Re: [Paddlewise] Varmints in the Cockpit

From: Joe Pylka <pylka_at_castle.net>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 00:21:41 -0500
    In one of the birding newsgroups there is a thread currently weaving its
way along.  Crows, first in Japan and now in California, have learned a new
way to break open nuts.  They put them on the road where a car will run over
them.  If the car tires miss, the crows will reposition the nuts.  Haven't
seen this in the East yet, and I wonder how it got from Japan to the US...
Joe P.

>Mike's story reminded me of the crows in the Broken Group in Barkley Sound,
>Vancouver Island.  They have figured out that yak cockpits are a good
source of
>easy food, and within seconds of vacation, they are inside, scoping out the
>larder.  They are so aggressive and so skilled I wonder which is smarter:
us
>or them.
>In any event, a cockpit cover is mandatory in the Brokens -- the crow
behavior
>there has been that aggressive since the summer of '96, and I suspect
extends
>further back in time.  Anybody know how far?
>What's interesting to me is that five miles of open water away (the Deer
>Group), the crows do not know cockpits are food sources.  I would think
five
>miles is an easy shot for a crow, and that the Deer Group crows would have
>learned this behavior.  Guess not.  Maybe the two populations do not
>intermingle?


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Received on Wed Mar 29 2000 - 21:21:41 PST

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