No f*cks are given by corvids. . .

January 31, 2016 • 2:30 pm

Corvids are the honey badgers of the bird world.

Laura was formerly the science and health editor of Slate, but is now director of digital news at National Geographic.

You can see a gallery of insouciant corvids at imgur: here are a few shots and a gif:

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This, of course, is the best one:

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32 thoughts on “No f*cks are given by corvids. . .”

      2. And I was so glad to see it was that old, because I have no memory of it even though I commented there. 🙄

      1. Those crows are deliciously evil. So classic trickster. I think Jerry posted that video once.

  6. but is now director of digital news at National Geographic.

    That’s going to be a hot chair at the moment. (Since the Murdoch take-over.)

  9. A couple of years ago I was taking the d*gs out for a run when one of them came upon a raven in the undergrowth. Instead of just flying off to the sky to wherever the raven flew off about two feet off the ground slowly enough that the d*g chasing it could keep up two feet behind but not be able to catch it. I started laughing until I realized that the raven was leading the idiot to a cliff.
    I screamed at the d*g to stop but she ignored me, intent on catching the bird. It’s only because we were on our own property and the d*g knew the cliff was there that she finally stopped. The raven flew up and away, cackling all the way.

    2. Classic trickster!

      As the Canadian author, Thompson Highway once said that even when your down, raven will be there laughing right along with you.

    3. That’s chilling!

      There are said to be reports of ravens alerting cougars to the presence of prey just so they can feed on the cat’s leftovers after the kill. And this was mentioned in a story about cougars killing humans–talk about chilling.

      (I think it’d be far more likely that the cats just learn to check out places where ravens are raising a racket, for whatever reasons.)

  10. The bitches eat my corn seed, but I still dig Corvids.

    I once threw out some stale buns for my turkeys and chickens. A crow hopped down out of nowhere and grabbed a WHOLE BUN in its beak and flew off with it. You should have seen those turkeys dancing around in confusion and alarm!

    1. The dastards eat “my” nestling birds each spring; but I still dig corvids.

      Funny about the crows & the turkeys! 😀

  11. I saw footage of a raven shaking a wolf’s tale so that could steal the wolf’s food. It was pretty funny how it grabbed the end and shook and shook.

  14. The corvids’ behavior makes perfect sense. The big danger with raptors is not their beak but their feet. And big raptors like these are clumsy on the ground and much less agile than a crow or a raven. So if the corvid can get the raptor to turn and try to attack, it has a good chance of getting away with the food before the bigger bird can really do anything.

    Also, compared to corvids, raptors are nitwits.

    1. If you think about it a large complex brain would be a detriment to a raptor. Their hunting depends on surprise and speed and taking the time to think about what you’re doing would only slow you down. Not to mention the extra weight in the skull to slow the strike.
      Once walking with my young son in the woods he picked up a skull and asked what it was from. ‘Dunno, let’s figure it out. I has sharp teeth, huge eye sockets, not much brain pan…’ ‘It’s a cat!’* he says.
      Right. If it had a bulging skull I would have guessed raccoon.

      *Sorry

      1. 🙂

        I’ve sometimes looked at one of my (beloved) cats and thought: his head is just a swiveling console for holding eyes and ears.

  15. I seem to remember reading (e.g. in _The Mind of the Raven_) that it has been suggested by some in the know that corvids and canids are both sort of extended human symbiotes; the latter proximately, the former for removed. It does seem to be that corvids are found almost everywhere humans are.

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