Crow Communication

Crows – there are perhaps as many as 40 species worldwide – are highly intelligent. Some not only use tools, but create them out of straw, wood, or wire to access food. They also play. Recent research has shown that they employ analogical reasoning and recognize faces of individual people. They have a complex social structure and their nuanced communications reflect that.

Crows make a wide variety of calls or vocalizations. Crows have also been observed to respond to calls of other species; presumably, this behavior is learned because it varies regionally. Crows’ vocalizations are complex and poorly understood. Some of the many vocalizations that crows make are a “koww”, usually echoed back and forth between birds, a series of “kowws” in discrete units, a long “caw” followed by a series of short “caws” (usually made when a bird takes off from a perch), an echo-like “eh-aw” sound, and more.

A “caw” can mean different things, depending on how it’s used, the energy put into it, the timbre, the number and speed of repetitions. These vocalizations vary by species, and within each species they vary regionally. In many species, the pattern and number of the numerous vocalizations have been observed to change in response to events in the surroundings (e.g. arrival or departure of crows).

There’s a lot in crow-speak that has to do with the timing of the notes, the space between them, and how quickly they are uttered. In that way it may be as useful to compare it to human-created music as language. The crow’s complex intra-species communication system reflects its complex social life. Crows generally live in family groups, with young adult birds sticking around to help their parents care for this year’s fledglings. In their home territory they’re always on the alert for threats, and quick to share information with the rest of the group. They’re quick to invite crows from neighboring territories to help harass an owl or a hawk.