Condor Watch Talk

<3 Ravens

  • Golden_Slippers by Golden_Slippers

    I see a lot of complains on here about ravens... Am I the only one here who loves corvids?

    I feed the crows outside my house and love writing down notes about their behavior. So there are a lot of them... so what! I love condors too, but the ravens seem to have the most character in many of these pictures.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish

    don't worry, you're not alone, i love ravens too:) they're awesome and incredibly clever birds. i wish they were coming more often to my country:]

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness moderator

    I love ravens, but we have crows where I live. They are both ranked as the top smartest wild birds and they do have personalities!

    Many years ago we had West Nile Virus show up in the midwest for the first time, ever. The area I live in was the hardest hit in the entire Midwest (Cook Country, Illinois) and it wiped out 80% of all the birds and every crow.

    This year is the first time I have seen crows since then. There are 2 that I managed to lure to the phone wires by my window and I throw them peanuts. I "click" and they come. I took pains to try to get them to learn that me "clicking" loudly, hanging out the 2nd story window like a fool, meant "peanuts". Now, three weeks later, they come to the window ledge and tap on the window so loud I jump because they want food, and NOW. They are not dummies. They trained me and I'm pretty untrainable as a rule 😃

    If I was Goddess of Zooniverse I could think of such an easy 'fix' to marking the ravens (a 2-click button! No hand moving!) but I'm not, so I just endure. 😃 I just swear at the monitor and keep going. There's worse things in life. I often catch the greatest expressions on their faces or their postures in the pics, and they make the strangest shapes when they fly, but then I'm easily amused when it's 3 AM and I get punchy 😃

    Posted

  • vjbakker by vjbakker scientist

    1. I love corvids, especially ravens -- love the way their wings "wusch" when they fly, their various calls, and their general cleverness.

    2. I too wish I were Goddess of Zooniverse and could alter the raven tally code. The science team requested that when the first raven was clicked, the user would be prompted for a total raven count, and then would be able to move on. Alas,they were not able to implement that. Our apologies, and thanks to everyone for persevering through the raven clicks. And thanks Golden Slippers for pointing out the positive side for those of us who may have fallen into an irrational raven-hating funk. 😃

    Posted