What are crows saying when their loud cawing fills a dark winter's evening? Despite the inescapable ruckus, nobody knows for sure. Birds congregate daily before and after sleep, and they make some noise, but what might be happening in those brains is a mystery.
Curious about these raucous exchanges, researchers at the University of Washington Bothell are listening in. They are placing equipment on the roof of their building—a meeting place for some of the thousands of crows that sleep in nearby campus trees—and using a sort of computerized eavesdropping to study the relationship between calls and the birds' behavior.
"With audio alone, our team is able to localize and record the birds remotely, and in dim light that makes this situation less suitable for video tracking," said Shima Abadi, an assistant professor at UW Bothell's School of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. "It's still a challenging task, but we can use the audio signals to look for patterns and learn more about what the birds may be communicating."
Crows are very intelligent creatures and among the few that can use tools. In recent years scientists have come to study them as a way to better understand human intelligence and how it evolves in nature.
(Score: 5, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:43PM (5 children)
It's a sad time when not even the animals are free from warrantless wiretaps and eavesdropping.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:06PM
Except for the part where this has nothing to do with wiretapping. It's just clickbait.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:10PM
If they've got nothing to hide they've got nothing to fear.
(Score: 5, Funny) by crb3 on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:43PM (1 child)
Only when there's probable caws.
(Score: 4, Touché) by bob_super on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:48PM
You don't even need probable cause: they're black.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:43PM
I just know they're talking about me.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:09PM (1 child)
I remember reading a story something well over 40 years ago that explained several crow calls.
For example, one that I remember was that 5 sharp caws (Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw!) was an alarm that there was danger around.
There were quite a few more, but it was so long ago I don't recall them, now. :(
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:41PM
Five sharp caws means "There is an ornithologist nearby, let us confuse him and his readers with five sharp caws" :)
Crows are amazing, I think I recall reading something about crow calls too. Here is a random link to avoid being off-topic
http://www.nature-mentor.com/crow-language.html [nature-mentor.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by donkeyhotay on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:34PM (1 child)
...Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore..."
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:18PM
That's a raven, not a crow.
Of course, there is Ralph Bakshi's idea of how crows talk [youtube.com].
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:53PM
A large (and loud) community of birds gathers in the trees outside the Austin Tx airport parking garage in the evenings. Their noise patterns don't feel random under a few hours observation. Calls seem to move from tree to tree in a pattern. I wish I lived there so I could observe it further.
(Score: 3, Funny) by darnkitten on Wednesday December 06 2017, @08:04PM (2 children)
Why, murder, [wikipedia.org] of course.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @09:20PM (1 child)
I came back from the store, saw two crows on a neighbor's roof. When I got home, I told my wife I'd seen an attempted murder.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 07 2017, @11:18AM
I hear the criminal police spends a lot of time investigating murder. I wonder what's their interest in crows.