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For the average person, it is usually difficult to tell the difference between crows and crows. Although, for the aviary aviary observer, this distinction is probably as simple as the beaks on their faces. And for crows and crows themselves, their differences are the source of a significant aggression between the two species where their territories overlap. But who is the instigator of these aggressive interactions between the two species? A new study in The Auk: Ornithological Advances uses citizen science data to find the answer.
Researchers at Cornell University used over 2000 public observations from all over North America. badess interspecies aggression between crows (American and Northwestern) and common crows. The results showed that both species of crows were almost exclusively the instigators of aggressive interactions with crows, no matter where the interaction was documented in North America – about 97% of the time, crows have hit first.
most common during the breeding season, due to predation by crows. Wintertime aggression is probably explained by crows attempting to prevent nest predation, while defending the resources they would need to nest later in the breeding season. It was also observed that ravens attacked mainly in small groups, avoiding face-to-face fights with crows.
All the observations used in this study came from citizen scientists, which shows how useful this repository of data can be for such large-scale studies.
" There are two messages to remember: First, we show that larger birds do not always dominate the smaller birds in aggressive interactions, and that social behavior may allow small birds to hunt the smaller birds. big birds, "says Ben Freeman of Cornell University." Second, this is an example of the power of citizen science. It would be almost impossible even for the most dedicated researcher to collect this data in North America. But as thousands of people have expertise in bird identification and interest in bird behavior, we can use eBird data to study behavioral interactions at the continental scale. "
and Crows, while being a shining example of how citizen science data can help study large geographic areas that researchers would not normally be able to cover
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By Connor Ertz [19659014] Earth.com Staff Writer
Photo Credit: Phillip Krzeminski
Topics: Crows
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