Crows v. Gulls

[boarddad]

I grew up about 4 hours inland from the nearest ocean and there were always seagulls at the dump - go figure.

Ever watch a seagull eat muscles? It's pretty cool. They float around by the piers and pick them off the pilings. Them they go up on he moorings and fly just high enoughso that they can drop them on the mooring and break open the shell to get at the yummy, muscley goodness inside. They can't fly too high or one of their buddies wl make off with the muscle before they can land and retrieve it. Pretty smart birds, and an absolutely endless supply of food, plus no predators that close to civilization. I don't know if they'd beat a crow in a deathmatch but they don't have to. Seagulls are here to stay.

[Parvo]

Gulls = Utah's State Bird because they 'sposedly ate a bunch of crickets per Bigamy Young's orders. They taste a little better than pigeon, but worse than parrot.

Magpies = the assholes of the bird world. Saw 3 of them attack and kill another bird during my lunchbreak last summer

Ravens = seem to know just how far a human can throw a rock, and will chill just about 2 feet away from that spot after ransacking your bag of cookies left momentarily unattended. also an AFC powerhouse

Crows = in hell, i'm sure I'll spend eternity with them pecking my eyes out for all the damn crows I murdered on our farm as a youth. Did you know the collective term for crows is a 'murder'?

[moose pit]

Did you know the collective term for crows is a 'murder'?

covered that at teh same time as a flock of seagulls

[iceman]

covered that at teh same time as a flock of seagulls

Dude, you didn't have to rub his nose in it.

Those of us paying attention already knew.

[jfost]

...One day a big old raven took up post on our outdoor picnic table. Just sat there for an hour or two until we finally took notice. I went out to see what was up. He wouldn't move but would hop to the other side of the table when I approached. I noticed that he had something like a straw stuck in his mouth and went back for my dad.

My dad took an hour of sitting at the table, finally got him to come over and removed the piece of hay from his gullet. Raven hung out for the rest of the afternoon, then wnet over to the bamboo grove and died. I guess the removal of the hay was not enough and he croaked.

....

between this story and the seagull vs. falcon crazy-ass ending, I'm calling this thread the "unexpected endings"

[brice618]

I'm decidedly a crow guy.

I saw a one eyed homeless guy in Vancouver who had tamed a pigeon to sit on his shoulder. Urban pirate.

[The AD]

I'm pretty sure crows could hold their own against gulls. Crows are cagey bastards and like to gang up on other birds. They constantly harass raptors as shown in that video.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

There are people who view their commute to work each day as a necessary evil, and their car as an appliance to do the job of transporting them. These people are crows.

Then there are people who thrill at acceleration and speed, who enjoy a tight turn and own cars that handle well and will take them out for a drive just for the fun of it. These people are mostly gulls.

The ravens own the modified sports cars. They have somewhere to go but they want to extract maximum enjoyment from the trip. Getting from point A to B is not just a commute, it's a chance for some fun.

[Missiongravity]

If choosing between the two I would side with the Crows. Like cockroaches I see them outlasting Gulls. What is a gull gonna do when there is no trash left after we run ourselves in to the ground. The crow already has bad ass survivor skills.

As for Magpies protected status, I have heard they are the oldest known species of birds in the world. Possibly back to the Deeno-Saurs!

[BigDaddy]

I'm decidedly a crow guy.

I saw a one eyed homeless guy in Vancouver who had tamed a pigeon to sit on his shoulder. Urban pirate.

You sure it wasn't waiting for him to pass out again so he could get the other one?...

[Chugachjed]

You sure it wasn't waiting for him to pass out again so he could get the other one?...

¡¡¡FTW!!!

[Ted Striker]

I saw an interview with Mike Score (Flock of Seagulls singer) a few years back and he was super bitter. He owned some nightclub in Florida and was still writing and playing music, but the only thing anyone wanted to hear was "I ran". And he was bald.

Oh, and all ravens are crows, however not all crows are ravens.

[Jethro]

I like crows, magpies and ravens. They are all pretty smart birds, as birds go. Gulls are great flyers, but their social nature can be a problem. When one finds food, he calls in all his buddies. For me, the only birds around here which I consider flying rats are pigeons.

[Svengali]

[SterlingSpikeDancer]

Oh, and all ravens are crows, however not all crows are ravens.

Not entirely correct, as they are different species, but that is splitting hairs. As a group I prefer crows and ravens. Their intelligence is fascinating, as is their problem solving. I'm not saying that is absent with gulls, I just don't see as much evidence. Around here, you tend to see both in town, gulls around water/dumps and more ravens in the hills. I would caste a vote in the raven camp. One of my favorite birds. I saw one trying to eat a live bunny on the way up the backside of Berthoud Pass last week. Pretty cool.

[iceman]

Damn, gulls in CO, I didn't know that.

[Mr. Multiglisse]

There are people who view their commute to work each day as a necessary evil, and their car as an appliance to do the job of transporting them. These people are crows.

