Oh Say, Can You Caw?
Isn't it amazing how those wonderful aerial creatures humankind holds so in awe fascinate us to the extent that we strove to emulate them, leaving us with the legend of Icarus, with the remarkably instructive drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, and with the eventual era of human flight through aeronautical design and manufacture.
We love birds, and we hate them. We swoon over the voluptuous colouration of tropical plumage, the trilling of songbirds, of nesting pairs and their chick-raising aptitudes, but we detest the "dirty" emissions of seagulls, geese and pigeons and other 'less attractive' and eminently urbanized of the species.
And the cleverness and adaptability of birds, simply amazes us. Their ability to reason, to solve puzzling situations, to differentiate and to enhance the natural world we so admire. Birds have been known to select specific sticks, to use them as devices with which to pry into crevices - proving they are technologically inclined, right?
We humans adore birds to the end-degree, capturing them and incarcerating these aerial wonders in tiny cages to enslave them to our own desires. To own their enrapturing birdsong for our very own, to admire their brilliant colours close up and personally; objects of desire and ownership, living creatures as objets d'art.
Animal behaviourists learned through experimentation that the tongues of blackbirds and crows, if slit, could create the potential for birds mimicking the vocal chords of human beings, and birds could be taught to "talk". To talk, to emit verbal expressions furthermore, in the most seemingly appropriate, occasionally, inappropriate ways.
Konrad Lorenz wrote lovingly of his favourite bird, a crow whom he taught to speak, and who became his companion on his woodland jaunts. He often treated his pet crow with raw meat tidbits as a reward for good behaviour. He recounted, in one of his books, how he had been on a woodland walk, unzipped his pants to urinate, when the crow swooped down to retrieve that special treat.
I've always personally loved the sound of crows. And thought it odd that a collection of the birds would be referred to as a "murder" of crows. I've seen crows heartlessly harassed by flocks of blackbirds, and felt pity for them. We often see crows in our daily walks in our wooded ravine, beside the street we live on. And when we occasionally see or hear, or both, northern ravens, we find it simply thrilling.
When we lived in Japan, the small, enclosed street on which our house was located had a water tower just at the end of the street's circular drive. The top of the water tower was always crowded with crows. And these crows were much larger than the North American crows we'd long been accustomed to. These birds were large enough and heavy enough so that when they walked on the metal roof of our house, it sounded as though a large man was tromping about up there.
That was in the mid-1980s. Since then, I've read, Japan has experienced a real problem with a growing crow population. Their nests, often located on hydro poles cause blackouts. The crows have been known to peck away at wires and at fibre cable networks to take the pieces back to their nests, as nesting materials.
They're also numerous in the many parks, leaving messes behind, and even attempting to take candies away from children. I can remember being in Ueno Park, amazed to see a crow swoop down and fly away with one of the many wild cats that populate Tokyo. No one made a move to prevent the abduction, and we attributed that to the Japanese peoples' belief in fate.
Small zoo animals are often preyed upon by the burgeoning crow population.
Crows (like the feral cats) are ever-present, and they feast on garbage left out for collection. That's hardly surprising. I can recall from when we lived in Tokyo that garbage collection was nothing like what we have in North America. Residents of a street would be assigned an area to which all householders would take their garbage bags and simply pile them up in a huge pile for collection, once a week. Easy pickings for crows and cats. And an assured food source.
The country has instituted Crow Patrols through their utility companies, who hunt for crows nesting on hydro poles. Blackouts have become a nationwide occurrence as a result of crows pecking at hydro wires. A crow has even caused a blackout by having stuck its beak into a high-voltage power line. It won't, in any event, repeat that feat of derring-do and suicide. One blackout caused a shut down of the high-speed bullet train.
"Japanese react to crows because we fear them", according to Michio Matsuda, a board member of the Wild Bird Society of Japan and author of a book on crows. "We are not sure sometimes who is smarter, us or the crows." To my recollection, the Japanese are devout nature lovers. It amazes me that they fear crows. But then, since the time we lived in Tokyo, the crow population, already sizeable, has expanded exponentially.
Figures reveal that in the late 1980s a count found approximately 7,000 crows in large parks, while in 2001, a similar count added up 36,400 of the adaptably-clever creatures. They're omnivorous, and they can live from ten to fifteen years. And yes, they represent a "murder" of crows.
