r/IAmA • u/Unidan • Jan 27 '14
Howdy, Unidan here with five much better scientists than me! We are the Crow Research Group, Ask Us Anything!
We are a group of behavioral ecologists and ecosystem ecologists who are researching American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) in terms of their social behavior and ecological impacts.
With us, we have:
Dr. Anne Clark (AnneBClark), a behavioral ecologist and associate professor at Binghamton University who turned her work towards American crows after researching various social behaviors in various birds and mammals.
Dr. Kevin McGowan (KevinJMcGowan), an ornithologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He's involved in behavioral ecology as well as bird anatomy, morphology, behavior, paleobiology, identification. It's hard to write all the things he's listing right now.
Jennifer Campbell-Smith (JennTalksNature), a PhD candidate working on social learning in American crows. Here's her blog on Corvids!
Leah Nettle (lmnmeringue), a PhD candidate working on food-related social vocalizations.
Yvette Brown (corvidlover), a PhD candidate and panda enthusiast working on the personality of American crows.
Ben Eisenkop (Unidan), an ecosystem ecologist working on his PhD concerning the ecological impacts of American crow roosting behavior.
Ask Us Anything about crows, or birds, or, well, anything you'd like!
If you're interested in taking your learning about crows a bit farther, Dr. Kevin McGowan is offering a series of Webinars (which Redditors can sign up for) through Cornell University!
Sign-Up for The Uncommon Crow, Part 1: The Basic Facts of American Crow Life
Sign-Up for The Uncommon Crow, Part 2: The Secret Life of the American Crow
WANT TO HELP WITH OUR ACTUAL RESEARCH?
Fund our research and receive live updates from the field, plus be involved with producing actual data and publications!
Here's the link to our Microryza Fundraiser, thank you in advance!
EDIT, 6 HOURS LATER: Thank you so much for all the interesting questions and commentary! We've been answering questions for nearly six hours straight now! A few of us will continue to answer questions as best we can if we have time, but thank you all again for participating.
EDIT, 10 HOURS LATER: If you're coming late to the AMA, we suggest sorting by "new" to see the newest questions and answers, though we can't answer each and every question!
EDIT, ONE WEEK LATER: Questions still coming in! Sorry if we've missed yours, I've been trying to go through the backlogs and answer ones that had not been addressed yet!
Again, don't forget to sign up for Kevin's webinars above and be sure to check out our fundraiser page if you'd like to get involved in our research!
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u/AppleDane Jan 27 '14
Oh, I got a question!
Bird legs are so skinny. I've been wondering how come birds don't lose their toes and shins due to frostbite in the winter. Do they have a sort of anti-freeze dinoblood?
Same goes for waterfowl. How come they don't go into hypothermia paddling around using what seem to be huge heatsinks for propulsion?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Great question!
There's very little muscle in bird feet, it's mainly tendons, and the muscles that do operate the legs are actually toward the top and insulated quite a bit.
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u/dankatheist420 Jan 28 '14
Another important factor that allows waterfowl to keep from freezing is the counter-current system they have going on in their blood vessels! It allows them to reduce heat loss due to sticking their legs into frigid waters. Here's a short explanation with pictures!
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u/spatter_cone Jan 28 '14
I notice that my parrot pulls one foot up into her feathers when she gets cold too. It's like always having a cozy pair of socks on hand!
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u/doodledoo1 Jan 27 '14
Many birds and some other animals like elephants have a specific type of circulation in their legs where the vein carrying blood from the core of the body lies right next to the vein carrying it from the foot. This regulates the temperature of the feet and prevents that cold blood from chilling the rest of the body
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u/Bickus Jan 27 '14
I understand heat is conserved by a counter-current heat exchange. So blood continues to flow to the extremities, but heat loss is minimal.
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u/AdmiralJuz Jan 27 '14
What's up with those huge groups (murders?) of crows (100+ birds) that sometimes form? Are they plotting something? Should we be worried?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Crows are partially migratory, and as Kevin like to say, if there's two crows in a city, they'll get together!
They naturally form these big flocks, often for safety or information about food, especially during the winter where lots of migrant crows will join together. In some areas, you'll see crows numbering up to 40,000 or more in a single area!
Here's a photo of one of the large roosts coming in to Auburn, NY last year!
