School's Starting, Teacher Has A New Pet

[NiRD]

I'm back, and just in time for the school education season. I've been working the summer training my current birds, and also training my new education bird. My new bird has actually become the new favorite (which is a difficult feat). Not only have we worked on some fun performance tricks, but we're working on some tricks to show off his amazing intelligence.

Anyway, without further ado, please meet Gandalf the Crow!

 

[Kiwibird]

Gandalf is beautiful! I've heard corvids can be as intelligent as parrots, so I would be interested to hear about his progress and what he learns Have you tried him on any puzzles?

 

[NiRD]

Corvids are in fact more intelligent than parrots, and one scientist even went as far as stating that they can be considered more intelligent than most primates. Corvids can solve multiple step puzzles (and Gandalf can demonstrate this at only three months old), make tools, understand displacement, and corvids even have regional dialects!

 

[RavensGryf]

Corvids are in fact more intelligent than parrots, and one scientist even went as far as stating that they can be considered more intelligent than most primates. Corvids can solve multiple step puzzles (and Gandalf can demonstrate this at only three months old), make tools, understand displacement, and corvids even have regional dialects!

That's absolutely fascinating! I love hearing about Corvid intelligence and seeing videos of them working out puzzles and solving problems. Too bad non-bird people think of the common crow as just lowly vermin :31:

Gandalf is a handsome guy! Congratulations I'll be interested in hearing more about his future accomplishments.

 

[MikeyTN]

They are very intelligent for sure! I watched the scientists testing them on using tools to get food out of different situations and they pass every time. But I've seen some super smart parrots including some of mine that just amazes me.

 

[faeryphoebe1]

Wow, he's gorgeous!

 

[Kiwibird]

I don't know about scientific testing, but I've watched wild crows work together to open the lid on a dumpster. Yea, it's a pain because they throw garbage everywhere, but really quite amazing when you consider the intelligence to orchestrate a group effort for birds to be able to open a dumpster lid....

 

[antoinette]

Gandalf is gorgeous

Crows are highly intelligent birds, humans underestimate them

Looking forward to many more posts about Gandalf

 

[Mekaisto]

A fellow corvid owner!
He's a cutie, what kind of stuff have you got him doing?

 

[MrsKay]

I love crows. Gandalf looks amazing

 

[TessieB]

The crows around here are too smart for their own good. They are sure fun to watch though! Yours is a beauty!

 

[NiRD]

A fellow corvid owner!
He's a cutie, what kind of stuff have you got him doing?

I've got him solving multiple step problems to find food. It takes him about five seconds flat to figure out a brand new, never before seen dog puzzle from Petco. He can figure out what length spoons to use to get the food. He can raise and lower water levels to get food.

He's working on some free flight behaviors. He's reliable at a distance of about ten feet now. He can take a dollar (got to love those tips, yeah?), we're working on him bringing it back. He's also learning to deliver his own business card to his hand. Lastly, he's pretty proficient at targeting.

We're also working on some intelligence/communication experiments and facial/emotional recognition, but I'm currently not releasing that information until it's complete.

 

[Kiwibird]

Wow, sounds like this guy is going to be a genius!

Just curious if he can talk too? I know of a wild raven when we lived in AZ that had to be removed from a local park by fish and game (and re-released in a less populated area) because it had picked up and began mimicking filthy language used by some of the less favorable characters that hung around there. I don't know how common it is for ravens to speak, and am not sure if crows can at all (?).

 

[RavensGryf]

That's amazing! I love it. I can't wait to hear more about Gandalf's progress, and see videos eventually? Facial/emotion recognition... wow, their level of intelligence fascinates me. I can see that Corvids can be smarter than our super smart parrots!

 

[Mekaisto]

Sounds awesome, what a clever 3 month old

 

[NiRD]

Wow, sounds like this guy is going to be a genius!

Just curious if he can talk too? I know of a wild raven when we lived in AZ that had to be removed from a local park by fish and game (and re-released in a less populated area) because it had picked up and began mimicking filthy language used by some of the less favorable characters that hung around there. I don't know how common it is for ravens to speak, and am not sure if crows can at all (?).

That doesn't surprise me at all.

Yes, crows can mimic human speech. He prefers to mimic other noises and animals, but Gandalf has been known to say hello every once in a while.

RavensGryf- I do have a few videos of him, but I haven't figured how to put them up on a forum. Gandalf does have his own Facebook page, though. Just look up Gandalf the Crow. I think there are feeding videos and short flight videos up on there.

 

[henpecked]

How cool, i've had a couple of American Crows as pets. The last one was a Fish Crow named Sammy. He grew up free flighted and free range. he would hang out in the yard and wait for the kids to get home from school to play, slept inside at night in his cage.He also lived on my fishing boat for about 2 yrs before we lost him at sea during a storm. crazy smart bird who was a real pirate, he would steal anything he could haul off,LOL. He hated seagulls and "dock"cats and would keep them off the boat.When we had hurricanes and bad storms , all the boats would be rafted together at the docks and he would visit every boat/crew looking for handouts (and things to steal). When it got dark he'd be scratching at the cabin door to come in and go to bed.he kept a "treasure nest" with all his "prizes" in it. he would spend hours arranging everything just right. When he'd leave he'd take something to cover up the nest so no one would find it. We used to think it was great fun to "stir up" the contents of his treasure nest and watch him fret over getting everything back in order. Sure miss that bird.

 

[Jayyj]

He's a handsome fellow!

There's a british researcher who has run a really interesting experiment with European Jays. The Jay is put into an enclosure with a contraption comprising a lab type beaker with a narrow neck, half full of water with treats floating on the water. The beaker was anchored so the bird couldn't overturn it and the water level too low for it to reach in. First the bird would go looking for twigs to fish out the treats, but nothing would be long enough - so they'd go looking for stones instead. Each stone the bird dropped into the beaker would make the water level rise a little further, and eventually the water would be high enough for the bird to reach in and take the treats. The researcher carried out the experiment with wild birds that were being kept whilst recovering from injuries, so there was no question of it being learned behaviour - each one just figured it out for themselves. Amazing stuff.

Put a beaker of water with treats in it in Alice's cage I can pretty much guarantee her reaction: 'I don't like that, it's scary! Please make it go away... thanks! Now, what was that about a treat?'

 

[NiRD]

I've actually done that exact experiment with Gandalf. Easy peasy, he says.

 

[RavensGryf]

I just saw Gandalf's Facebook page I didn't see anything under the video section though. He's so amazing. I'll be checking back to see his training updates!

Gandalf looks quite large. Much larger than the common Crow we see here in US. Do you know how he compares size wise to the Ravens in North America? The all black ones in case there are different species here (WOW that sounds ignorant :52: LOL!!) I've never seen a Raven in person, but was told they're very big.