These birds are also known to be particularly explorative and playful (see the video of a snowboarding crow that has been making the rounds on the internet). They are very interested in novel objects, regularly manipulating things they find and even taking and stashing objects.
It’s this behavior — object caching — that caught the attention of Ivo Jacobs and his colleagues. Inspired by anecdotes of corvids taking objects and storing them elsewhere, Jacobs and his colleagues wanted to test to what extent these stories might be true.
There is no shortage of hypotheses as to why corvids might cache objects. Many of them are related to another common corvid behavior, food caching. Object caching could be a side effect of food caching motivation or a developmental stage that juveniles go through as they learn to cache food. Alternatively, by caching objects corvids might learn how to use objects as tools or in social interactions with other birds. In some cases, the cached objects are of direct later use, as when nest materials are stored…
This makes me so sad. Little birds are amazing and they have SO much personality. They are SO smart. Atti is my best friend. We spend all day together. He follows me everywhere.
He is constantly curious about things. He makes up little games for us to play. He does things he knows will piss me off when he gets bored.
He snuggles me when I’m sad. And sits on my hand all puffed up when he’s sleepy. He’s super silly and always comes in for scratches while I play video games.
He loves his happy hut and as much as he loves hanging out he will push me away when he’s tucked into bed. He likes to hide in the shelves and find secret things to chew- partially because he loves chewing and partially because he likes being mischivious.
He has a special tweet for when I sneeze. He has a particular expression he makes when he eats apples because he loves them. Sometimes he helps me put cut veggies into a bowl while I cook. He tries to steal foam off the top of my Chai.
I friggin love this bird. Is he a lot of work? Yes. Does he make me mad sometimes and destroy things and bite me? Yes. Is he tiny and cheap (when I first got him)? Yes. He’s worth all the time I put into him. He deserves all the time I put into him.
My last lovebird, Beedea, wasn’t hand tamed and she was a very violent biter. I literally could not handle her without a washcloth over my hand until she was 15 years old. But you know what, I loved her just as much. I hung out with her as much as I could. She was worth it too. They all are.
This beautifully-crafted net of grasses wasn’t made by sometime taking a break from knitting. It was made by a bird!
The Ploceidae family of weaverbirds contains dozens of species with an incredible talent for building gorgeous, sturdy nests. Some of these nests are small, but others like this one are longer than the average human arm. These elaborate nests hang down from tree branches, and their design helps to keep eggs and nestlings safe from predators.
Weaverbird males learn to tie many different knots using only their beaks and feet, with no thumbs to make it easy. It can take a lot of practice to get a nest just right, including making it near waterproof!
today's bird 