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We Got the Wrong Starling

10,000 Birds

The group I was with gathered in Ahmedebad (one of India’s mid-sized cities with only 8 million residents) to be transported by bus out to the conference site in Kutch. While in India last week for the 3rd annual Global Bird-watching Conference in the state of Gujarat, I had the opportunity to let my mind wonder “what if”?

India 158
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Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans

10,000 Birds

In each instance they start with a striking anecdote — my particular favorite took place on the University of Montana campus, where in 1964 an American Crow learned to call and taunt stray dogs into causing perhaps the most adorable college riots of the decade.

Humane 149