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Crows

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

13:51 / 01.04.08

For the fourth time, a crow has given me a stick.

the situation is the same. I wander along, notice the crows, say "hello" to them, and they follow along as I twist my way through the byways of my town.

well, this happened in two cities very far apart.

At some point, I stop under a very large tree in which the crow is perched. The crow snips off a twig with its bill and drops it down to my feet.

I've lost the other three but kept this most recent one.

It may be trying to get me to build its nest for it, but I'm skeptical.

any thoughts?

14:03 / 01.04.08

Well, one of two things. There's the magickal possibility that the crows have recognized your communication, and are communicating back. I won't say that's not a possibility. It could also be the signaling of an animal totem.

Now the parade rainer. Crows are known to use twigs to dig insects out of trees. They of course drop the twig when done.

To me though, this doesn't take away the magickal significance. Omens and communications are essentially occurances of synchronicity. You happened to be under a tree where a crow was doing this, what is it, three times? The crow happened to drop the stick where it landed in front of you. The timing was all there in a repeated fashion. What this is saying to you though, you have to figure out on your own. Communications like that are personal.

14:44 / 01.04.08

Ultimately, it's between you and the crows. Speak to them. Work out some mechanism for developing a relationship with them. Make a crow totem out of the sticks and some feathers. Draw them. Watch them. Do you feel a kinship with them? When you begin to feel that sort of connection, you have it going on. You're not going to find any useful information in books or on the internet that will equal the information gained from direct contact and communion with the crows themselves. Speak to the crows.

14:46 / 01.04.08

Crows are also known to play something a lot like football with twigs.

Can't find citations right now, but probably mentioned on MeFi.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:56 / 01.04.08

thanks for the responses, all.

I've been speaking to the crows for some years, and feel that they're doing the same. I have a menagerie of totems, and crows would be a welcome addition.

I don't think that the stick-dropping was an incidental consequence of digging for insects. The crows followed my zigzagging path down the streets for a few blocks before I stood at the bottom of the tree speaking to them when they dropped the sticks. It struck me that it was deliberate.

maybe they want to play, but me being the thick monkey, hasn't figured out the rules yet.

I spent some time in Vancouver, where the city is dense with crows. They commuted to some roost every day near sunset - I was fortunate enough to live under their flight path. I have the feeling that when the crows leave that city, it's in for trouble. Earthquake or Olympics, either way.

I'm now on the border of Ontario & Quebec, where there are fewer crows, yet the game continues.

I've been at this long enough to realise the significance is ultimately the one I attach to the events, however, I'm wondering if anyone might have further insight into this. Thanks for the link grant, that might be an avenue to explore.

I've also read a chunk of "A Language Without Words" Derek Jensen's (sp?) personal account of learning to communicate with animals, which confirmed a number of thoughts I had on the subject, and added some context.

I've become increasingly interested in cross-species communication since seeing the National Geographic photo shoot of the Polar Bear playing with a Husky, as well as a clip on YouTube where a crow had adopted a kitten, and the two were as close as any two best friends.

I had come across an anecdote of a woman living on the West Coast of North America, who had learned how to listen to & "caw" with the crows.

I suspect that the ultimate difference between people and animals is cultural.

19:09 / 02.04.08

Quick post: You might find Mark Cocker's book "Crow Country" of interest. I got it for my partner this Xmas, and she says it's great.

03:33 / 03.04.08

Lots of science-y type info on crows here.

11:33 / 16.04.08

This is my first ever post on Barbelith, I'm happy to be a part of the community. I'll make a formal introduction elsewhere, but I wanted to say Hi to this thread first: Squib, I live in Hull, work in Ottawa. I've noticed very heavy crow activity, especially at my work. I have no Idea how it compares to Vancouver. I've never had a crow drop a twig at my feet, however. I think the skunk is my totem, but that's something else...
Have you ever tried offering food or any other gifts to crows? If they are a special totem, it would seem appropriate.
Crows and Ravens are story-tellers. I don't know if you write, or are into theatre, but I think that the gift is symbolic, and that you should explore the human equivalent of crow "attitude". Perhaps there's a story inside you which needs to come out...
I'll say "Hi!" to Tommy, our resident crow in our parking lot on your behalf...

