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- PHYLLIS HARWICKJust had my own crow funeral experience. I don't see a lot of crows on my property. For the last 2 days one came pecking on the glass on my back door. It came today and brought it's friends. Eventually I heard very weak cawing at the bottom of the hill behind my house. I'm disabled and can't climb hills so when the birds left-not heading in that direction- I put it out of my mind. Later the crow banged on my glass again and the rest of the flock headed to an area at the bottom of my hill that I thought I had heard the weak caw. There was no noise at this point. While I was watching I noticed a turkey vulture in the tree outside my window. They hang around so that's not unusual but this is a heavily wooded hill and they don't sit in that tree. The vulture hopped from tree to tree and the crows disbanded one by one. The vulture finally dropped down to the ground in that area and the last crow left. I feel horrible for the crows but realize the vulture needed to eat. Mother nature is harsh. Next time a crow comes knocking I will try to get help from someone to investigate.Jun 15, 20180
- Jessica McGearyBackerCorvid behavior is fascinating stuff. God luck with the project!Apr 29, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThanks Jessica! We appreciate your support.Apr 30, 20140
- Walter MossBackerThis is cool work! I wish you much success.Apr 29, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherIndeed it is Walter. We're glad you share our enthusiasm and thank you for your contribution.Apr 30, 20140
- John MarzluffResearcherJake, yo bro, THANKS. Jennifer thanks for passing the word!Apr 28, 20140
- Daniel IrimiaBackerGreat question! Wish you luck !Apr 27, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThank you for your support Daniel!Apr 27, 20140
- Jennifer Campbell-SmithPut this up on my corvid blog. It's not much (and not nearly as far of a reach as Ben is capable of getting), but I hope it is fruitful for you both!! Good luck from one of your colleagues in NY!Apr 26, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThanks Jennifer! I hope we have the same success you did!Apr 26, 20140
- Virginia CondeBackerVery much looking forward for this!Apr 26, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThank you Virginia. We'll make sure to keep our backers updated!Apr 26, 20140
- Jake OmgmylastnameBackerCrow Bro?Apr 26, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherJake by supporting this project you are officially a crow bro.Apr 26, 20140
- John MarzluffResearcherThanks Mike, I'm with you concerning ravens. Crows are a handy model to start with and comparison with ravens would be really fantastic. JohnApr 25, 20140
- Mike ArdingtonBackergood luck. I love corvids. But I'm partial to ravens, I'm afraid.Apr 24, 20140
- John MarzluffResearcherAlex as Kaeli described, the main advantage of PET over MRI is that PET does not require the bird to be immobile during the behavioral trial. Dogs have been trained to sit still in an MRI and be scanned as they hear things, but wild animals won't do that! PET allows us to let the bird do its thing, unencumbered, and then reveals to us what the brain was doing at that time. Its pretty slick that way!Apr 24, 20140
- Keala CummingsBacker$200 to 'adopt' a crow, huh? I'm in! Can I name my crow Silas? ;) In all seriousness though, best of luck in meeting your goal, I look forward to hearing about your results!Apr 24, 20140
- Alex K. ChenThis is really interesting! :) Just wondering - why do you use PET scans rather than MRI scans?Apr 23, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherGood question Alex. MRI's are really useful in human behavioral cognitive studies because they can produce an image of the brain as it is working through something, say looking at a photo of a loved one vs something scary. We don't have this option for our birds because we can't put them in a machine and expect them to respond to a stimulus in the moment. There's scientific and ethical reasons this wouldn't work. But the PET scan allows us to inject a bird with a time sensitive tracer, show them something while they're in the relative safety of their cage, and then knock them out and visualize what was happening five minutes ago while they were awake and seeing that thing. In this way we can retrospectively look inside the bird's brain. Then they can wake up, recover and be released.Apr 23, 20140
- David AndersonBackerGo Kaeli!Apr 21, 20140
- Scot BastianJust thought I'd let you know that today I featured your project on my blog. Good luck. http://www.scotbastian.com/1/post/2014/04/does-a-murder-of-crows-have-a-funeral.htmlApr 19, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThank you Scot! We appreciate your advocacy. I enjoyed reading your post, I think you did an excellent job highlighting a major challenge to the study of animal behavior: project human paradigms and constraints on the actions of animals. My one note was that, although I agree that the trouble with lab studies is that they are hard to apply to behaviors in the field, I want to underscore that I am also doing a purely field experiment where I'm monitoring how wild birds respond to the same things we'll eventually test in the lab. I detailed this on the 'abstract' portion of the site. Thanks again for the plug!Apr 19, 20141
- Meredith BurkeBacker:)Apr 16, 20140
- Melissa MarksBackerGood luck! This is a really creative approach to answering a fascinating question.Apr 16, 20140
- Mary HightowerBackerWe are so proud of you and what you are doing Bob and Mary HightowerApr 14, 20140
- Joshua OhmerBackerAlways exciting to see new research on these fascinatingly intelligent and social birds!Apr 12, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThanks Josh! How did you learn about the project?Apr 12, 20140
