Crows in religion

[Cartoonist]

from 1938

[MineralMan]

1. Native American Have a Different Story about That

Brother Crow and Brother Buffalo
The crow was pure white in the beginning. He was the brother to the buffalo. The Shawnee needed the buffalo for food and skins but everytime the Shawnee would hunt the buffalo, the crow would warn him.

The hunting party gathered around the campfire to prepare for the hunt. Cawanemua said,"We must do something about crow." "I will dress as a buffalo and when brother crow comes to warn the buffalo of our hunt, I will grab him."

The next day, Cawanemua pulled the buffalo skin over him and joined the herd grazing near by. Sure enough, crow came warning the buffalo as the Shawnee hunters approached. Crow was crying,"Caw, Caw, hunters afar!" Cawanemau jumped up and caught crow by his legs and carried him back to the camp.

That night, around the fire as the hunters discussed the fate of crow, Panseau , the smallest brave listened and watched crow. Some wanted to kill and eat crow, since they were very hungry and crow had spoiled the hunt by warning the buffalo. Others wanted to let crow go, thinking that he had learned his lesson and would not warn buffalo again.

Cawanemau was getting more and more angry...he grabbed crow and threw him in the fire. Panseau seeing crow turning black from the fire and soot....grabbed him from the flames. Cawanemau was furious with Panseau. He yelled, "Crow decieves us, we are hungry and cold because he warns buffalo!!! Yet you save him from the flames!!" Panseau, in a small voice, quietly said, "Crow warns his brother. Just as I would warn you, my brother."

Crow, who was shaken and blackened from the flames, heard Panseau. Everyone was very still, thinking about what Panseau the smallest brave had said. Crow spoke, " I am blackened for warning buffalo, who is my brother. I now say Shawnee is my brother also. I will never warn buffalo of your hunt and you, brother Shawnee, will remember to give thanks to buffalo for giving himself to you for food to fill your belly and skins to keep you warm.

Cawanemau stood. "Crow is our brother. Buffalo is our brother also. We will only hunt buffalo when we need food and skins. We will remember to always give thanks. Brother crow will remain black, so he too can remember and remind us of his promise to never warn our brother buffalo." That my friends is how the crow became black.

http://www.bigorrin.org/archive125.htm

[trotsky]

2. Which is sad, because the crow is an amazing bird.

Highly intelligent, it can recognize humans - bringing trinkets and gifts to those who treat them well, or harassing those who have harmed crows, and teaching other crows to do the same.

[MineralMan]

3. My wife and I feed about two dozen crows in our front yard.

We have for several years. They get peanuts in the shell and cheap dry cat food from us. In return, they sometimes leave shiny things on the front lawn. I've found all sorts of bright metallic items and pieces of broken colored glass out there when mowing the lawn.

They also warn the squirrels and other critters when a hawk shows up, with loud crowing and alarm calls. The other animals recognize those and scatter for safety.

The crows know us on sight. They even begin crowing when we return from walking our dogs, to alert the rest that food will soon be available on the lawn.

They are here twice daily throughout the year for the food.

[trotsky]

4. They're pretty damn smart.

That's cool.

[yonder]

6. I'm a bit envious

[MineralMan]

7. Well, if you have crows in your area, just start throwing

peanuts in the shell out into the yard. Soon, they'll become regular guests. You'll also attract whatever squirrel species live in your area, along with jays.

A note about jays: They are the most easily tamed wild birds I've ever encountered. Scrub Jays started visiting my yard in California because I was feeding wildlife. One day, I decided I'd try to see if I could get them to fly to my hand. It took exactly an hour from the time I stepped out the door. After that, they'd fly to my hand automatically, if I held a peanut in it. I was amazed, really. I've tamed other birds to take food from my hand, but no bird learned that as quickly as those jays.

[Voltaire2]

8. They recognize faces and hold and communicate grudges

To test the birds’ recognition of faces separately from that of clothing, gait and other individual human characteristics, Dr. Marzluff and two students wore rubber masks. He designated a caveman mask as “dangerous” and, in a deliberate gesture of civic generosity, a Dick Cheney mask as “neutral.” Researchers in the dangerous mask then trapped and banded seven crows on the university’s campus in Seattle.

In the months that followed, the researchers and volunteers donned the masks on campus, this time walking prescribed routes and not bothering crows.

The crows had not forgotten. They scolded people in the dangerous mask significantly more than they did before they were trapped, even when the mask was disguised with a hat or worn upside down. The neutral mask provoked little reaction. The effect has not only persisted, but also multiplied over the past two years. Wearing the dangerous mask on one recent walk through campus, Dr. Marzluff said, he was scolded by 47 of the 53 crows he encountered, many more than had experienced or witnessed the initial trapping. The researchers hypothesize that crows learn to recognize threatening humans from both parents and others in their flock.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/science/26crow.html

There is another famous experiment where ravens start shunning experimenters who cheat them our of rewards.

[yonder]

5. Corvids are pretty amazing all around.

I've heard stories that magpies will often perform a sort of memorial ritual when one of their own passes. Jays and nutcrackers (also corvids) are well known for taking advantage of untended food when folks are camping. A tame crow, bonded to a person, can be a life long friend.

Where we live, the population of crows and magpies has declined noticeably in the past ten years or so, probably due to West Nile virus, so I try to give crows and ravens extra respect/space/reverence when encountering them in the wild.

And of course, stories of crows abound in folk tales and song. Here's a grim one in Scottish dialect, two crows talking about lunch after an ancient battle. It's a Child ballad I think:

Twa Corbies

As I was a-walking all alane
I heard twa corbies makkin a mane;
And tain untae the tither did say-o,
“Where shall we gang and dine the day-o
Where shall we gang and dine the day?”

“In behind yon auld fail dyke
I wot there lies a new-slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there-o
But his hawk and his hound and his lady fair-o,
His hawk and his hound and his lady fair.”

His hound is tae the hunting gane,
His hawk tae fetch the wildfowl hame;
His lady's ta'en anither mate-o
So we may mak our dinner sweet-0,
We may mak our dinner sweet.”

“Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane
And I'll pike out his bonny blue een;
Wi' many a lock of his golden hair-o
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare-o,
Theek our nest when it grows bare.”

“Many a one for him maks mane
But nane shall ken where he is gane;
O'er his white bones when they are bare-o
The wind shall blow for evermair-o,
The wind shall blow for evermair.”