Training A Crow

[woodworkingboy]

One thing that I saw with the crow that I had, was that after being given food to survive, it had a very difficult time learning to forage for eats itself. I tried to encourage that, have it scratch around for insects which comprise their main diet in the wild, but even when hungry, which was about all of the time, it wouldn't do it. It simply didn't seem interested. It would gobble down a grub if I held it up, but rare to pick it up itself. Captivity much alienates them from what is their normal behavior, aside from the urge to fly.

 

[cory]

Interesting.

 

[woodworkingboy]

A big way of learning for those birds is watching how other crows/corvids do it. It isn't only the case though, they can be problem solvers by using their own intellect, said to be the most advanced among all birds. In captivity they also seem to be considerably less interested in other members of their species. Wild crows will be very interested in one in captivity, it seems to freak them out observing one of their type in such close proximity and interacting with a human. If I was outside with Hank, the other crows around would really make a ruckus, might have mainly been his parents though. On my bike they would follow us around making a big squawk. The appeared very upset. An interesting thing was that if i was outside alone, it also upset them for a long time. All I had to do was walk out my shop door and they would start in. Studies show that they can long recognize specific human faces and associate them with something that has occurred in the past.

 

[cory]

I probably mentioned this earlier in this thread, but if not, there is a great book on ravens and their crow brethren, "Ravens in Winter", involving a 'pet' raven. Good read if y'all interested. "One Man's Owl" is another great book about accidental wild bird 'ownership' by the same author.