Crows at Night

"Of course, we have fingers, which let us hold a needle for sewing, hold flint and pyrite for lighting fire, or hold gauze and set a splint. Crows have two feet and with good balance they can use one a little like a hand, and a beak that's tantamount to chopsticks permanently attached to a digestive system. They cannot form suction or gulp; that's why they throw back their heads to drink water."

"Crows are supposed to fall asleep after sundown. By tradition, they gather to squawk the daily news before roosting when daylight dips. Humans, pre-historically, have been similar. Of course, we have fingers, which let us hold a needle for sewing, hold flint and pyrite for lighting fire, or hold gauze and set a splint. Crows have two feet and with good balance they can use one a little like a hand, and a beak that's tantamount to chopsticks permanently attached to a digestive system."

Urban crows in Nimh gather and bark near midnight, defying their usual behavior of roosting after sundown. Humans developed dexterous hands for tools and care; crows use one foot and their beak for manipulation but lack suction and gulping ability, causing them to tilt their heads to drink. The observed nighttime activity suggests crows are choosing behaviors that do not align with their physiological design. The phenomenon indicates that nonhuman animals are also adapting behaviorally to human-driven environmental change during the Anthropocene. Such choices reflect behavioral flexibility rather than mere bodily necessity. These changes parallel human cultural adaptations.

Read at Portland Mercury