Top all-time · #7217
corvidresearch.blog
Personal blog · corvidresearch.blogscience
corvidresearch.blog is a personal blog at corvidresearch.blog about science. Since 2018, 11 different Hacker News readers have linked it 16 times, most often “Crow Vocalizations: Q and A”. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (9) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Linked as a well-written blog by a scientist on crows and corvids, with FAQs on crow behaviour and short commentary on experiments such as the crowbox idea.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 9 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Whether you’re here with specific questions or a general interest, you’re in the right place to learn the science behind one of the globe’s most charismatic and influential groups of birds. I created this blog in 2012 when I was just starting as a graduate student at the University of Washington as
Most-linked posts?
- /2015/09/26/why-crows-gather-around-their-dead/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-09-20
- Crow Vocalizations: Q and A2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-06-22
What Hacker News says?
If you have an interest in these truly fascinating animals, there is an interesting and well-written blog at https://corvidresearch.blog/#content
Comment linking /
on “Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute”Submitted Crows’ ability to discriminate between languages as a story · 116 points
HN discussionKaeli Swift ( https://corvidresearch.blog/ and https://twitter.com/corvidresearch ) has an FAQ on this at https://corvidresearch.blog/faqs-about-crows/#crows-funeral : > 4) Why do crows gather around their dead? Certainly one reason is that the death of a crow can offer a “teachable moment” that other crows use to learn that the place and responsible party is dangerous. You can read more about this behavior here: ht…
Comment linking /2015/09/26/why-crows-gather-around-their-dead/
on “Footage of Australian Raven Attacking a Wing Drone in Canberra, Australia”Submitted Putting the “crow” in necrophilia as a story · 51 points
HN discussionYou should read this short commentary [1] from a corvid researcher. There will probably be replication issues with trying to get wild crows to pick up food using his crowbox idea. ____________ 1. https://corvidresearch.blog/2015/03/12/a-scientists-thoughts...
Comment linking /2015/03/12/a-scientists-thoughts-on-the-crow-box/
on “'Intelligent' crows to pick up litter at French theme park”Submitted Help, I’ve found a baby crow as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI'm a huge fan of corvids, but evidence that the crowbox works is dubious [1]. Incidentally if you enjoy reading about crows take a look at the author's other posts on that blog. She's a scientist who writes about them (and her work) very frequently. __________ 1. https://corvidresearch.blog/2015/03/12/a-scientists-thoughts...
Comment linking /2015/03/12/a-scientists-thoughts-on-the-crow-box/
on “'Intelligent' crows to pick up litter at French theme park”Submitted Crow Vocalizations: Q and A as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThis discussion on crow vocalizations linked in the blog post was a bit more interesting to me: https://corvidresearch.blog/2019/03/14/crow-vocalizations-pa... Demonstrates how little we know! Our inability to understand the relatively-simpler communication of other life on earth generally makes me think we would fail spectacularly if we ever meet aliens...
Comment linking /2019/03/14/crow-vocalizations-part-ii-qa/
on “Crows’ ability to discriminate between languages”Submitted Corvid Research: the science behind those charismatic and influential birds as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI know it was said over 2000 years ago, but ravens are quite intelligent. Raking up there with primates and estimated to be similar to a 3-4 year old human. Birds get a bad rap with terms like "bird brained", but it's rarely true, even for those that people consider pests like pigeons[1]. A researcher from the University of Washington has a really great blog on corvids I follow (crows, jays, ravens, rooks, magpies,…
Comment linking /category/raven-intelligence-2/
on “The Intelligence of Earthworms”Kaeli Swift (quoted in the article) has a corresponding post on her blog that goes into a little more detail into the experiment: https://corvidresearch.blog/2019/08/26/dumpster-diving-is-gi... Her blog is wonderful, by the way, if you're interested in crows and other corvids. I highly recommend checking it out.
Comment linking /2019/08/26/dumpster-diving-is-giving-crows-higher-cholesterol-but-does-it-matter/
on “Crows love cheeseburgers and are getting high cholesterol”> Bird brains are probably tuned for rapid stick assessment. I don’t think this is true, birds use all sorts of things to make their nests, including improvising with human objects if there are no sticks. Many don’t use sticks at all (e.g. glueing grass and leaves together with mud). Crows and pigeons in particular are probably smart enough to recognize a “good stick” as a valuable structural material based on physi…
Comment linking /2016/03/29/everything-you-want-to-know-about-crow-nests/
on “If You Think You Can Hold a Grudge, Consider the Crow”""4) Why do crows gather around their dead? Certainly one reason is that the death of a crow can offer a “teachable moment” that other crows use to learn that the place and responsible party is dangerous. You can read more about this behavior here."" https://corvidresearch.blog/2015/09/26/why-crows-gather-arou...
Comment linking /2015/09/26/why-crows-gather-around-their-dead/
on “Death as Entertainment at the Paris Morgue”