Then there are people who thrill at acceleration and speed, who enjoy a tight turn and own cars that handle well and will take them out for a drive just for the fun of it. These people are mostly gulls.

The ravens own the modified sports cars. They have somewhere to go but they want to extract maximum enjoyment from the trip. Getting from point A to B is not just a commute, it's a chance for some fun.

+ 1 to this, which confirms me as a raven.

Years ago, in a galaxy far far away, I worked as a canoe guide in Quetico Park, in northwestern Ontario. One of the park wardens told me about a semi-tame raven named Murphy that had a fascination with shiny things. Murphy was famous for flying into campsites and stealing cutlery. One day, he flew in to the picnic area at public campground, picked up some poor bugger's car keys and flew out over the lake with the keys held firmly on his beak. Imagine the guy freaking out. Murphy, however, was apparently just messing with him, as he flew back to land, dropped the keys on the beach and took off again.

About a week after hearing this story, I was sitting on a campsite, enjoying a leisurely breakfast with yet another group of Catholic high school girls from Chicago (aah, those were the days!), when who should show up but Murphy. It was easy to identify him because he was completely unafraid of us and became rather focused on our shiny cutlery. I rallied the girls and we stashed our forks and spoons out of the bird's sight. He hung around for for a bit, then gave up on us, and with a ravenly "tok, tok," took off looking for his next victim.

As Utah Phillips said, "You've got to mess with people, day and night, you have to mess with people! You gotta mess with 'em! They just kind of sink into a cryonic torpor and they're never seen again, god!"

Ravens know how to mess with people.

[refried]

There's a raven that lives around my house that likes to mimic sounds he hears. A few years ago I was adjusting my satellite dish for my tv and he beeped for months increasing and decreasing the speed of the beeps sounding just like it did when I was moving the dish. The next noise he learned was my telephone ringing, If I didn't let voice mail get that phone 99% of the time I'd be running in the house all the time. He Also likes the sound of my CO detector in my van, It started beeping a few weeks ago so I took the battery out until I could replace it, Well 20 minutes later I hear it beeping, I walk over to the van and realize it's the raven again.
We have a spot at our dump that you can leave good useable things for someone else instead of throwing them away. Well this worked for a while but then people started selling the stuff on ebay. It's gotten so bad there that they swarm around as soon as you pull up, just like sea gulls. I thought of making up a tshirt and bumper stickers that say "Don't feed the sea gulls" with a picture of the dump and the human sea gulls.

[Ted Striker]

Not entirely correct, as they are different species, but that is splitting hairs.

Hmmm? I think crow = genus, and raven = species, no? Therefore...

Anyhow... I live about 1000 feet from the Pacific Ocean and the crows rule here. The gulls' territory starts about halfway between my house and the shore. If a gull gets this far, he is turned around by a murder of crows acting as a well coordinated unit. That same murder of crows will kill and eat other birds' chicks and the occasional baby squirrel too. Bad ass birds.

[The Reverend Floater]

There's something spooky about crows that sometimes makes me get the willies. I've always had a weird respect for them.

Magpies, on the other hand, can be deep fried and fed to Nancy Grace for all I care.

[moose pit]

All 'em birds are savage... the neighbor had this friendly crow hanging around that she would feed on occasion... then a new gang moved into town, the friendly crow didn't take a hint and the other new crows killed it on the lawn.

Can't say I like crows... they picked apart the garden this year and tend to be rather obnoxious.

[SterlingSpikeDancer]

Hmmm? I think crow = genus, and raven = species, no? Therefore...

Totally not trying to be a dick (this time anyhow!), but my understanding is Corvus corax is the Common Raven and Corvus brachyrhynchos is the American Crow.

Both are cool birds, but I still dig ravens more. They make me think of the mountains.

[flyandski365]

Totally not trying to be a dick (this time anyhow!), but my understanding is Corvus corax is the Common Raven and Corvus brachyrhynchos is the American Crow.

Both are cool birds, but I still dig ravens more. They make me think of the mountains.

This is correct. Furthermore, crows, ravens, magpies and jays are all members of family Corvidae. All are intelligent, and most can mimic speech. Magpies are thought to be some of the smartest animals on the planet.

[Ted Striker]

^^^ that I knew. I just thought that the word crow referred to all birds in the Corvus genus. Guess I shoulda paid more attention and skipped fewer classes to go skiing! Speaking of which...

[Alaskan Rover]

I love them both....and ravens, too.

Crows and ravens are some of the smartest birds around.

Sea gulls are some of the absolute toughest and are incredibly graceful fliers. Only when the gulls head for land when at sea do you know that it's going to be a wicked storm.

I could watch crows/ravens and gulls for hours...and don't put one above the other. They also have their own weird hierarchy. Crows will chase after ravens and gulls in the sky...but on land, gulls are always king. Just watch any seaboard parking lot to find that out. Ravens and gulls, though, have seemed to make peace with each other...due to their similar sizes.

The world would be a more desolate place without either one.

--