Corvids At the Zoo

What do I like to see when we go to the zoo?  The crows.  There is a large crow population at the Woodland Park Zoo and they are very vocal.  I always wonder what they are talking about. I'm sure the large population is due to the potential food they can steal, both from the visitors and the animals.  They especially seem to enjoy the flamingo and penguin exhibits, and visitors' bags! 

The girls were playing on the awesome playground that is at the zoo, and I had left our backpack that contained snacks in it, by the stroller.  The bag was unzipped a bit on top.  A crow hopped on over and quick as a flash, pulled a plastic bag filled with snacks out of the backpack, and attempted to fly off with it.  I chased the crow and yelled at it.  It dropped the bag due to its inability to fly high and carry the bag at the same time.  I then put the snacks back in the backpack and zipped it completely up.  The crow came back and stalked the bag in an attempt to make a second try.  While I was annoyed at the crow for trying to take my homemade Larabars, I did admire its spunk and quick thinking.  Later in the day I noticed a sign, with a picture of a crow stealing a snack from a bag, warning visitors to stow their snacks completely.  

Why the Corvid?

I like crows.  I kind of have a personal mission to redeem the reputation of the crow and raven.  I'm not exactly sure when I started liking crows, but after reading Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness and Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys I became a fan.

Fun crow facts:

• Crows can recognize human faces, not only that, but a crow can point a human out to their friends.
• They are a native species worldwide, that have thrived along with humans.  Most species that thrive in human areas are invasive, and much of their ability to thrive is because they have no natural predators. 
• They can speak human languages.  Ravens and sometimes crows can mimic human speech.  The raven at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, WA said, "Hello there," to me and my family.  In the book The Curve of Time, Blanchet tells a story she heard about how the Native Americans would talk with the ravens, and how a raven brought news to them that one of their people had died.
• One particular story I enjoyed, was in one of the books above, (I think Encounters with the Wise Guys) about some researches observing a crow competing for a mate against his son.  There was no fighting, but she chose his son.  The father crow flew to the neighboring territory and "married" the crow there who had just become widowed.  He essentially adopted her chicks and helped her raise them.