Feathery Geniuses: Crows and other Corvids of Pennsylvania

This week’s blog was written by Liam B., a Gobblers and Bass alumni. Liam is a junior in high school who has attended the Wildlife Leadership Academy as both a student and an assistant team leader over the past two summers. He has participated in WLA mainly due to to his interest in wildlife overall, and notably ornithology. He plans to attend college and afterwards pursue a career with the game commission.

The phrase “bird-brained” is often something of a misnomer, as some species of birds are incredibly intelligent. No other group of birds is more revered for their intelligence than the corvids, a group comprised of crows, jays, and ravens. In Pennsylvania, we have 3 notable species, the Blue Jay, the Common Raven, and the American Crow, and this article aims to highlight the intelligence of three of them.

Starting with the Blue Jay, one of the most ubiquitous forest-dwelling birds in Pennsylvania. These bright blue birds are often seen flitting about the woods, harassing almost any other bird that they may come in contact with, whether it is smaller or larger than itself. However, the Blue Jay does have an important role to play in their woodland homes. They act somewhat as the lookouts of the woods, sounding the alarm if they spot any danger by imitating the call of a predatory species, usually the Red-Tailed Hawk. This interesting ability is also used for more selfish means, as they also use it to scare off competition from potential food sources. They also are known to cache food, like nuts, seeds, and other hard masts, for themselves in leaner periods. These caches are often raided by other animals and often end up helping more than just the Blue Jay. Despite all these seemingly intelligent behaviors, most of these impressive skills can be chalked up to instinct, rather than just intelligence. Yet, they have been proven to possess some amount of intelligence, as jays in captivity have been able to make and use tools out of paper to acquire food, and even have been seen attempting to open the locks on their cages to escape.

Next, is the American Crow, one of the most well-known birds for its intelligence. American Crows have an extremely well-understood capacity for intelligence and use this intelligence in a variety of ways to suit their needs. Groups of crows can make complex plans to steal food from other animals, one bird acting as a distraction, and the rest stealing the food while their victim’s back is turned. They also have been seen using and modifying tools, as well as being able to use sticks to get food from hard-to-reach places. They have excellent memories, as a study in 2019 showed. A group of three crows were placed in an area, and there were two boxes in that area each containing food. One box was seen to have a large amount of food consistently, while the other had little to none. Each time the test was repeated, the crows would consistently rush to the box which had been in one location and was consistently full of food, while the other box was often approached with less enthusiasm or even completely ignored. A very famous example of crow intelligence is that of how they acquire food from more hard-to-access sources. When crows find a nut with a hard shell they take these sealed bounties with them and find a nearby road. When the area is clear, they drop it, shattering the hard outer shell, and exposing the rewards within.

Lastly, the Common Raven. These corvids are possibly one of the most intelligent birds out there. They possess a powerful memory and can associate people’s faces and actions that they perform and react accordingly. In one study, a researcher visited a flock of ravens in her local area and fed them, and got them to trust her. Later, she returned wearing a mask and carrying a deceased raven. This caused distress in the flock, and when she returned later to feed them without the mask, it resulted in more wariness, and much later, when she returned with the mask on again, no dead bird this time, they immediately left, as they had associated her presence with danger. They have also been seen to comfort each other in times of distress. They are the most well-known corvid for their tool use, as they have used rocks and sticks to access water and food in various tests. They also can use general problem-solving skills to complete tasks, such as slowly changing the lengths of a rope to acquire food.

Overall, corvids as a group are some of the most intelligent birds we currently know of, and these stand-out examples, the Blue Jay, Common Raven, and American Crow easily prove this.

The photos used in this blog were sourced from the internet. They can be found here, here, and here.