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u/Mamadog5 Jan 28 '14
You need to go to Terre Haute, IN. We get an estimated 50,000 crows roosting there each year. Almost as many crows as people, but the people don't generally poop on your car.
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u/followyourknows Jan 27 '14
Upstate NY represent! When I was a kid and we moved there, my mom always joked that she was worried at how large the crowd were she thought they may pick us up and fly away. Is it true they are larger or at least change is size depending on their geographic region?
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u/KevinJMcGowan Jan 27 '14
Most birds vary in size from place to place, with those in the north larger than those in the south (on average).
But, American Crows don't vary that much. We're talking an inch or two, and the Florida crows actually have larger feet than any of the others. California crows are smallest, weighing only about 350 grams (I can't do ounces, but it's less than a pound). Northern crows often weigh over 500 grams (a pound).
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u/wordswench Jan 27 '14
California crows are small?! I'm a Californian, and our crows have ganged up on my (feral, 20+ lb) rescue cat before...
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u/Cornflip Jan 27 '14
If my maths are correct, 1 oz. ~28g, so that's 12.5 oz. for California crows, and just under 18 oz. (1 lb 2 oz.) for Northern ones.
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u/Kakofoni Jan 27 '14
In Norway we call it a "crow's thing" (thing in english as in the archaic word for an assembly), because it seems like they are discussing serious matters. How do they share information?
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u/WrethZ Jan 27 '14
If you're a crow and you can't find food, follow the fat crow that smells like he's eaten recently, he probably knows where the food is.
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u/roundedge Jan 27 '14
I would go where he came from. That seems the more likely place to find food.
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u/BlueBronzeTen Jan 27 '14
Saw one of these huge groups once. They totally filled the sky. We decided to call it a mass murder.
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u/FoodBeerBikesMusic Jan 27 '14
Well, Rt 5, Rt 20, Rt 31 and the Thruway all run through Auburn, so it's no wonder they'd converge there...
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u/wtf_are_you_talking Jan 27 '14
Is it really possible that birds in migration use our roadways as flight paths?
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u/KevinJMcGowan Jan 27 '14
Possible, but not likely. More likely is that our highways follow natural landscape features that birds use, too.
Common Ravens do follow right down the middle of roads, but that's to check for roadkill.
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u/FoodBeerBikesMusic Jan 27 '14
I was being a bit facetious, but there's probably a degree of truth. I know raptors hunt along the shoulders of the NY Thruway, when the weather starts to get cold. Just by virtue of then following the weather east, then south along that route, it is possible to say that that they are following "our" roads.
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u/anndor Jan 28 '14
I'm in Rochester and a huge megaflock comes through every fall (and stupid local government feels the need to spend money driving them away even though they leave on their own after a month or two every single time).
Is it the same flock that goes through Auburn? I have a lot of similar pictures from my neighborhood, where the sky is almost black from the numbers. And the trees look to be in full foliage, but if you startle one of the crows suddenly all the "leaves" fly away and leave the barren skeleton trees.
I keep trying to lure them down with cracked corn. Would cat food work better? I never seem to get their attention with anything I toss for them. Got a couple idiot pigeons to eat out of my hand, and lots of songbirds will gather in the bushes out front, but the crows never come down from the trees.
Is sundown/roosting time too late in the day to lure them with food? They only come to my neighborhood in the evening, around 5pm, and then they're gone again before sunrise.
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Jan 27 '14
While visiting Michigan in December I noticed dozens of crows flying overhead in a steady stream, and looking to the horizon, I saw literally countless thousands that were so dense that the sky appeared to shimmer. I was then suddenly aware of a constant drone of the flock cawing in the distance. The next morning, before dawn, I woke to hear them leaving.
So it's cool to know that this is normal and not, like, a harbinger of the apocalypse.
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u/Toastwich Jan 27 '14
Hello! A park near my house hosts a lot of aggressive crows, and they occasionally attack people who walk through the park. Is there a way to fend to fend them off without being marked as a future target?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
It's relatively likely that those crows may be using the park as a nesting site, are there large trees in the park? Next time you get mobbed, see if you can spot a nest!
Unfortunately, crows might be pretty gung-ho about protecting their babies, wouldn't you?
