Outdoor diners: Beware of the crows

The big-brained birds could be in for their best summer ever, with people dining outdoors

The crow is adept at snatching humans' leftover food. Picture: Denis Minihane

The crows could be watching so outdoor diners beware.
As well as being among the noisiest of birds, crows are among the most intelligent; and the cheekiest, as we learned first-hand, the other day.

Everyone has stories of crows attacking garden feeders hung out for smaller birds, by cleverly manoeuvering a feeder to allow nuts to spill onto the ground, then to be gobbled up. I've seen it happen many times.

People can also be targeted by these relentless, ever-hungry foragers. A recent example was provided by four golfers in Killarney, Co Kerry.

When the weather is good, the public flock to outdoor tables. Picture: Damian Coleman

They turned their backs on their bags and walked onto the 11th green, on the Mahoney’s Point course, to putt out. On their way back, they saw a crow eating a banana. It had taken the banana from a pocket in one player's bag: Mine. A clean strike.

Crows could be in for their best summer ever, with people dining outdoors. They hang around for opportunities for a snack, then pounce and snatch. We've heard tales of scones, and some contents of food baskets, disappearing.

A customer of a roadside food van, near Mallow, Co Cork, tells us a certain crow perches on the side mirror of his car and pecks on the window, impatiently waiting for him to hand out the leftovers.

Kevin McGowan, of Cornell University, in the US, who has studied the wider crow family, says the crow has a big brain relative to its body weight.

Donal Hickey: 'The crow has a big brain relative to its body weight.'

It boasts the biggest brain of all birds, in proportion to body size, on a par with the great ape, which is regarded as among the most intelligent of animals.

Animal intelligence is judged by problem-solving ability. Studies in Japan have found crows taking nuts to a road intersection and waiting for vehicles to crush the nuts, before sweeping down to devour the tasty contents.

We can assume that the crows take all necessary precautions to ensure they're not hit by any vehicle.

In 2011, a team from the University of Washington published a remarkable study about the brainpower of crows. The researchers set out to establish how well the birds could identify human faces.

One researcher donned a caveman mask, to be used to threaten the birds, and the wearer also trapped one crow, while the other had a more friendly mask,  of Dick Cheney, former US vice-president.

The experiment went on for some years, with both masks being regularly worn by team members. Unfailingly, the caveman mask drew angry scolds and dive-bomb attacks from crows, while the birds largely ignored the Cheney mask.

A sign they can hold a grudge.