Washington - Mounting tiny video cameras to the tail feathers of crows, researchers discovered that the birds use a variety of tools to seek food, and even make their own tools, plucking, smoothing and bending twigs and grass stems.

"We observed a new mode of tool use that was not known before. We saw them use tools on the ground, using a little grass stem to poke and fish into nests," researcher Christian Rutz of England's University of Oxford said.

New Caledonian crows had been known to use sticks to probe rotting trees for grubs, but they were never seen to use tools on the ground before.

So they came up with the idea of feather-cam, a 13-gram video camera they tested on lab crows and then took to the forest. The camera is attached to the tail feathers of the crow and bends forward to record the belly, feet and sometimes the head of the bird.

"They do make tools, which is quite unusual. They do not just pick up any random twig," Rutz said.

He said the birds select the twig they want, break it off and sometimes smooth it or bend it into a hook. They also like to use dry grass stems, which are more flexible, he explained. Especially good tools were kept for future use.

The crows were observed to eat an average of eight small items per hour, such as beetle larvae, small lizards and small fruits.
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I use a stick to scratch my back.

Monkeys use sticks too.

Since when does the use of stick mean anything more than you got something that can grab hold of something else?

Where are all the crow hospitals?

A stick?

GENIUS!

But I've seen crows do things way move clever then that, a few of them will distract somone while another swoops down and steals some food from the b.b.q.

My mother-in-law does that....

Crows are very intelligent and seem to have a great sense of humor considering some of the stuff that I've seen them do.
Regards,
Mabon.

heheeeehehe - she swoops eh? I have this vision of a little old lady in a vampire cape zooming in on the chicken.

What an accurate description...Do you know her?

o.k..back to the crows...I personally am afraid of them but was surprised as Mahon stated, how intelligent they really are...I just read where they will drop seeds into heavy traffic areas, and wait for cars to crush them...Also in Israel they use bread crumbs for bait fishing....Interesting an new to me...

The most fantastic observation with these tool-using crows is that they actually teach their offspring to use the sticks.

fascinating! amazing what we don't know about this world we live in.

What I meant was...where are all the hospitals that have been built by crows...seeing how they are so intelligent and able to use tools and such.

goalienan why are you afraid of them just curious?

I know what you meant, I just can't beleive you said it. It's not a sign of intelligance to use Tools as they do, a higher learning ability yes. what's so fascinating is that this information is new and we are able to learn more about our co-inhabitants as we never have before through the means of modern technology, and what these birds are doing is being compared to our evolution lines.

Hi Spara...Awhile back, we had this infestion of crows and other black birds...I was coming home from shopping, pulled in my driveway, and the next thing I knew they were surrounding my car The swooping and the noise got me so nervous, that I couldnt find the horn. ..So I just sat there, windows up, until they decided to do a 360 and leave...Since then, when I see them I run for cover... Now I'm not talking about all birds, just those...I love it when I see a robin red breast, or a bluebird, and I also owned a Cockatoo, which screeched like hell when it wanted to...but I could put her back in the cage...So I guess it's just a phobia I have...Aren't you glad you asked, as I go on and on.... ....goalie

Crows are an amazing species, they use tools, which is something only few other birds do, they are very respectable.
Did you know they always stay in groups, and when one in the group dies, they will sit around it and comfort the fallen friend until
they have passed. They are loving creatures that don't get the credit they deserve.

Clever crows. The seagulls just resort to shoplifting.

And this is the first time they've noticed that some bird species use tools? You've got to be kidding me!?? All you have to do is watch a crow or even a parrot for a few minutes to realize they use sticks and other tools to get jobs done. I've seen birds drop stones into buckets to raise the water level so the water can be safely reached.

Ya, ummm, if they've just now noticed that birds use tools, they've been sleepin' on the job.

Oh, and that seagull? That's HILARIOUS! LOL

Aah! that makes sense. I've always had a not so secret hate of plovers for those kind of reasons
Cocky's are beautiful, noisy yes but I love them actually i love all birds. haha. excep[t plovers...



hahaha oh how I dislike Gulls all coastal cafe's in aus can't leave anything outside or the little buggers steal it, even salt packets.



Not just some species. The New Caledonian crow is on parr with or even a little bit better than a chimpanzee with tool use. that's a great feat for a bird!
especially seeing chimpanzees are our closest relative.
we're not talking normal tool use, every animal has some sort of tool or something equally as fascinating to use in life.
They are comparing the new caledonian crow's tool use to humans lines. which states a higher level of learning than other animals.
So no, not much sleepin' on the job. these birds have been evolving in increments in an isolated environment for over 80 million years.

I dunno man, I used to raise parrots, quite literally hundreds of them. They're pretty smart sometimes. I had a Macaw that could work a three number combination lock--took me forever to figure out that no one was leaving the cage open and that the damn bird was an ace safe cracker. He used to shred 2x4 blocks of wood and used the "toothpicks" he made for all kinds of things, including spearing grapes with them. For what purpose I'll never know. I suppose I could have put him to work as a novelty act spearing olives in a martini bar

It was always quite apparent to me that some birds use tools in a fairly sophisticated manner. In the wild, they'll use sticks to disturb ant or termite hills (good source of protein), some parrots will use larger sticks to stir up clay deposits for both eating and nest building.

I guess I'd be interested to see exactly how these Crows are using their tools and for what purpose to get an idea of whether or not it's really all that special.

And no, I never trained my parrots to do anything specifically, not even talk. The only things I ever taught them was to stand on my forearm only (no birds on shoulders) and I did potty train one. Most of my birds were breeding pairs, so the least amount of human interaction, the better. They "tolerated" me. I would not have necessarily called them "tame" except my macaw.

Yes... as have I and my uncle. but, it's not just the usage of tools that has set them apart, as I said before every animal has many cleaver little ways of getting things they need to survive or just little knick-knacks they have picked up along the way. These birds are fashioning tools with ther beaks, so it isn't just a stick. what other animals use are just sticks that's nothing like what the crows are doing.
The crows possibly have a better understanding of the physics of objects is what scientists are saying.
using sticks to poke ant-hills is yes pretty fascinating but not special.
and I wasn't going to ask if you trained your birds, you must know as a bird owner that by even watching you they can learn, there are many things we do day to day that we don't notice until an animal mimics it. Not saying you make toothpics lol but it's not unusual behaviour for a parrot.