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u/JDIZZLE5001 Jan 27 '14
Definitely been dive bombed by a crow walking across campus. They wait to get right behind you then "CAAWW!" I'm not easily scared, 190lbs, 6', play rugby, rode a bull, love to swim with sharks or watch bears but in one walk across the yard was harassed into a jog. I tried to explain to him that I'm a wildlife biologist and on his side, and he should concentrate his efforts near the business or polysci school. Alas my efforts were to no avail.
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u/Toastwich Jan 27 '14
Ohh yeah, there are plenty of nests in the bigger trees. Is it true that crows remember faces?
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u/bcgoss Jan 27 '14
"OH Honey! What happened! You're covered with scratches and cuts!"
"It's OK mom, I was doing science in the park like the guy on the internet told me to!"
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u/boonamobile Jan 27 '14
I'm all for crows and stuff, but I'm not sure I'd protect their babies.
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Jan 27 '14
Might bringing some food and spreading it around a few times help? Or would that just get you mobbed for a different reason?
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u/Mediocremelody Jan 27 '14
Could you bring offerings of cat food with you to help them understand you are not bad?
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u/BiosBitch Jan 27 '14
I watched a documentary in which an experiment appeared to prove that crows not only remember the face of a human that causes a problem for them but that they are able to pass this knowledge on to other crows. So if you mess with one crow his immediate family will know, then the flock will know. I'm going to be extra nice to crows from now on.
The documentary also suggested that studies have shown crows have regional dialects and crows communicate with a different and more quiet dialect when with their immediate family than the loud communication they use with the flock.
I find crows (all animals really) to be extremely interesting. I enjoy watching the neighborhood crows who are constantly battling with the resident squirrels.
There are also a lot of wild rabbits in my neighborhood. After these rabbits for just a few days I no longer think of bunnies as little fluff balls but as bad ass furry ninja assassins. They have battles over territory that are as much fun to watch as MMA fights.
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u/autorotatingKiwi Jan 27 '14
Magpies are the same, or even worse here at least. People end up with bad cuts to their heads most years here from magpies swooping to protect their nests. Cyclists and walkers employee a number of novel techniques to try and dissuade the birds from swooping them.
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u/kcbrush Jan 27 '14
Yay! Thanks for doing this.
Are birds color-blind? How do you even test birds to find out if they can see colors?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
No, quite the opposite!
You can test birds neurologically and physiologically to see if they can see colors, actually. You can also design experiments to essentially make them make choices based on those colors, too.
Birds are quite visual, like us, so seeing bright reds among tropical birds is quite important!
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u/CountGrasshopper Jan 27 '14
Do corvids perceive any colors humans can't? I recall hearing that parrots can see ultraviolet somewhere, probably.
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u/buttons_arent_toys Jan 27 '14
I once read that the reason they wait so long to get out of the way of cars is because their sight is much better than ours so they are seeing in more of a "real time" than we do, like we can't easily tell the speed of a vehicle coming at us... hard to explain, but I've always wondered if that is true? They just casually hop out of the way just in time like it aint no thang
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u/Soup_Kitchen Jan 27 '14
Why are bright reds more important for tropical birds? I ask because I have a pet Macaw (well my mom does, but he'll be mine someday). Anyway, over the years we've noticed he has a strong preference for red foods. He'll eat nuts that are dyed red before other colors, or non dyed. He'll pick out red chili peppers too. He'll chew red colored wood before other colors, but then move to redish colors like orange.
We actually assumed it was because he liked spicy food (which he does) and built the same red = spicy association that we had, but your comment makes me wonder if it isn't something else.
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u/The_nickums Jan 27 '14
Is there any particular reason birds like the color red? After having chickens for a while i noticed they flock to it. If it's red they try to eat it, no matter what, which is partly why they kill injured chickens due to the blood. A common solution to this is put a red lightbulb in their enclosure, how does this effect the way they see things?
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u/Biomortia Jan 27 '14
To further Unidan's reply, my parents run a parrot Rescue and Rehabilitation center called Birdline Ltd here in Canada. We have a Quaker Parrot who is very specific about the color of pellet he will eat each day. Mondays is usually green, he will eat all of his green pellets and leave the red and yellow ones behind. Wednesdays are usually red, he will eat just the red ones. We don't know exactly why he does this, but is is amusing to see which color he preferred for what day! Usually on the days when we give him extra play time he will actually eat only yellow pellets!
