Monday, June 04, 2007

Corvus

I am now caring for four baby crows.

from wikipedia:

-The American Crow is one of only a few species of bird that has been observed modifying and using tools to obtain food.
-American Crows are monogamous cooperative breeding birds. This means that they will care for young that are not their own.
- American Crows are a sentinel species-
- crows top the avian IQ scale
- One species, the New Caledonian Crow, has recently been intensively studied because of its ability to manufacture and use its own tools in the day-to-day search for food.
- Frequently crows appear to "play" with hawks, taking turns "counting coup" while escorting the raptor out of their territory.
- In occult circles, distinctions are sometimes made between crows and ravens. In mythology and folklore as a whole, crows tend to be symbolic more of the spiritual aspect of death, or the transition of the spirit into the afterlife, whereas ravens tend more often to be associated with the negative (physical) aspect of death.
- In Buddhism, the Dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) Mahakala is represented by a crow in one of his physical/earthly forms. Avalokiteśvara/Chenrezig, who is reincarnated on Earth as the Dalai Lama, is often closely associated with the crow because it is said that when the first Dalai Lama was born, robbers attacked the family home. The parents fled and were unable to get to the infant Lama in time. When they returned the next morning expecting the worst, they found their home untouched, and a pair of crows were caring for the Dalai Lama.

also, language and stories.







black as fuel, red mouth
without winter

2 comments:

Jessica Smith said...

ravens are cool too, though. they "play" (without purpose... not like other animals play to train for something else) and mythologically they brought light to the world.

md said...

yeah, I'm into ravens too. they're very close relatives of the crow (both are members of corvus). I wonder if I can teach these guys to say "nevermore."

is this real?