Loma Pendergraft

I'm an instructor of animal behavior at the University of Washington. I also study crows: what are they capable of, and what are they saying to each other?

[Loma Pendergraft @CleverCorvids]

@kris0723 I just saw some yesterday starting to pull branches. That means that they’re in the beginning phases of building their nests

[Loma Pendergraft @CleverCorvids]

@kris0723 Not yet, though it may be in the early stages of development. Most songbird females (crows included) form brood patches before they start incubating, but I haven't seen any of the local crows building nests yet. They should be starting soon, though

[Loma Pendergraft @CleverCorvids]

@Goodwin48 @kris0723 @subirdia @corvidresearch Males tend to be slightly larger than females, but there’s a lot of overlap (plenty of big females and small males). Nesting females have a brood patch while incubating, but that’s hard to see unless you have the bird in hand. We sexed our birds via blood samples.

[Loma Pendergraft @CleverCorvids]

@kris0723 @subirdia @corvidresearch “…understands the principle of water displacement”. Very true. Here’s a video of her applying that understanding to get a good reward. Glad to see she’s still doing well!