Well, well...

[Greek Amazon13]

Someone was talking about small blackbirds that hop around outside their window... And then someone asked if those were the ones that had orange feet & beaks...
There's a species of moderately-sized birds called "Grackels" that look pretty much like mini-crows. They're way more annoying though. They pack hunt other birds and squirrels by cawing at them until they run out in front of a moving car and then the grackels get a free meal.<P>Anyway, that was pointless knowledge. I like crows. Did you know they can immitate human speech? Like parrots? (They're actually better at it than parrots.) Crows are really bright.<P>Originally there was a point to this respones, other than talking about birds. Um.... I don't remember it anymore.<P>--Maureen

[Watchman]

I'm pretty sure *those* ain't crows. Not by any degree. During all my life I've heard them make exactly two kinds of noises: they caw, and one once <I>hissed</I> at a big gull it was facing off with.<P>Dunno what the small birds who can mimic speech are called in English, but they aren't very closely related to crows AFAIK.

[Lordgeejay]

A crow for an actual pet? Now there's an idea! <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> I wonder how easy or difficult it is to have a crow pet. Imagine walking around with a crow perched on your shoulder. Yeah. It would be better of course if you can have it attack somebody on your command or have it fetch stuff.<P>
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<B>Geejay Fua</B>
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[Greek Amazon13]

Grackels can't immitate human speech, but crows can.
It's just that crows aren't often kept as pets, and therefore aren't trained to speak. I think it might be illegal to keep them as pets, otherwise I'd get one. (That, and my cats would eat it....)<P>--Maureen