Crows know familiar human voices

Crows recognise familiar human voices and the calls of familiar birds from other species, say researchers.

The ability could help the intelligent birds to thrive in urban environments; using vocal cues from their human and avian neighbours to find food or be alerted to potential threats.

The team used recordings of human voices and jackdaw calls to test the birds' responses.

They published the findings in the journal Animal Cognition.

Lead researcher Claudia Wascher from the University of Vienna said that, although it was widely known that crows were "very intelligent", most studies had focused on their ability to recognise and communicate with their own species.

"In cities crows live alongside jackdaws, magpies and seagulls, and alongside humans," Dr Wascher told BBC Nature.

"Some of those people might be very nice to the crows and feed them and others might be nasty and chase them away.

"You even get some people hunting crows.

To find out if they might be able to distinguish between these different birds and humans, the researchers studied eight carrion crows kept in the university's aviary.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18025926

Lost budgie taken home after it recites entire address

The bird escaped from a house in the Sagamihara district of Yokohama on Sunday morning, Kyodo News reported, and made its way to the city centre. After finding its way into a hotel, it came to rest on the shoulder of one of the guests before it was apprehended.

The hotel handed the budgerigar over to police, who put it in a cage and transferred it to a nearby police station.

Despite giving no indications that it could talk, the bird suddenly piped up late on Tuesday night and began repeating its home address – which its owner had apparently drummed into the bird for just such an unlikely eventuality.

Specifying the address down to the number of the house and the block on which is stands, the bird enabled police to track down its 64-year-old owner.

"We had not expected his owner to be identified in this manner," one of the officers involved in the case said.

Continued:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9240683/Lost-budgie-taken-home-after-it-recites-entire-address.html

VIDEO: Clever crows show remarkable ability to use tools to improve their lives

Crows can sled down roofs, of course, but distinguish between styrofoam and rocks to help make their lives easier to eat? They can do that too, according to new research.

Crows are often believed to be one of the smartest species of birds.

A video of a crow learning the best way to sled down a roof, for example, popped up recently. But a team of researchers in New Caledonia have discovered that crows are also adept at using tools to get food.

In an experiment, scientists discovered that crows not only know how to use tools to help themselves, they know how to use the right tool.

When presented with styrofoam "rocks" and regular rocks, as well as rubber balls, the crows would discard the styrofoam and use the rocks and rubber balls to help them get to food that was beyond their reach.

Scientists had not expected these New Caledonian crows to be able to differentiate among the different types of similarly-sized and shaped objects.

Watch video here:  http://www.pri.org/stories/science/environment/video-clever-crows-show-remarkable-ability-to-use-tools-to-improve-their-lives-8095.html