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Jan 27 '14
Living mammals have relatively poor color vision because in the age of the dinosaurs, our ancestors were small, shrew-like and nocturnal. Nocturnal animals don't need color vision. A few lineages regained color vision, notably monkeys (I'm including apes here, and therefore us.)
However, other animals that didn't pass through the dinosaurs-will-wreck-us phase didn't lose their color vision. Birds (and, interestingly, turtles) have very good color vision. Why else would some birds use colorful feathers to attract mates?
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u/tremenfing Jan 27 '14
birds generally can see far more colors than you can
birds have 4 different types of cone cells. Mammals evolved to tradeoff good color vision for good night vision (vs. note that few birds are active at night), and regressed to just two types of cone. This is why dogs and cats are colorblind; basically almost all mammals are. Somewhere along the line that humans evolved from we got one cone back, so we have 3. So we can see colors and not as good night vision as other mammals. But birds can see ultraviolet and shit. A rare number of mutant humans have 4 and those people can perhaps kill you with their thoughts (more likely to be women), and many humans have only 2 and are colorblind (more likely to be men).
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u/NotMathMan821 Jan 27 '14
Question 1: Would you rather fight 1 Unidan sized crow or 100 crow sized Unidans?*
Question 2: Can crows, or other birds for that matter, be trained/utilized as a message or small items carrier such as the carrier pigeon?
*Feel free to ignore question 1.
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
I'll take my chances with the Unidan-sized crow. Even if I lose, it'll make a pretty good story. Then again, being killed by a small clone army of yourself is pretty tempting, too. I'm not sure why I assume I'd lose.
Crows and ravens (I'm looking at you, Game of Thrones) probably wouldn't be so good for transporting messages. Homing pigeons seem to have a real impetus to return to their home roost while crows and ravens really don't! They'd most likely spend a lot of time pecking the message off of themselves and doing whatever they felt like. You could probably transport a message across a room, though!
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u/AdonisChrist Jan 27 '14
In GRRM's defense, the crows in ASOIAF seem quite smarter/different than those in this world.
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u/TheAsianCreeper Jan 27 '14
Now could these messenger birds carry a larger package such as a cocoanut?
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u/Shepiwot Jan 27 '14 edited Jan 27 '14
Crow isn't as excited as Unidans, so I'd probably choose one Unidan-sized crow. Just imagine 100 small Unidans charging at you yelling "biologist here!".
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u/Nellek_God Jan 27 '14
I'll fight 100 crow sized Unidan. I'll kill 99 and keep 1 for myself to help with school.
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u/rastal66 Jan 27 '14
think of how traumatized that last one would be after seeing how many you killed
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u/leif827 Jan 27 '14
Hi! What's your favorite part about working with crows?
Thanks for doing this AMA!
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
I enjoy seeing that there's an entire little melodrama being acted out all the time, personally. Hearing some of the drama that goes on between crows is pretty interesting for me, to think that while I'm indoors and cosy, crows are out there all the time, living their lives, too!
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Jan 27 '14
Surely you have seen this Have you ever seen crows make a toy like that?(edit: its a crow sledding with a plastic lid of some kind)
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u/8bitAntelope Jan 27 '14
I love crows. I rehab animals and by far one of my favorite to work with is crows. Such amazing, hilarious little animals, loaded with so much personality in each bird. You really do get to know them almost on a personal level after daily interaction.
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u/RalphiesBoogers Jan 27 '14
Can we expect to see any crow related content on that subreddit that you moderate, r/awwducational?
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u/juicy_squirrel Jan 28 '14
i once saw two crows tussling and the bigger one got top with talons tight and the crow on the bottom looked like it submitted - went limp. i thought he was dead! dude on top got off and the two of them started looking for chow again like nothing happened. klingon as shit! i love crows...
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u/Smiley_Pete Jan 27 '14
Are you ever tempted to compare peoples social problems with similar instances you observed in crows?
Like, "He's always talking to my girlfriend and I just think it's getting to be too much"
'Well my crow friends have the same problem and they...'
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u/MildlyEnthusiastic Jan 27 '14
I think, right now, you have single-handedly increased the number of crow-enthusists around the world!