We love birds, and we hate them. We swoon over the voluptuous colouration of tropical plumage, the trilling of songbirds, of nesting pairs and their chick-raising aptitudes, but we detest the "dirty" emissions of seagulls, geese and pigeons and other 'less attractive' and eminently urbanized of the species.
And the cleverness and adaptability of birds, simply amazes us. Their ability to reason, to solve puzzling situations, to differentiate and to enhance the natural world we so admire. Birds have been known to select specific sticks, to use them as devices with which to pry into crevices - proving they are technologically inclined, right?
We humans adore birds to the end-degree, capturing them and incarcerating these aerial wonders in tiny cages to enslave them to our own desires. To own their enrapturing birdsong for our very own, to admire their brilliant colours close up and personally; objects of desire and ownership, living creatures as objets d'art.
Animal behaviourists learned through experimentation that the tongues of blackbirds and crows, if slit, could create the potential for birds mimicking the vocal chords of human beings, and birds could be taught to "talk". To talk, to emit verbal expressions furthermore, in the most seemingly appropriate, occasionally, inappropriate ways.
Konrad Lorenz wrote lovingly of his favourite bird, a crow whom he taught to speak, and who became his companion on his woodland jaunts. He often treated his pet crow with raw meat tidbits as a reward for good behaviour. He recounted, in one of his books, how he had been on a woodland walk, unzipped his pants to urinate, when the crow swooped down to retrieve that special treat.
I've always personally loved the sound of crows. And thought it odd that a collection of the birds would be referred to as a "murder" of crows. I've seen crows heartlessly harassed by flocks of blackbirds, and felt pity for them. We often see crows in our daily walks in our wooded ravine, beside the street we live on. And when we occasionally see or hear, or both, northern ravens, we find it simply thrilling.
When we lived in Japan, the small, enclosed street on which our house was located had a water tower just at the end of the street's circular drive. The top of the water tower was always crowded with crows. And these crows were much larger than the North American crows we'd long been accustomed to. These birds were large enough and heavy enough so that when they walked on the metal roof of our house, it sounded as though a large man was tromping about up there.
That was in the mid-1980s. Since then, I've read, Japan has experienced a real problem with a growing crow population. Their nests, often located on hydro poles cause blackouts. The crows have been known to peck away at wires and at fibre cable networks to take the pieces back to their nests, as nesting materials.
They're also numerous in the many parks, leaving messes behind, and even attempting to take candies away from children. I can remember being in Ueno Park, amazed to see a crow swoop down and fly away with one of the many wild cats that populate Tokyo. No one made a move to prevent the abduction, and we attributed that to the Japanese peoples' belief in fate.
Small zoo animals are often preyed upon by the burgeoning crow population.
Crows (like the feral cats) are ever-present, and they feast on garbage left out for collection. That's hardly surprising. I can recall from when we lived in Tokyo that garbage collection was nothing like what we have in North America. Residents of a street would be assigned an area to which all householders would take their garbage bags and simply pile them up in a huge pile for collection, once a week. Easy pickings for crows and cats. And an assured food source.
The country has instituted Crow Patrols through their utility companies, who hunt for crows nesting on hydro poles. Blackouts have become a nationwide occurrence as a result of crows pecking at hydro wires. A crow has even caused a blackout by having stuck its beak into a high-voltage power line. It won't, in any event, repeat that feat of derring-do and suicide. One blackout caused a shut down of the high-speed bullet train.
"Japanese react to crows because we fear them", according to Michio Matsuda, a board member of the Wild Bird Society of Japan and author of a book on crows. "We are not sure sometimes who is smarter, us or the crows." To my recollection, the Japanese are devout nature lovers. It amazes me that they fear crows. But then, since the time we lived in Tokyo, the crow population, already sizeable, has expanded exponentially.
Figures reveal that in the late 1980s a count found approximately 7,000 crows in large parks, while in 2001, a similar count added up 36,400 of the adaptably-clever creatures. They're omnivorous, and they can live from ten to fifteen years. And yes, they represent a "murder" of crows.
Labels: Animal Stories, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ 7:18 PM
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