Throughout her journey to the understanding of Vancouver’s crows, the professor of psychology Suzanne Macdonald says that she made a friend.
It is a crow bringing his gifts after having installed a bird feeder at home in the Kitsilano district.
Once, it was a shell covered with Bernacle, that Macdonald treasures. Other times, these are “trash pieces” that Macdonald does not want much, although she “appreciates the feeling”.
“I think he is definitely recognizing me. When other people come out on my patio, he does not come to them. He knows me,” said Macdonald.
Vancouver has long been a romantic relationship with his crows, whose bombing attacks on pedestrians are a safe sign of spring in the city.
But a new survey co-written by Macdonald suggests that, on the human side at least, it is above all love.
“I think that many people feel a deep link with crows because they seem to see the world as humans: they are resolvers of intelligent and intelligent problems, they recognize individual humans, and they are very social and culturally complex beings,” said Macdonald, professor of psychology at the University of York, who divides his time between Toronto and Vancouver.
Macdonald and Laura Adams, who teach psychology at the Langara College, have joined forces to question hundreds of people in the Lower Mainland in British Columbia to examine their relationship with crows.
They said that 67% of people had positive feelings about crows, against only five percent with negative feelings, in the results published this month that researchers hope to inform an academic publication later.
As for the crows, many make their feelings known during the spring nesting season, when the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC says that the birds of “overprotective” parents immersed themselves on anyone closer to a nest.
It is a common experience in Vancouver – An online map of crow’s attacks in Vancouver is dotted with symbols of red crows marking jumping sites gathered over several years.
But Adams said most people felt “very positive” about the crows, even if they had been bombed in diving.
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“We really hoped to compare the types of people who loved crows and types of people who had very negative opinions on crows because speaking to the general public, people seem to be in both camps,” said Adams.
But it turns out that most respondents were crowns of crow.
“We found that 64% of people said they had been bombed by a crow. So when you put this in the context of 67% of people who feel very positive about the crows, it means that there are many people who have been bombed by diving but who still like crows,” said Adams, “we found that it is really interesting.”
Many respondents in the investigation 468 shared stories on their unique relationships with birds.
“I think one of the interesting parts is how people wanted to talk about crows without reward,” said Adams.
Vancouver even had his own brief of celebrities, named Canuck, who was well known for having driven the Skytrain, stole a knife in a crime scene in 2016 and forge an improbable friendship with a factor.
Adams said the survey revealed that 53% of people thought that the crows were a Vancouver symbol.
The Liron Gertsman fauna photographer has been fascinated by the crows since he was five years old, and this obsession turned into a documentary, filmed with friend Jack Bailey.
Their 10 -minute production, “The journey”, captures the story of a massive murder of crows – up to 10,000 strong birds – which gathers in Still Creek in Burnaby at night. The huge herd is a familiar spectacle in the Metropolitan sky of Vancouver, especially during the winter months.
Gertsman called him “incredible phenomenon”.
“They are so intelligent,” he said, describing the challenge of locating birds, only to present themselves for more filming and “they would not be anywhere.”
“So they were playing with us a little games.
Gertsman said that during the shooting, he and Bailey were pooped on “all the time”, but that did not alleviate their enthusiasm for their subjects and their “beautiful daily journeys”.
He always looks at the crows during the current nesting season. “There is a crow’s nest which is barely visible outside my window, nestled in the tree, which is fun to watch,” said Gertsman.
“I think it is a beautiful thing to be able to look in front of your window in the morning and see a crow because it represents this little nature which can exist in a fairly large city.”
The Wildlife Rescue Association said that the nesting season lasts from April to July, which means that “parents of anxious birds are in force” to protect their young people.
The association said that it saw a peak in the reports of emerging crows on the ground, and there are 11 wounded and orphans in the Wildlife Rescue guard.
Linda Bakker, co-executive director of the organization, said it was common to find young crows on the ground at the end of spring while they learn to fly. Not all need help, but if a bird put in the ground seems to be in trouble, people should take a photo and contact Wildlife Rescue, she said.
She said that the group often receives calls from people asking how to deal with corbau attacks. But she said that when it had happened to her, she was not worried.
“I was excited when it happened. I said to myself, oh, there is a crow, and he protects his nest. It’s great. I will stay out of your way, ”said Bakker.
Macdonald said it is important that people understand how we live with other species, especially in an urban environment where many animals have been expelled.
“But some of them, like the crows, actually thrive with us, and that makes them very special,” she said.
Macdonald says that daily meetings with crows should be considered a reminder that “if we live in a city that has no fauna, then we live in a dead city”.
“We want to live in a very dynamic city where nature is at our front door and our rear door and everywhere, and the crows remind us that this is the case in the lower continent.”