Book Review
Title: In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John M. Marzluff
Genre: Science, Nature
Rating: 3.75 Stars
In the Company of Crows and Ravens was a particularly interesting book especially if you live somewhere in the world where these birds are a common sight as you will see them differently afterwards. The book primarily looks at crows and ravens in the biological and scientific sense, what sets them apart from other species of birds, why are corvid both vilified and revered around the world and many more aspects of them. The thing that drew me to this book was it focuses on one of the more intelligent species of birds next to parrots and they also rank high in intelligence when compared to primates and mammals like us.
Most of the book breaks down the crow into different components such as vocalizations, appearance, diet, breeding habits and much more. However, most of these sections are contrasted with the raven and how we influence crow behavior as much as they influence ours. Many people will be aware that crows and ravens are part of the corvid genus which includes far more species than many might be aware of. We know they typically tend to be black birds, although this isn’t the case with some as they have an iridescent coloring to their feathers which only appears black in certain lighting conditions. We know they are intelligent birds and crows are one of few species that have adapted to our modern, urban environments alongside pigeons, seagulls and foxes. However, our cultural relationship with crows and ravens has changed many times over the course of human evolution and researchers have even begun noting that our choices and behavior influence how the crows behave.
For example, crows only defend their immediate nest areas which is significantly smaller than that of the raven’s which means they can thrive and increase their population size even in densely crowed urban areas. This comes down to an abundance of shelter and food resources which are the only things crows need to breed effectively. Scientists and researchers have seen this firsthand where ravens have dominated a forested or wild area, but as it is torn down to make way for urban development, they are replaced with crows who seem to follow humans in terms of where they settle. It is theorized this is because crows have come to understand humans and how we throw away a cast amount of food that they can make use of. This co-existence has influenced the perception of crows, once when humans were hunter gatherers they might have been seen as a nuisance, fighting for the same food source but they were also a great help in maintaining environments as they would eat any waste. This is still seen today as crows will often feast on garbage and roadkill meaning they provide an essential cleaning service that would otherwise fall to people at great expense.
However, it is their eating habits that have altered the way they have been viewed. Many birds like crows are now seen as vermin because they often consume rubbish and the dead, but this accounts for a small portion of their diets as they still consume, eggs, other bird’s nestlings, seeds, nuts and everything in between. Much like the urban fox, crows are seen as a problem in certain areas of the world and efforts have been made to bring down their numbers through force, by shooting them but nothing has seemed to work. However, some scientists have proven the only reasons crows will leave an area is due to either declining food resources or an increase in predators such as hawks. In the UK, hawks are rather rare and in urban areas especially those near cities or landfills will have an abundance of these birds because there are no real predators for them as they outsmart most others and a huge amount of food.
The point has been made that to keep the crow from urban areas measures will have to put in place where they can’t access food, but most current methods are easy for crows to understand and circumvent. Looking into the history of the human relationship with crows and how it has changed over time was interesting as well as what we can do to limit their numbers without killing them. However, the point is also made that there are some rarer species of the corvid genus that have become critically endangered or even gone extinct in the wild because they are given the same public attention as other species like wolves or bears and this is partly due to their public perception.
This book would be great for those interested in learning more about corvid genus or those interested in birds in general as a lot of the information and themes here can apply to other species especially those that are hunted or become rarer in the wild due to human interference. Overall, I found the book to be extremely interesting and I loved listening with the audiobook and seeing the stunning artwork featured throughout.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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