This is "Bully Boy" - a sociable, but aggressive, crow. Note the uprightness of his forehead. This is how I quickly identify him. Then I look for other physical and behavioral traits. Contrary to what you might think based on what i named him, I like BullyBoy. Sometimes he eats out of my hand
In the past few days I have seen the following crows (click on pics to see larger versions)
Yellow/WhiteSilver
Sometimes I think Y-/WS is a juvenile that has changed groups. It gets chased off by some pretty frequently but is persistent at trying to hang around. earlier this summer this young crow was hanging out at Tsunami Row (see map below) with a group of what appeared to be unattached adults or juveniles.
White Red/White Silver Is only here occasionally but has been here several times lately, also appears to have a mate.
WhiteBlue/WhiteSilver (aka WB/WS , WBWS or W/B-W/S) , is frequently seen around the oasis. I am uncertain whether it has a mate or is a juvenile. Perhaps Caroline at USGS knows. I will try to remember to ask. I would like to know as much as I can about all of the banded crows.
This is WBWS either waiting in the tree for a turn to eat or doing sentry duty - something which all of the crows appear to take turns doing
Silver
"Silver" is aka --/-Silver, --/-S, or "Houdini" because he/she somehow removed all 3 of the colored plastic USGS identity bands and only the metal ID band remains).
This is Silver and BullyBoy. They do not look much alike in this photo but many times i have been unable to tell them apart until I see Silver's metal ID band.
BullyBoy looks like he is beginning to posture but I do not recall whether he ended up doing so and I may be misinterpreting his appearance. I will be quite astonished if I ever discover that he is a she...
Pic is of Mangled Foot and I think Bully Boy. I did not think Bully Boy was her mate, but it is possible.
Mangled foot 02/13/2008 and another crow. Having a difficult time finding more recent pic of mangled foot but I know I have some!
Mangled Foot and mate.
The other day I saw a group of about 10 - 12 crows flying together to chase some Ravens away from the Wooded Campground. They work cooperatively. Mangled Foot was not a part of the group I do not think although it is hard to identify them in flight. A few times i have seen the group seeming to respond to a predator warning call.
In the "Drinking Hole" or "Oasis" (Ive forgotten how I labeled it on the map), there are a handful of crows that try to chase off other crows. Occasionally they do chase a crow out of the area. Mangled Foot and her mate are careful about coming out of the tree, Mangled Foot especially. They appear to wait until certain or most crows are out of the immediate area. Both groups appear to be nesting in the Wooded campground, however, I suspect they are only distantly, if at all, related.
Another theory I have a is that a small group of them are juvenile crows not yet old enough to mate who have banded together during at least part of the day. Usually unattached crows will help family members feed the new fledglings - they are a cooperative and sociable species. However, according to a literature review it is not uncommon for some of these unattached crows to spend part of their day foraging with non relatives although they normally also spend part of the day with family and return to them at night.
Note: I was looking at old pics and saw some pink on Yellow/WhiteSilver's tongue so it just fledged last summer and is a juvenile.
White Red/WS appears to be with a partner who is quite a bit larger. I think they are a pair but not sure. They are not as obvious as Mangled Foot and her beau if they are.
Some of the crows like mangled Foot seem to be experienced cashers. They gather as much food as they can in their beaks then fly so far away to hide their food that I can no longer spot them and they take awhile before they return. The down side is that others are getting the remaining food in their absence. The up side is that none of the other crows knows where their cache is and can not steal the food they have stored.
Other crows like yellow/white silver cache nearby, sometimes within only a few feet of where they found the food where any or all of the other birds can see where they are "hiding" their food. I assume these inept cache-ers are young and inexperienced. Ive watched one cache while another sits and watches then steals the food as soon as the crow is done caching. Sometimes the thief does not even wait until the caching is done!
One crow had something large in its bill and 2 others were chasing it. The crow with the food would land temporarily in a tree but then be pressured out into flight again with at least one crow always in hot pursuit. From what I have read these are likely unrelated crows. Supposedly related crows are a little nicer about stealing from each other. Although they do still steal from relatives. Reminds me of some families in Fort Yukon. One lifetime local once told me that his extended family members had stolen from him many times and he did not trust any of them.
Several different crows were collecting sticks. For nests I suppose. Or to reaffirm to a mate or potential mate its worthiness.
Dom Max is back. Unless it is his look alike. Both Silver and Dom Max were coming right up to me and taking food out of my hand. If the theory about eating hand outs leading to elongated maxilla then Silver should join the Dom Maxes of the flock. It does seem like the ones with longest beaks seem more aggressive or comfortable around people which could support the theory
There is a lone Raven who tries to eat and drink around the Oasis and the crows harass it terribly. They will swoop down on his head and he lets out a plaintive call - it really sounds like he is begging them stop!
I put food in a cup and set it on the ground and the crows seem to prefer to toy with it and attempt to eat the food inside it rather than eat the easily accessible food on the ground. Same with eggs. I put out some crack and some uncracked eggs. Some crows seem drawn to the challenge of getting the egg cracked. Again with M&Ms. I bite just enough to crack the hard candy coating and the crows love the peanuts. Some of the crows , like Silver, will go after the whole un-cracked M&Ms instead of the broken ones even though the latter are easier to eat.
Blue/White-White/Silver is at the Wooded Campground sometimes but not this past week that i am aware of.
Map to help identify siting locations of crows with ankle bands or deformed beaks:
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