When I started birding back in the mid-1960’s, I had the distinct pleasure of spending a lot of time with one of the most avid and knowledgeable birders in western Pennsylvania – Joe Grom. Grom knew North Park in Allegheny County better than anyone else, both for birds and other facets of natural history. Grom knew his birds, and he knew all the little tricks to find them more easily. One of the first tricks he taught me was to listen for the crows. Most of the time there would be one or two common or American crows somewhere nearby as we roamed North Park. Usually they were vocal with a wide variety of calls and odd sounds. Sometimes there would be a real ruckus with dozens of crows congregating in one area, obviously agitated and focused on something. When we heard the crows gathering and filling the woods with noise, we immediately headed in the direction of the sound. Joe knew there might be something of real interest that the crows had found first. We often had visions of a great horned owl, a screech owl, or some species of hawk. At times we were rewarded, and at other times there was nothing. The latter situation was one that I often wondered about. Might the crows enjoy watching humans running through the woods frantically searching the treetops• The behavior the crows participated in is called “mobbing,” and it occurs when crows, as well as other species including chickadees and titmice, gather and nosily call, dive at, chase, and otherwise pick on another bird. Usually, the object of mobbing is a predator such as an owl or hawk, but occasionally squirrels, raccoons, snakes or a stray cat get the brunt of the attack. The phenomenon is not well understood, but it is believed to alert other birds in the area to the predator, teach young birds to recognize threats, and to chase the owl or hawk from the area. For Grom and me it meant that we might get a daylight view of a great horned, or other species of owl, and so we literally jumped at the chance when we heard the crows calling. This may be what led to my interest in crows and other members of the family known to the ornithologist as the Corvidae. Most of the family are medium to large black birds that are described as bold, noisy and gregarious. In Pennsylvania we commonly have three species that are obviously members of this family. The American crow is the most common and conspicuous. This crow is the second most widespread species, just behind the American robin. The species is found and nests throughout the state in every county. Here in western Pennsylvania, we don’t have the pleasure of seeing the fish crow, but it is easily found in the south-central part of the state, especially in the Susquehanna River valley and surrounding counties. Fish crows are smaller, but they can overlap the American crow in size, so the voice is the best identifier. American crows have a loud caw or cah that is unmistakable. The fish crow vocalizes with a short nasal car or ca , sort of a half-hearted attempt at imitating the larger cousin, and a sound that is equally distinct. The third of the large members of the family is the common, or northern raven. This bird is much larger than the American crow and has a wedge-shaped tail that is distinct from the square tail of the other two. The voice is a deep vibrant cr-r-ruck that sounds almost like a croak. In the air, the raven is a far more impressive flyer than either of the other two. It is hawklike, soaring and gliding on flat wings with only occasionally flapping. On the wing, the raven is elegant. It is also a bird of wildness, common to the largely forested portions of north-central Pennsylvania. Closer to this region, ravens are easily found in the Laurel Highlands through Somerset and Fayette counties. At one time, the raven was thought to be nearing extirpated from the state, but more recently it has been found that the species is doing well and expanding. There is one other member of the crow family that is common in Pennsylvania, but it is somewhat disguised – the blue jay. When you think about it, crows are big, noisy birds that have a tendency to bully – the perfect description of the blue jay. Often my feeder is the epitome of politeness and learning to take your turn, by the sparrows, chickadees, nuthatches and juncos. Then the blue jays show up and look out! The blue jays, along with several other bluish species that are not found in western Pennsylvania, are unique to the Americas, found nowhere else in the world. Another member of the family, the magpie is found in the west, again outside of this region. Crows and jays eat both plant and animal materials. This includes insects and nuts for the jays. Crows are often seen along the highways tugging at road kill. One of the interesting aspects of crow and jay natural history is that they have a habit of storing food, called caching. They hide nuts and seeds in the ground or crevices of trees. The amazing part is that they are able to remember the location of food that have been buried and will occasionally dig it up and rebury it, sort of checking to see if it is still there. Caching gets the birds through seasons when food is short, but some seeds are forgotten and thus the corvids are important dispersers of tree seeds and help to plant new forests. Crows and ravens are considered to be some of the most intelligent of birds. Psychological tests have shown that individual ravens have the ability to do rudimentary counting, recognizing up to seven different sized objects. Recently researchers at Oxford University in England worked with a crow species from the South Pacific that was able to use bent wires to retrieve food from an inaccessible location. This type of tool use by animals other than humans has been ascribed to some monkeys, chimps and other primates and now seems to be a skill of crows. Often I think about those crows in North Park, back when Grom and I were following them, and realize that they were pretty smart. Judging from the numerous times that we headed off to a horde of crows and found nothing, I suspect that we were objects of a corvid practical joke. Paul G. Wiegman is a writer, educator, photographer and naturalist who works with a number of local and state organizations. Write to him c/o Tribune-Review, 622 Cabin Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601; or e-mail him at pwiegman@ix.netcom.com .

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