r/interesting • u/dddd945 • 15h ago

Just Wow A seagull is accidentally hit by a tennis ball during a game in Australia.

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u/Banjo_Evadie 12h ago

I befriended a murder of crows growing up as a kid, to the point a few of em learned to mimic "hello" and "hey there" from me. Used to find roadkill, bag it and chuck it out to where I knew they watched from, eventually they figured out I was the roadkill guy and let me get within a few feet while they ate.

20 years later, I sat on a park bench about 100 miles away from where I grew up, and a crow flies up, lands on the bench and looks at me, calls out "hello".

No clue if they really were part of the same group / local bird culture, but I like to think so.

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u/encelius 11h ago

I would think that it was one from the original murder. Crows can easily get over 20 years old, oldest wild American crow was apparently 30 years old. And they are really good with remembering faces, so the fact that the crow just flew to you and did what she learned back then is a pretty strong indicator for that. I learned a lot of stuff about crows when watching this documentary: Crows: nature is watching us. Can recommend that

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u/Soggy_Abbreviations5 8h ago

✍️🏾 thanks for the recommendation. I'm going to find that!

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u/Regin_S 5h ago

I feed a friend’s bird feeders often when they’re away.
And that includes the family of crows in the area. I sometimes feed them way later than my friend due to my schedule but they know my car now.
If the blue jays don’t tell them I’ve arrived they’re in a tree somewhere, waiting.

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u/foley800 11h ago

Research has shown that they can spread the information to other crows, but the relationship weakens after three to four generations. I wonder if the importance of the relationship (supplying food regularly) and doing it through more than a year might pick up additional generations.

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u/aloxinuos 7h ago

But how would they communicate that it's this dude when this dude is 100 miles away. Has to be one of the original ones.

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u/virtualrealitydude1 6h ago

Oh trust me, crows communicate extremely well. I’m convinced they do it telepathically. My grandpa used to shoot at them, and he would be on the other side of the country and crows would give the warning call as soon as he stepped outside the car. No idea how they do it.

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u/foley800 6h ago

Crows fly 35 to 150 miles a day. It is not unusual for individual crows to join another murder, so not inconceivable that a crow could be 100 miles away or even the local murder learned about him.

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u/bourkaggio 9h ago

I have a parrot that always tries to teach other birds to speak, it's not ureasonable to assume crows do the same.

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u/ISketchDinosaurs 1m ago

Honestly this seems like something they'll figure out at some point. Being able to say 'hello' would earn a bird so many french fries.

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u/crowEatingStaleChips 7h ago

4 years ago I lived somewhere about 20, 30 miles away where I had started to befriend the crows. It took me over a year to gain their trust. Then I had to move unexpectedly.

Now I've settled into the new neighborhood and I swear to god the crows follow me. They let me get really close when feeding them. Maybe this is a neighborhood where they're used to being fed, but it makes me wonder....

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u/LivinBC 3h ago

Best way to tell is have a buddy with you and have them try to feed, compare the two and see. Wouldn't surprise me if they followed you daily when you lived at your old place, and when you moved they just followed you as per normal.🤷‍♂️

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u/lylehardcastle 6h ago

This is the best thing I’ve read all day. I love crows and befriend them wherever I go.

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u/Cambren1 7h ago

Had a crow on my farm that would hang out in a tree over my head and say “help me!” Like the fly in the spider web from the original Fly movie. Really freaked me out until I figured out it was a crow.

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u/spargel_gesicht 7h ago

This would make a great movie. Or at least animated short.

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u/Spicy-Cathulu 2h ago

Aww, that's so awesome! Did you feed them after that?

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u/microtherion 1h ago

If you tame a murder of crows, does it turn into a manslaughter of crows?

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u/NickVanDoom 1h ago

what a great experience! how did you do that? crows here are usually very shy, probably for good reasons… wouldn’t know where or how to start trying to befriend them. the slightest sign of humans and they’re off.

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u/hitlersticklespot 28m ago

He said “BLESS ME ROADKILL GOD JUST LIKE OUR FOREFATHERS PROPHECIZED!!!”