Why are birds attacking people in Vancouver? Science gives us a map!

boing
21

You didn’t say you’d been dive-bombed at random, you said people who’d been dive-bombed claimed they’d done nothing to deserve it.

Those people probably smashed a french fry some crow was eyeing, and don’t even know it… or, as you point out, somebody that looked like them did… the crows might be trying to teach people to watch their step in the restaurant district, I dunno.

Or, from the crow’s perspective, they’re wearing the same gang colors. Humans identify as groups through our outer integuments… I can tell a banker from a physicist by their neckwear. There’s no reason to assume the crows can’t tell the people apart, when the masks identify a group that harasses crows. The crows might well have been trying to teach the experimenters something (and perhaps they were too dumb to get the message.)

I knew a mynah bird that could talk - like, not imitate, actually talk - so I’m not ready to discount the intelligence of any corvidae. And when I was in England, paying attention to the ravens helped me find various medieval artifacts, which was pretty neat although slightly creepy too.

I hope that’s not my legacy! :scream:

1 Like
22

I saw that once, a huge ten-minute long stream of crows flying right over Production Station. It was awesome.

1 Like
23

All those scientists from the university have been kidnapping crows and banding them, and they’ve finally snapped.

4 Likes
24

Attacks by magpies are pretty normal here in Melbourne. They seem to be defending their nests and calling attention to the nests with their pointless defensive behavior. Of course it wouldn’t be the first time that forward defense rebounded on the defender.

5 Likes
25

I see the year I spent wearing birdseed in the depression on top of my hat has paid off.

5 Likes
26

Probably a case of domoic acid poisoning in the crows. These attacks coincide with fisheries closures in the same area due to high domoic acid levels in razor clams and other invertebrates (domoic acid is an organic compound produced by microscopic algae that accumulates through the food web and functions as a neurotoxin in vertebrates). Domoic acid can accumulate in crabs (hence the recent dungeness crab fisheries closures), and we know that crows feed on sand crabs at low tide, at least in Oregon. No reason why they don’t also feed on sand crabs in the Vancouver area. Many people speculate that the same sort of thing happened in the seaside California town that gave Hitchcock the idea for The Birds, although it was shearwaters that behaved strangely in that instance, not crows.
current shellfish fisheries closures due to domoic acid: http://notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&lang=en&ID=recreational&ispsp=1
map of fisheries management areas that correspond to those numbers: http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/maps-cartes/areas-secteurs/index-eng.html
paper that shows crows feed on sand crabs: <limited to 2 links: Paul Hendricks and Lisa M. Hendricks (2011) Common Raven Predation on the Sand Crab. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology: June 2011, Vol. 123, No. 2, pp. 409-411>

9 Likes
27

citation that was cut off: Paul Hendricks and Lisa M. Hendricks (2011) Common Raven Predation on the Sand Crab. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology: June 2011, Vol. 123, No. 2, pp. 409-411.

1 Like
28

Yes, like the Barbra Streisand effect.

29

Like Michael Smith in Melbourne, we have had crows defending their nests in Tokyo for decades.

30

“I’m careful, and I have a little umbrella that I put behind me,” he said.

flat,800x800,075,f.u3.jpg600×800 63.6 KB

14 Likes
31

I just walk around eating a plate of scrambled eggs to let them know just what sort of infanticidal maniac they are dealing with…

14 Likes
32

Yes, it’s quite the conundrum. A completely baffling mystery as to why crows might be a bit aggressive at this time of the year, something that happens every year at this time of the year, and has continued to reoccur at this time of year, annually, in this city, at this time of the year, as far back as human history has been recorded.

What unfathomable mystery could possibly be the cause of this weirdly inexplicable yearly mundane occurance?

2 Likes
33

Once we start carrying defensive umbrellas, the crows have won.

1 Like
34

Crows really hated Sarkozy?

1 Like
35

Because flying to Victoria is just too damn far.

6 Likes
36

Paging Lene Lovich! Paging…“Supernature”

"Supernature"
is track #7 on the album Love In C Minor/Cerrone’s Paradise/Supernature.
It was written by Marc Cerrone, Lene Lovich, Alain Wisniak.

Once upon a time science opened up the door
We would feed the hungry fields till they couldn’t eat no more
But the potions that we made touched the creatures down below, oh
And they grew up in the way that we’d never seen before

Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature

They were angry with the man ‘cause he changed their way of life
And they take their sweet revenge, as they trample through the night
For a hundred miles or more you can hear the people cry
But there’s nothin’ you can do even God is on their side

Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature
Supernature, supernature

How can I explain, things are different today
Darkness all around and nobody makes a sound
Such a sad affair, no one seems to care

Supernature, better watch out
Look at you now, better watch out
Look at you now, supernature

Better watch out, there’s no way to stop it now
You can’t escape, it’s too late
Look what you’ve done, there’s no place that you can run
The monster’s made, we must pay

Supernature, you better watch out
Supernature, look at you now
Supernature, you better watch out
Supernature, look at you now

Better watch out, there’s no way to stop it now
You can’t escape, it’s too late
(Supernature)
Look what you’ve done, there’s no place that you can run
The monster’s made, we must pay

Maybe nature has a plan to control the ways of man
He must start from scratch again many battles he must win
Till he earns his place on earth like the other creatures do
Will there be a happy end, now that all depends on you

Original:

1 Like
37

Wow! Good thing you didn’t see Godzilla instead.

3 Likes
38

We’ve got a lot of crows, and if they think you’re too close to their nests, they may attack.

That said, anyone can click on that map, and mark a crow attack. If there’s one thing it’s not, it’s scientific.

39

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.