird behavior, you might like this one.
They dropped some deer hair on the ground in front of me right after I got out of my truck.
Then flew down. Bonnie then gathered up the hair and "cached" it.
Later Clyde feeds Bonnie after she "begs". Then he allogrooms her a bit as she makes "happy noises".
12 minutes


This is a 30second clip made up of frames from the video clip above.
Something spooked Clyde and he "lifts off" virtually straight up in less than .30 seconds! You'll see it in context in the video above.
Ravens use their strong legs to start, and then you see him use those powerful, broad wings to gain lift incredibly fast.
You'll get a nice look at his "primary" feathers spread out like "fingers" which helps stabilize his liftoff.


pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

George Carlin
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Re: Corvid Pics and Clips

Post by liketohike »

check out this video link..you might enjoy it...it's quite amazing how smart they are...

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Re: Corvid Pics and Clips

Post by PeteE »

liketohike wrote:check out this video link..you might enjoy it...it's quite amazing how smart they are...

Hi Blanca!
Thank you very much for that link. I hadn't seen that one before.
Very few animals engage in what can only be described as "play for the sake of play.".
I've seen video of crows and ravens sliding done a roof or a slope on their backs, but never using a "tool" like a plastic lid.
That is VERY sophisticated. He(although could be a she) "chose" a tool with a future task, a "play" task in mind.
These deliberate actions show "insight". That's very advanced behavior for an animal.
Plus, notice the crow tries another part of the roof, but it doesn't work too well.
So he "learned" something and went back to the part of the roof that worked for him.
That is also a very BIG deal in the animal behavior world.
Very, very cool clip!!
A good example of why I love these corvids and watching them, interacting with them when I can.

Thanks again for that link! :D

pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

George Carlin
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Re: Corvid Pics and Clips

Post by PeteE »

The link for "Chatty" the raven at Logan Pass was bad.
I saw Chatty just this once. Too bad as Chatty was quite a character.
He looks a bit ragged because this was mid August and I believe he was molting.
Runs about 7 minutes and he almost never shuts up :)
But it might be said that, "neither do I" :)
:arrow:



pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

George Carlin
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Re: Corvid Pics and Clips

Post by PeteE »

Most people don't know that the common American Crow is a superb flyer. This 49 second slide slow is a small illustration of a crow's flying ability.
This scene took place across the street from my bedroom/den window...same window I feed them from. I was zoomed all the way, the distance being about 50yards.

The raven had been below my window a few minutes before this sequence. After a few bluff charges by the raven trying to bully the crows, the crows harassed him into leaving the food, and he flew across the street to where this sequence took place. It was just dumb luck that I got the original video(now lost). I just zoomed in on the raven after the crows chased hi away. I simply wanted to see what the raven was going to do next when the crow "attacked".

49 second slide show

I suppose I'm a geek in that I love "wondering"just how animals "do what they do".

From beginning to end, this 49 second video sequence of 23-24 frames covers about .399 seconds in real time. That's less than 1/2 second :shock:
Look carefully at how the crow attacks. He comes from above and behind the raven, a classic attack maneuver by attack fighters in the Air Force. :)
And the timing, deliberate or coincidence, was absolutely perfect.

Notice what the raven was doing at the precise instant the crow struck raven with outstretched legs, his sharp "claws" perfectly positioned for a painful strike on the raven's upper back.
At that same precise moment...the raven was standing on one leg(r) as he scratched his head with his left leg!!
This left the raven momentarily vulnerable to the crow's attack. Ravens are very "quick" and he might have been able to counter attack had he not been scratching himself 8)

Then there is also the aerobatic aspect of the crow's attack.
I showed this to a friend who is an Air Force Academy graduate and was an F-4 Phantom fighter pilot in Viet Nam.
We talked how about this bird went from a sharp, fast dive, pulled up, extending his legs which slows him a bit as he prepares for the hit.
After the strike, the crow must then reverse direction, and fast to avoid a possible counter attack by the raven.
This requires incredible strength(relatively speaking) as he must come to "zero vertical velocity" and then begin his upward ascent.
Birds have to deal with the "G-forces";they aren't exempt from the laws of physics. This maneuver requires great strength and flying skill.
The crow also changes course, making close to a 90 degree turn to his right in making his escape.
Watch how the crow's wings are spread, his big primary wing feathers giving him not only power, but by making small "adjustments" of his primary wing feathers, the crow can maintain a "perfect" attitude lifting off.
Again, all this happens in ~.4 seconds--literally a blink of an eye. 8)
Just an amazing display of flying ability in my humble opinion.

Enjoy


pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

George Carlin
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