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u/deus_ex_machina69 Jan 27 '14
How intelligent are crows, when compared to higher order mammals, eg:- chimps, dolphins, elephants.
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
It's difficult to compare intelligence across the board, in my opinion, as intelligence tends to be relatively specialized. They're incredibly social, just like the ones you list, though!
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u/DrTBag Jan 27 '14
Do insights about chimps and dolphins have an impact on work with crows? Are the forms or intelligence and social behaviour we see in animals common over a large range of animals?
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u/onlygn Jan 27 '14 edited Jan 27 '14
Would you say that mammal intelligence was, for a long time, overrated? The more I read about birds the more I get the impression that they are pretty much as smart as mammals are (maybe except for humans and elephants). With the African Greys and crows and all. Even chickens are apparently not as stupid as we thought.
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Jan 27 '14
This right here, intelligence is a bitch to measure, partially because once you get past a certain point, it becomes impossible to quantify and becomes a philosophical debate rather than a scientific experiment. This issue is found with crows, dolphins, elephants, and pretty much any other animal on earth, in fact many organisms that simply should NOT be intelligent carry some level of it (Branch sponge has a habit of keeping the tips of itself alive during a cold-shock despite no clear way for it to distinguish this, and slime molds have short term memory and several artificial means of avoiding retracing there path)
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u/ZombieLibrarian Jan 27 '14
But isn't it true that they are one of only a handfull of species known to use 'tools' to accomplish tasks? Also, I think I saw somewhere once that they are one of few species actually capable of thinking two steps ahead? There's a name for that kind of advanced reasoning, but I can't remember what it is. Example: There's a bit of food in a jar and stick besides the jar as well. The bird wants the food, so it reasons it must use the stick to remove it from the jar before it can eat it.
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u/Hypochamber Jan 27 '14
Not sure where I remember this from, but I recall that crows are one of the few animals that are "self-aware" in that they can recognize that their mirror image is in fact them. Think dot on the forehead, monkey touches his own forehead kind of thing, except... with crows.
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u/ass_burgers_ Jan 27 '14
I love this answer. People love the little Snapple facts like "Elephants and dolphins are the smartest non-human mammals!" but really, it's sort of subjective based on how you define intelligence (and how you test it).
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u/pipsdontsqueak Jan 28 '14
Follow-up question that I just thought of (sorry, I know i'm late to the game). Do more social animals tend to have higher levels of intelligence? Social like the mammals you mentioned, not hives or swarms, which can probably be called a different kind of social.
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u/Shizo211 Jan 28 '14
Can we atleast conclude that intelligence is linked to social nature?
But on the other hand intelligent people often struggle with depression and many loners are intelligent as well.
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u/Vikingfruit Jan 27 '14
Slightly higher intelligence than Kansas or New Jersey, but under Mississippi.
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u/Rojugi Jan 27 '14 edited Jan 27 '14
I googled Ben Eikensop and this came up: http://imgur.com/08A6Msx
My question is: how can you research crows when it appears that you plan on eating them?
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u/SN4T14 Jan 27 '14
I googled Ben Eisenkop too, and this came up: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_reUffeIaoE/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/TrcTIZllRwg/photo.jpg
My question is: Is u/Unidan secretly a wrestler?
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u/Ruft Jan 27 '14 edited Jan 27 '14
Me too, I found [this] (http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/l8B8zm5f1to/hqdefault.jpg). I'm waiting for your explanation, u/Unidan.
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
To truly get to know an animal, you have to experience it holistically. I eat all my research animals!
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u/not_a_morning_person Jan 27 '14
This was my excuse, but as a social scientist, the court wasn't buying it...
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u/Kainotomiu Jan 27 '14
24 minutes in and www.bupipedream.com seems to have given up already.
This AMA is apparently going to be a popular one.
edit: OK it's just loading really really really slowly.
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u/Shotzfired Jan 27 '14
Why are scarecrows effective for, well, scaring crows?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
They may be initially effective, as they do resemble a person, but crows will quickly learn that it's a ruse if it's not moved.
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Jan 27 '14
So, if I created a robot that walked around my field and waved its arms wildly, would that be more effective?
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u/carpetano Jan 27 '14
What if you are disguised as a motionless scarecrow, waiting until they are confident to scare the shit out of them? Would they be more skeptic with the real scarecrow after that?
