Playful Crows and Animal Consciousness

It's been about a year since I started feeding the crows and it has been amazing to see what other people have observed them doing. So far shared toboggan rides and ball games are still a long way off with my crew, but they are showing signs of wanting to communicate. They watch me put out the food from the safety of the trees, but when I'm late coming out in the morning one will stand on the back rail and give me a squawk.  Then she'll look in through the glass door at me until I get up. It's not a round of hoops but for these parts, where plenty of folks do their best to chase the crows away, I think it's a pretty good start. I'm looking forward to seeing how they are in the spring when they have new chicks to feed.

And it will be a good time for it. With first ever Conference on Animal Consciousness coming up in
July, this couldn't been a better time to be looking at our animal neighbors with new eyes. In the past year dolphins have been recorded speaking whale in their sleep, prairie dog language has been cracked, and dogs have earned frequent rider status on the subway. Maybe we will soon be ready to admit that we humans don't have the intelligent consciousness market cornered. Does that make us lesser beings? I don't think so. But it does make our world way more amazing!

How about you? What surprising animal behavior have you seen? Are you amazed at their cleverness or sharpening your pitchfork before they declare themselves our new overlords? Do tell!