The Smartest Bird?

[YT2095]

I personaly think it`s the Crow (and not just because it my favorite Bird).

 

but does anyone actualy KNOW which one is?

 

I`ve read a lot of contoversy on the net about it, and reputable sources in conflict

 

 

any INFORMED ideas?

[Sayonara]

Mynah bird, I would have thought. They are excellent mimics and will even speak clearly in sentences.

[YT2095]

Crow/ravens also do that though,

 

"Quork-quork-quork! Oo-oo. Rap-rap-rap. Kek-kek-kek. Honk-honk! Ravens make lots of different sounds. Scientists have counted as many as 80 different sounds. Ravens can copy sounds too. One raven learned to imitate all the dogs in a neighborhood. They can also imitate other kinds of birds, the sound of falling water, human speech, motorcycles, and even the ringing of the bell on an ice cream truck. Copying sounds may not be a sign of smarts, but it sure makes ravens interesting to have around!"

 

taken from: http://accelerateu.org/assessments/Ela4/brainy_birds_by_cynthia_berger.htm

 

they do much more too

 

here: http://home.alltel.net/sammurdock/cm/corviary/success.html

[Sayonara]

"Quork-quork-quork" isn't quite as impressive as "I'm going to put the kettle on; do you want one?"

Mind you I could be biased there because tea is involved.

[YT2095]

LOL, but a Corvid would understand it and try and do it as well!

[Skye]

Lyre birds are the best mimics, they can copy pretty much anything. They had a documentary with one that did a automatic camera, even making the sound of the motor winding on the film.

[DreamLord]

I saw there was an experiment on this. The smartest birds were found to be some sort of mountain parrot (kias I believe they are called) and ravens.

[Leison]

does "smart" refers to the one who can mimic?

i think it refers to the cleverness.

 

although parrots, macaws can do good mimics i think crow is smarter than them.

i used to have a parrot but even after 3 months it didn't recognise me, when i go near it, it moves madly inside the cage as if i'm a new face for it. not only me,it shows the same reaction to everyone including even my mom who feeds it daily.so i set it free thinking that its of no use.

but taking case of crow. while feeding my dogs, a crow came nearby wating the dogs feeding.i gave it a piece of meat and since that day whenever that crow sees me it comes near me.

the wild crow recognised me in a day but the parrot didn't even in some months.

 

I've also seen crow attacking big bird of preys.isn't this a sign of smartness "attacking somebody stonger than oneself without getting hurt and getting rid of them "?

 

in the movies or stories, witch or wizard tames "crows" as they are smarter.

[pulkit]

I've also seen crow attacking big bird of preys.isn't this a sign of smartness "attacking somebody stonger than oneself without getting hurt and getting rid of them "?

 

Under particular circumstance this phenomena may be observed amongst other birds too. Eg. Protecting offspring

 

Why doesn't shear size matter here ? Is it brain:body weight ratio or just simply the brain size ?

 

 

I must add that the crow for all its smartness is often fooled by the cuckoo.

[5614]

as each bird has evolved it has learned 'clever' tricks of survival, its hard to seperate intelligence from instinct. more to the point intelligence is too hard too measure.

[NavajoEverclear]

there are some really cool India birds. No i dont live there, just a boring american, but i'm accumulating bits and pieces of knowledge about India during my study of Hinduism. The Hill Myna has incredible voice mimicking capabilities, much greater than that of a parrot, but their harder to keep captive. India also has the largest bird capable of flight, some type of crane i believe. (its not of unusual intelligence, just interesting enough to be worth mentioning)

 

I have two pet ducks, only had em for a couple of weeks. I dont know if they're smart but they do poop a lot.

[drz]

I know of a bluebird that isn't very smart anymore. I was struck in the chest while riding down the street the other day by him. It left a nice, football (american) sized bruise on my chest. I stopped to see if the bird was alive, suffering or whatever. When I returned, the poor thing was hopping around, obviously disoriented from a 75+mph collision with an imovable object. When I approached it to see if It needed help, or atleast put down, it hopped up, and flew into a fence post.

 

Poor bird was having a bad day.

[NavajoEverclear]

ho! thats a hilarious story. I'd like to hear the whole story from the birds point of view.