- Gary K SandersonBackerThank you for studying crows. Are the following questions helpful in planning your experiments: 1. Could a "grieving" crow recognize you if that crow is used repeatedly? 2. Could the "dead" crow become recognized if the same crows grieve? 3. Could a common scent affect crows as well as visual recognition? 4. Could your vehicle be visually recognized? Hope all goes well or interpretively for your thesis.Apr 12, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherHi Gary, thanks for your support and for the excellent questions! I'll answer them one by one. 1. We try our best to spread the experimental sites far enough apart that a bird is only tested one time (i.e isn't flying from funeral to funeral). The birds tested in the field and those tested in the lab will be from two different populations. 2. Relates to question one. Theoretically, they shouldn't be aware that it is being used multiple times. Same goes for the lab studies. 3. It does not appear that way to us, but it is possible. 4. My vehicle could be recognized but this is a good thing! For each experiment there is a daily feeder, me, whose car we might expect the birds to learn. On stimulus days there is a 2nd "dangerous" volunteer who only participates once. Even if the birds happen to see their car again, it shouldn't make any difference because it's a different person from the one who's feeding them. Cheers, KaeliApr 12, 20140
- Corentin PokornyBackerI read about this on crows.net. I love crows, and I agree that the funerals that crows have are something to be researched, as crows are brilliant animals. I am a student at the University of Washington, and I am friendly with a few crows there, and it really hits home that this group is from the UW!Apr 10, 20141
- Amy ColletteBackerDr. Marzluff, I really liked 'Gifts of the Crow.'Apr 04, 20140
- Erik Stuen Picha WillisBackerGood luck! Sounds like an awesome project. Hope this small amount helps!Apr 03, 20140
- Kath HilstBackerAwesome project Kaeli!!! I saw a few crow funerals in Alaska and can't wait to see what you learn in your research!! Rock on!Apr 02, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThank you to all my friends and family who chipped in today. You guys are the greatest!Apr 02, 20140
- KatieBackerGo Kaeli! Wishing you all the best on your fundraising!Apr 02, 20140
- Heather CornellBackerGood luck in making your goal Kaeli!Apr 02, 20140
- Judy TaylorBackerThis is fascinating. Would love if you would share some of your insights with our group of Crow followers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crowsandcrowfollowers/Apr 01, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherSure thing Judy, I sent a request to join the group. I will be happy to answers as many questions as I am able!Apr 01, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcher$1,000 on the first day! Thanks for all the support to everyone who pitched in today.Apr 01, 20140
- Allen UpwardBackerGood luck!Mar 31, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThanks Allen, we appreciate your interest in the research.Apr 01, 20140
- Tamara SwiftBackerGo for it!Mar 31, 20140
- Michael WesterfieldBackerGood luck with the project. I'll be looking forward with great interest to seeing the results.Mar 31, 20140
- Tom RivestBackerHow do you know the crow's mental state during scan is not affected by the procedure? Can we do this to a grizzly bear?Mar 31, 20141
- John MarzluffResearcherTom, that is always a concern and certainly it is hard to believe that the procedure affects the crow's mental state somewhat. We try to control for this as much as possible by comparing the brain activation when the presumed dead crow is visible to the activation present when everything else but the dead crow is visible. That is, we also monitor brain activity when the bird has been handled and is in the experimental room to understand if the procedure affects the crow. Interestingly, in our earlier experiments we have shown that the crow's brain activity is not consistent with a fear response under these control situations, so we think the birds' brain actions are primarily in response to the stimulus not the basic handling involved in the procedure. As for the bear, well if you will give them the tracer, we can find a really big scanner:) JohnMar 31, 20141
- Eugenia BeckerBackerKaeli -- Best of luck on the funding and execution of this project. It looks like a fascinating study! Eugenia Becker Salem Audubon SocietyMar 31, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherThanks so much Eugenia! I miss my Birder's Night talks and look forward to a time when my field schedule permits a spring trip down to Salem!Mar 31, 20140
- Trice SwiftBackerGreat work by wonderful people!Mar 31, 20141
- Ramona FlatzBackerGo Kaeli Go!Mar 31, 20140
- John MarzluffResearcherOscar, great question. The cool thing about the scanning procedure we use (PET scanning, which is commonly used on other animals including people) is that it allows us to get a look into the action of the bird's brain while it is behaving PRIOR to our scanning. We use a tracer that is metabolized while a behavior is being performed and then we scan for the buildup of that tracer in the brain after the behavior is done and when the bird is anesthetized. There can still be other things that motivate the bird, but we have controls to try and weed those out. For example, we compare brain activity while the bird looks at the room versus while it looks at the same room when a dead bird is present. It is not perfect, for sure, but it rules out a lot of possible confounding factors. Best of all, when we are done, the bird can be released back into the wild. JohnMar 31, 20141
- Oscar JasklowskiBackerHey John, this is really cool, thanks for your answer! I'm guessing you have to feed the animals the tracer. Do you do this right before the staged funeral?Mar 31, 20140
- Oscar JasklowskiBackerQuestion: how will you guys ensure the crows are thinking about a funeral while you're actually performing the scans?Mar 31, 20140
- Oscar JasklowskiBackerBest of luck, guys! I can't wait to see some more scans :)Mar 31, 20140
- David P. CraigBackerKaeli What is your favorite thing about doing research? DaveMar 31, 20140
- Kaeli SwiftResearcherGreat question Dave. It certainly helps that I'm so passionate about my study species. It's hard to get bored when you can ask questions like this. As to research in general, I think a big part of it is the puzzle like nature of it. You've got a sense what the big picture is, and you have a few pieces but it's up to you to solve how they fit together. When you finally do, it's a fantastic feeling of discovery and triumph. Best yet, nature is a puzzle with no edges so it's a process that encourages itself!Mar 31, 20140
- Vanessa LamersBackerGo Kaeli!Mar 31, 20142