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u/No-Mr-No-Here Jan 27 '14
Maybe we could get the guys on r/StonerEngineering to help us with that, I have heard they are pretty good at making unconventional stuff.
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Jan 27 '14
"Hold the fuck up guys. That ugly motherfucker with the straw hat ain't moved an inch! I think we been fuckin' played!"
Then you notice the sun's been blocked out, they're planning their revenge already. There is no escape from the murder.
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u/DrTBag Jan 27 '14
So you advocate some form of robotised scarecrow solution? Would the machine be more or less effective for crows if it howled blood curdling screams of terror?
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u/Fuzzy_Pickles Jan 27 '14
Do you think there's a market for animatronic scarecrows? Should we start building them? And can we start an urban legend about them to keep the kids in line?
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u/Nellek_God Jan 27 '14
So we could move the location of the scarecrow every once in a while and it would still scare crows?
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u/Cozmo23 Jan 27 '14
How much of the movie The Crow was scientifically accurate?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Well, people were sad when Brandon Lee got shot, and I'm pretty sad when a real crow gets shot, so I'd say about 96% accurate.
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u/KevinJMcGowan Jan 27 '14
What percentage do you give the whole rise-from-the-dead thing?
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u/Skissored Jan 27 '14
Since my question is related, I'll just latch on here. My husband is obsessed with the movie The Crow, he knows that the main crow they used was named Magik. I'm curious, what species of crow is most used in the film industry and why? What would the average life span of a bird like that be?
My husband has wanted a pet crow his whole life just because of that movie. Where would one even begin to legally aquire such an exotic pet? (proper licences and all) We live in Canada so I'm not sure what legalities apply to here vs the US.
Thanks for being awesome as always. I've mentioned before you bring something special to Reddit and I couldn't resist this particular topic!
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u/newerthannewtoreddit Jan 27 '14
Serious question. What happens when a crow gets shot or injured, say hit by a car?
I saw an injured, maybe even dead, crow on the road. A lot of other crows started showing up and they all started caw-ing really loudly. More crows came. I've been keeping an eye out and I don't think there are as many crows around now.
What was the cawing? Calling for help? Would the crows avoid that area now?
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u/Daftmachine Jan 28 '14
While I understand that:
That was a joke
You are working nearly with crows right now
I hope that you do agree some regulation of crows, or maybe corvidae in general is needed some places? I think that some places we as humans have provided them with unnaturally good premises of living, and hence, we have to keep the population down (also to prevent epedemies)
Also, I'm a hunter, not a biologist, so forgive me if the question is stupid.
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u/rampagsniper Jan 27 '14
I clicked on this link expecting to see you get gold, and I was not disappointed. The social structure of the crow is quite intriguing. I always knew that they hung out in mobs or flocks but they just got a bit more respect from me. I look forward to your next group research.
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Jan 27 '14
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
We're wondering:
Do you mean string cheese as a human snack, or for crows? I'm okay with string cheese, to be honest.
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u/cyclopath Jan 27 '14
My daughter eats string cheese by just taking bites out of it instead of pulling the 'strings' off and eating them. Drives me insane.
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u/withoutamartyr Jan 27 '14
I did this until someone told me why you're supposed to pull it apart. More surface area = more flavor.
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u/darkest_wraith Jan 27 '14
your daughter is a smart (little?) lady. My daughter and I eat string cheese this way. She taught it to me (4yo).
I asked her why she eats it that way and he reply was "it's easier and less messy".
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Jan 27 '14
Which bird is the best bird?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
As someone in a room with American crow biologists, I feel like I shouldn't answer anything but American crow.
I hope they're not reading this.
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u/Brogie Jan 27 '14
The red kite is my favourite, they recently got reintroduced into my area and I see one everyday hovering over a farm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rPifhwmkQM this is what they look like (ignore the crows).
We also have pedigree falcons not too far away on a nature reserve in Malam.
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u/byllz Jan 27 '14
You know you would say Kea if you could, and would be a Kea researcher if you could get away to New Zealand.
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Jan 27 '14 edited Jan 27 '14
I was looking through your posts once but didn't want to do the work. How much gold do you actually have now?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Well over a decade or so now? It's getting scary!
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u/Betty_Felon Jan 27 '14
The bigger question is, how much longer do you have on your PhD?
