Crows do the darndest things. And if we’ve learned anything from studying them over the last century, it’s that their intelligence and problem-solving skill sets have far exceeded what many animal researchers thought possible. Even so, they still continue to surprise us.
One woman named Chelsea (@dontfearthekeeper on Instagram) has posted some delightful clips of a crow doing fascinating things in her yard in Virginia. Her videos are quickly going viral for good reason: they prove time and again that crows are uniquely smart birds.
Making their own tools
In a recent video posted to Instagram, we see a crow actually using a stick to make a drinking system. In the clip, he’s perched on a small column on the deck, holding a long stick over a cup of water. She explains, “Okay this is crazy how smart he is. I put out a little dish of water because it’s so hot out here and our bird bath doesn’t fit on the porch anymore. “
Chelsea adds, “And he was getting frustrated because he couldn’t perch on it. And so he just had to put one foot, so he could lean over and drink. And he just flew back with a little branch, I think so he could balance on it better with two feet and drink the water. That is so incredibly smart!”
She moves closer with her phone to get a better look, and the crow seems to get self-conscious. She jokes, “Sorry, don’t let me bother you. Keep drinking.” The crow then throws the stick off and flies away, knocking the dish to the ground in the process. She assures him, “I’ll refill it for you, boy, don’t worry!!”
Crow ingenuity ‘up close’
She commented on her clip with a bit more context, “I knew Auggie was smart, but this kind of blew my mind?? After we redid our deck, the railing was too small to hook our old birdbath onto. But given the 100+ temps this weekend, I still wanted to give him water…unfortunately a little cup was the best option, and it’s been a little awkward for him to put one foot on and lean over to drink.
After I put out a fresh cup, he flew off and returned with this stick…seemingly so he could use it to distribute his weight better to drink?? So crazy cool to see crow ingenuity up close.”
Meet Auggie
Upworthy had the chance to chat with Chelsea, who explained that Auggie, a fish crow, wasn’t exactly a pet. “He’s been coming by in the past four years during nesting season. I think when his mate is on the nest, he gets more curious to interact with me.”
When asked what other fun things Auggie has done, she shared quite a few. “He has followed me down the street, flown down and grabbed my hair. I also have a video of him pushing a tennis ball with me. And he found a whole tortilla somewhere, dipped it in my bird bath, then stashed it in our neighbor’s flower pot for later. But he has also brought his mate over and fed her as part of their courting ritual. Then brought babies over last year too, which was really cute!”
She added, “No shiny gifts or anything that people usually get excited about. But he comes over regularly and caws for food. It’s really cute. Nasal ‘nuh-uh’ sound since he’s a fish crow, not the typical ‘caw caw’ from American crows.”
It is made clear that Auggie had other accessible water sources. “He could drink from the cup without standing fully on it.” (She mentioned this because some in the comments were worried that she was making Auggie work for hydration, which wasn’t the case.)
As for Auggie’s name, she shares, “I named him Augur because he’d leave animal entrails he was snacking on in my bird bath all the time. “Augury” is the practice of divination through watching birds, but can also refer to divination through animal entrails. I call his mate Cassandra.”
Similar to early humans
Of course, many already know that crows are incredibly intelligent. In a piece for Discover Magazine, contributing freelance science journalist Avery Hurt supports the idea that crows are extremely adept at making and handling tools. “Crows also cache food, but they move it if they notice that someone, say a squirrel, sees them hiding it. They not only use tools, they fashion tools from twigs, forming them into the right shape for the job, making hooked tools to snag food. The researchers who documented this behavior said the technology was “analogous to that of early humans.”
Hurt explains the tests crows are given to measure their cognitive abilities. “To figure out just how intelligent crows are, scientists give them what you might think of as an IQ test for crows. This involves seeing how well crows perform tasks, such as choosing which string to pull to get a food treat, figuring out how to open a box, or matching images on cards. These tests all measure crows’ problem-solving skills.
One test that measures the brain power of crows is called the Aesop’s fable test. Named after Aesop’s story ‘The Crow and the Pitcher.’ To pass the test, crows must drop stones into a narrow vessel to raise the water level and bring a food reward within reach. The crows figured it out, matching the cognitive skills of five- to seven-year-old humans, according to researchers who gave crows the Aesop’s test.”