[pulkit]

there are some really cool India birds. No i dont live there' date=' just a boring american, but i'm accumulating bits and pieces of knowledge about India during my study of Hinduism. The Hill Myna has incredible voice mimicking capabilities, much greater than that of a parrot, but their harder to keep captive. India also has the largest bird capable of flight, some type of crane i believe. (its not of unusual intelligence, just interesting enough to be worth mentioning)

 

I have two pet ducks, only had em for a couple of weeks. I dont know if they're smart but they do poop a lot.[/quote']

 

The hill myna as far as i know has not been officially spotted since the turn of the century. It was mostly hunted to extinction and traded for pets. As its habitat now remains only in very isolated regions, its exsistance is highly doubtfull.

 

Largest bird capable of flight ---- I am guessing the peacock. Its kinda scray when you are caught unaware by a flying peacock )

[Leison]

Under particular circumstance this phenomena may be observed amongst other birds too. Eg. Protecting offspring

 

Why doesn't shear size matter here ? Is it brain:body weight ratio or just simply the brain size ?

 

I must add that the crow for all its smartness is often fooled by the cuckoo.

it's not abt protecting the offspring. but a kind of showing dominance .

 

comparing crow and kite(eagle)

according to my observation:-

kite is bigger has sharper beak and claws than crow

inspite of all the physical advantages, still the crow can drive away the big fellow, here the "cleverness' is reflected.i dont know brain comparison.

 

even the most intelligent human are fooled, crow is no exception.

[pulkit]

even the most intelligent human are fooled, crow is no exception

 

When i said fooled i meant that they bring up young cuckoos thinking they are little crows. What do you mean by sayin that humans are fooled too ??

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I know that there are certain types of crows that actually can make tools and use them. To dig bugs out of trees they make little hooks and such. They're very clever.

I think it was Discover magazine, let me check... ah, this is a different site, but here: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/tools_main.html

[NavajoEverclear]

the Sarus crane was the bird i was thinking about, its actually not the largest bird in the world (sorry i thought i read it was), but the largest in India.

http://magazine.naturecom.de/text/beo.html

This site says that currently the Hill Mynas main habitat is Sri Lanka, aren't there several species of Myna though? Are some of them still around in India?

 

I bet those peacocks are terrifying. I remember one chasing me around when i was little (they let them run free around the local zoo)

[pulkit]

There are two common mynah species that you can observe absolutely anywhere in India, They are the common mynah and the bank mynah. One has a yellow colouring around the eyes and yellow legs on a dark brown body (common mynah), whilst the other is nearly identical except that its colour is orange and not yellow (bank mynah). They are often seen together as well. As for the hill mynah I am quite certain that it hasn't been spotted in India in the last century.

 

The Sarus crane (the name is kinda funny coz sarus in hindi means crane, so its more like the Crane Crane) is the largest bird in India. It is quite a large bird (I have had the pleasure of observing it in the wild). Another large bird found in the desert areas is the Indian Bustard, though sadly its quite an endangered one now.

[Leison]

When i said fooled i meant that they bring up young cuckoos thinking they are little crows. What do you mean by sayin that humans are fooled too ??

even we are sometimes fooled, so crow -fool --not a big thing.

[tinyboy21]

For a full 4 months, a robin rammed into my window over and over at least 200 times a day. He even made a nest nnear the window so he could rest between hits. Woke me up very day.

[MolecularMan14]

lol, thats one sick bird. What happened to it? Massive multiple concussions? Severe head trauma, skull collapse? Poor thing

[Plecostomus]

Common Raven- Corvus corax

I read it in a magazine.

[Guest grubmaker]

the New Caledonian crow (Corvus moneduloides) has been shown to possess the most advanced tool use of the crow family (assuming thats a fair indicator for intelligence). plenty of papers written about them. however, i do wonder about new zealands kia (as mentioned above). ive had encounters with these rascally alpine parrots (and heard many anecdotes on them) and their intelligence and adaptability is very clear to see. i would love to read some studies that assesses them.

[NavajoEverclear]

i'd really love to see the crane crane. So do the bank and common myna have good mimicking capabilities too?