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u/ConspicuousUsername Jan 27 '14
You have 28.47 days of Reddit server time.
I have gotten one month which equals 276.46 minutes of server time.
28.47 days * 1440 minutes in a day = ~41000 minutes of server time
41000 minutes / 276.26 minutes (1 month of gold) = ~148 (months of gold)
148/12 = ~12 years and 4 months of Reddit gold as of 2122 GMT.
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Jan 27 '14
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u/MechanicalYeti Jan 27 '14
Gifts on behalf of Unidan have paid for 28 days
This February, Reddit is brought to you by u/Unidan
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u/Buddhakyle Jan 27 '14
To Dr. Kevin McGowan, I don't really have much of a question, but a bit of information. I lived in a very rural area outside Nashville, Tennessee for most of my life up until very recently, when I left state to go to college. Last year, I had a very startling experience I wish to share with you.
I was driving back home from town, and upon a tree stump in my neighbor's yard, I saw what I thought was a statue of a woodpecker. It was at least two feet tall, and I slowed down to admire it, when it spread its wings and took flight! I have never in my life seen a woodpecker so massive, so I went home, hopped on the internet, and tried to find some info about it.
I saw it spread its wings, and the coloration it had matches the Ivory-Billed woodpecker, not a Pileated, that is apparently very endangered/considered extinct. I had never heard of that bird before researching it that day, but I am 90% certain that it was what I saw. It was a male.
I understand that there hasn't been any kind of hunt for it in quite a few years, but I still own quite a bit of land in the area where I spotted it, and am on good terms with the neighbors who own a large acreage of wooded area around my own property. Please, if you can, contact me, and I shall do whatever in my power to get you all at the Cornell Institute an area to track and hopefully find a living specimen of this amazing bird.
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Send photos!
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u/Buddhakyle Jan 27 '14
I was driving at the time I saw it. I usually don't have my phone out when doing such. I only saw it once more before moving to where I am now, perched on the same stump and looking about majestically., before doing that grooming thing birds do where they raise a wing and scratch underneath with their beak. As I said, I've never seen anything like that bird. truly beautiful. I just want to make sure that, if it IS the Ivory-Billed, that he gets to be counted as still endangered and not extinct.
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u/Duality_Calamity Jan 27 '14
Hi Unidan! I've always enjoyed your commentary. Your insight into all things biology is great and you deliver it with such a happy demeanor that it's no surprise that reddit loves you.
I do have a few questions for you and your associates about crows.
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How rare is it for crows to have blue eyes?
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What evolutionary benefit is there for crows to have the ability of facial recognition?
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What gave crows the stigma of being a bad omen? They're awesome!
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Well, baby American crows have blue eyes which darken over time, though some Australian crows (in the right light, though it's more white) may appear blue. Here's a photo from Jenn of some baby blues!
Crows are very social, so remembering social partners is very important for future interactions!
They're a black bird that eats corpses sometimes, you decide.
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u/Silos_and_sirens Jan 27 '14
If you're really bird scientists, then tell me why my roosters will only crap in my car port?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Have you tried crapping in there? Maybe it's worth it.
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u/Silos_and_sirens Jan 27 '14
Too many eyes on me. I get stage fright. These roosters are ballsy.
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u/Danny878 Jan 27 '14
Would you recommend studying Zoology at university?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
Yes, I would, haha!
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u/CCCCSEACCC Jan 27 '14
who pays people like you?
what are you gonna do after you get your phd with your crow experience???
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u/CountGrasshopper Jan 27 '14
My school doesn't offer zoology in particular. There is an environmental science program that seems pretty nifty though. Does the same advice apply?
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u/LuthorImpaler Jan 27 '14
Just started a Zoology course here in the UK, and Im loving every minute of it so far!
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Jan 28 '14
which university teaches zoology?
i learned an advanced class in high school, definitely one of the most interesting classes to learn.
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u/James81xa Jan 27 '14 edited Jan 27 '14
I've seen a lot of debate around reddit and I have not found an answer, and I hope you don't get offended by me asking, but are you a boy or a girl?
Edit: Messed up wording
Double Edit: Obligatory "Wow! My most upvoted comment! Thanks!"
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Jan 27 '14 edited Jan 28 '14
Ben Eisenkop (Unidan), an ecosystem ecologist working on his PhD concerning the ecological impacts of American crow roosting behavior.
