[rec.birds] hunting crows, etc . Can crows talk??

jimf@ihlpf.ATT.COM (JF) (08/29/88)

: James Donndelinger, in article <36223@aero.ARPA:, tells a most
: interesting story about attracting crows with an owl decoy, so as to
: blast them with a shotgun (a good hunter eats what he shoots).
: 
: However, as a fan of crows and other corvids, I'd like to point out
: that all native birds are protected under the federal Migratory Bird
: Act, except game species in season.  If there are any legitimate crow
: seasons these days, I'm unaware of it; correct me if I'm wrong.

I looked it up. Crow season in Illinois is 7/1 - 8/15 and 12/15 - 3/1.
There is no limit on how many can be killed. Since Illinois is largely
agricultural, this season probably arose because crows can do a lot of
damage to cornfields. I've seen tens of thousands of crows sitting in a
cornfield in October. It was a hell of a lot more interesting than the
Republican convention.

Question. Can crows be trained to talk? I heard that they could!

pkb@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Benson) (08/31/88)

> 
> Question. Can crows be trained to talk? I heard that they could!


My father-inlaw had a pet crow for a few years who would say 'Hello Al'.
My father-inlaw's name is AL so I guess thats where the crow got it from.
Al didn't do anything special to the bird, the crow just started saying the 
phrase one day.


Pam B.

mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) (09/01/88)

In article <9200@ihlpa.ATT.COM>, pkb@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Benson) writes:
 > > 
 > > Question. Can crows be trained to talk? I heard that they could!
 > 
 > 
 > My father-inlaw had a pet crow for a few years who would say 'Hello Al'.
 > My father-inlaw's name is AL so I guess thats where the crow got it from.
 > Al didn't do anything special to the bird, the crow just started saying the 
 > phrase one day.

	There is a captive Raven at Alum Rock Park, a San Jose city park, that
will repeatedly say "hello". Its voice is somewhat high-pitched, but the word
is clear and distinct.

	On a more important note, the rare bird alert has reported a Terek
Sandpiper and a Long-Toed Stint along the coast at Monterey Bay; both first
records for the state of California! I just hope that they will stick around
until the weekend.

Mike