14:44 / 16.04.08

On a tangent;

I'm curious as to whether anyone knows of any sources for sciencey based communication between humans and non-human animals?

I know of chimps that have learnt sign-language, and then have made their own words to communicate with humans, and I've heard anecdotes about people who can call birds... but I'm wondering about more general cross-species communication.

I'm also wondering if (or, rather, am more or less sure that) the way of communicating is less about learning languages and more about transcending division... the idea that we can communicate telepathically if we get over the ego/I-U divide, or the feeling that we have something to hide. In Mutant Message From Down Under Marlo Morgan writes about how the aboroginal tribe can communicate silently, mind-to-mind because they don't have anything to hide, and don't hide from/lie to each other. Complete honesty leads to complete openness. I get the impression that the state isn't of two seperate minds touching, but of information flowing through Mind/Spirit and two beings know it together.

I've had a small amount of experience with this kind of state in trance and journey, but not with other people. The few people I've wanted to try the complete open state with have not been in a good place to mess about with personal boundaries/divisions. (If we have to live as seperate discrete individuals to not go mad in society, then we should probably be set in who we are before we move outside of that, so we can come back, kind of idea. Also, how could you know you've transcended a boundary when you don't know where the boundaries are?)

16:19 / 16.04.08

Scientific American:
Animal Einsteins and Just How Smart Are Ravens?

19:07 / 16.04.08

In the case of "how smart are ravens?" I guess the idea of lack of concealment being what helps with non-verbal communication may be problematic, given that they conceal from each other what they know about food etc. to their own advantage.

Both very interesting, ta grant.

03:33 / 17.04.08

I'm in Vancouver as well, and on a few occasions have felt as if the crows are trying communicate. I was walking to work one day and there was a crow outside the building that was quiet but as soon as it saw me, it started to caw loudly. One of my coworkers who had been standing with a group of people said that the crow was all quiet until I showed up

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:25 / 18.04.08

freektemple, welcome to Barbelith, thanks for putting in a good "caw" on my behalf.

I've been writing for some years now, so a storytelling totem, with the touch of the trickster, would be welcome.

In Ottawa, I've noticed crows mostly foraging in pairs (maybe because it's Spring), whereas in Vancouver they foraged in murders of half a dozen or more depending on the size of the area & food available.

I've thought about feeding the crows (maybe that's what the stick represents - a tool with which to dig out the bugs so the birds can feast on them).

thanks as always for the links, grant.

15:35 / 21.04.08

Just for fun I typed "Crow Squib Message" into google for an impromptu divination.
The first result was a Guardian.uk article about Sheryl Crow pissing off Karl Rove with an environmental message at the White House Correspondant's dinner.
Result's 2 & 3 are about how Brandon Lee died on the set of the Crow as a result of a faulty Squib.
Does this hold any insights?

03:52 / 22.04.08

I've thought about feeding the crows...

Crows like peanuts in the shell. They also seem to have a sweet tooth - at least the ones in my neighborhood. I've seen a number of them working over discarded packets of duck sauce from the local Chinese delivery.

Maybe the twig is for you to build your own nest or dig out your own insects. Maybe the crow thinks you need help foraging.

Raven/Crow are sometimes trickster figures. Maybe the crows are just messin' with you.

Try a crow skull for divination purposes.

13:55 / 04.05.08

interesting stuff about crows.. i live in london ; i have a huge oak tree in my garden,, my garden backs onto a park,, i see many crows and have always been quietly fascinated by their familiarity with us {humans)i think we fascinate them too. carlos castinaedes`,book about don juan. the indian who introduced him to peyote,, wrote about the importance of crows,,,,, he says ,,other animals see the crow as silver coloured , only man sees it as black,,what this infers ? , i`m not sure ,, but it has always stuck with me. sorry i cant remember the name of the book,,google it

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

19:21 / 21.05.08

here's a TED lecture about crows - smarter than your average bears, Booboo.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/261