I'm just gonna leave this here. Read it carefully.
Edit: huh. Reddit is so weird. How is this my highest-ranking comment?!
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u/arcanition Jan 27 '14
He's a guy, he does a series of hilarious videos where he plays video games with a few other dudes called The Collegiate Alliance.
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Jan 27 '14
Two questions:
How are you with context clues?
Did you even read the text? Unidan's name is Ben.
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u/almightybob1 Jan 27 '14
It says right there in the OP.
Ben Eisenkop (Unidan)
Do you know many girls called Ben?
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Jan 27 '14
I'm just here to tell Unidan I love him.
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
I love you, too.
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u/ArchonRush Jan 27 '14
Alot of people are crushing on Juan Pablo... Then there's me still crushing on Unidan.
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u/Myrandall Jan 27 '14
How accurate are the 'True Facts About ...' videos?
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u/Unidan Jan 27 '14
They're actually pretty accurate! Dr. Clark and I showed the duck one to our animal behavior class.
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u/ekimskoorb Jan 28 '14
I am far too late to this party, but hey, maybe some of you are still here!
I work with protecting Piping Plovers in New England. One of the major methods used to protect the little guys' nests is to construct nest exclosures after the eggs are laid (if you're not familiar, they're basically metal poles surrounded in metal mesh, with the holes being big enough for a PIPL to get through, but small enough that predatory birds and mammals can't get in, and topped with a sort of fishnet mesh on top). The mesh topping is connected to the fence with zip ties. One of the primary issues that we run into up here is that fish crows are too damned smart. They learn how to undo zip ties, and then the others in the area learn from the ones that figured it out, and pretty soon all of our eggs have been predated.
Off the top of your head, could you think of any way to outsmart the crows? Discourage them from going after these exclosures (which basically scream "hey look, there is food in here!") without discouraging our endangered species from nesting?
Obviously moving from zip ties to something else probably work, but the main goal of the exclosures is that we have to assemble them in an extremely small time frame, to keep the stress of the adults to a minimum, and let them get back to incubating asap.
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u/Unidan Jan 28 '14
You might want to possibly invest in a crow effigy of some kind, something that resembles a dead crow, perhaps? That might keep them away from the area for a small amount of time, unless you can better hide the area for the plovers. Those crows are tricky, and you're basically saying "hey, free meal here!" when you put up those enclosures! :D
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u/small_capitals Jan 28 '14
Try rebar ties for tying the mesh to the poles! A little practice with ties and a twister will see you doing it just as fast as zip ties!
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u/Furious__George Jan 28 '14
Do Crows masturbate? I have a parakeet who humps a bell like its his fucking job!
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u/GingerSchnitzel Jan 27 '14
Have you had any correspondence with Dr. John Marzluff of the University of Washington? His research and subsequent publications on crow behavior initially got me interested in corvids and birds, which led me to choosing to complete a degree in biology with a specifiation in ornithology. He's written a number of great research papers and books about crows and corvids.
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Jan 28 '14
What is it like to know the Great Unidan personally?
All hail Unidan!!
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u/KennyFulgencio Jan 27 '14
What is Unidan's officially measured Coolness Quotient?
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Jan 28 '14
How do all of you still have jobs in this economy?
I mean who pays for people to research crows when there are millions without jobs?
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Jan 27 '14
Were you sad when Alex the African Grey died, and if so, how sad?
Also... I know animal intelligence can be a touchy subject for science, so feel free to give a subjective answer, but how would you rate crow intelligence compared to other birds (ravens, various parrot species like the African Grey, birds of prey like the Harris Hawk or Harpy Eagle, vultures, etc) or other animals (border collie, pigs, dolphins, etc).
If you died and were reincarnated as a crow, would it be a good life, surrounded by loved ones, or would it be trying and difficult?
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u/aznsk8s87 Jan 27 '14
u/Unidan! One of my favorite reddit celebrities.
Why did you all choose to research the social behavior of crows? How applicable do you think your findings will be to ecosystems outside of North America?
How has climate change in North America (and globally) affected the social behaviors and patterns of crows?
Lastly, I'm a biochemistry major and graduate this year. I was planning on going to medical school, but I haven't been accepted yet. What do?