Canuck, the crow has a paying job...

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
14,698
73
48
I've been following "Canuck and I" on facebook for awhile. I love animals and Canuck has been hilarious in his antics. He's become famous on the internet and now...now he has a job. I haven't yet met Canuck. I"m hoping to, but crows are crows. they do what they want when they want so, it might be awhile yet before I am fortunate enough to interact with him.
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IT specialists probably think they’ve heard it all, but Loredana Udovicic has a new one for them: The crow stole my keyboard.

Well, not the entire keyboard, but the manager of food and beverage at the Pacific National Exhibition has had to repeatedly ask her IT department for a replacement keyboard after Canuck the Crow flew through an open window into her office and made off with one of the keys.

“IT is upset with me, I’ve lost three keyboards and they don’t believe me when I tell them why,” Udovicic said with a laugh.

“I’ve left the window open and Canuck has flown in, he rearranges things on my desk and then plucks a key off my keyboard. He’s quite funny, actually.”

Canuck has been visiting the PNE ever since he learned to fly a couple of years ago. Staff began treating him like an honorary employee.


This year, the Exhibition decided to make him a full-time employee, fitting since tens of thousands of youngsters got their first paying job at the PNE over its 107-year history, according to the fair.

Almost daily, Canuck has been job-shadowing PNE and Playland employees, from candy attendants, cashiers, sweepers, maintenance crew and gardeners, said Stacy Shields, the PNE’s vice-president of human resources.

Now, he’ll get a starting salary of $12.27 an hour, which will be donated to the Night Owl Bird Hospital in support of the World Parrot Refuge, Shields said. It will work out to about $1,000 for the summer gig.

Night Owl is the Kitsilano hospital where Canuck was cared for after being viciously beaten by a soccer dad with a flagpole this spring.

Canuck’s appearances cause amusement and bemusement, Udovicic said.

“He’s like a little human, he just walks right in the front door,” she said. “Not fly, he walks in.

“As soon as he enters a building the cameras come out, the locals recognize him and want a photo. The tourists run away.”

Recently Canuck dropped in at an eighth birthday party being held at Triple O’s Restaurant at the PNE.

“He came into the dining room, visited with the birthday guests, the little girl was so happy because she follows him on Facebook and thought it was a thrill to have him visit her at her birthday party.”

And, as anyone knows who has followed Canuck’s adventures on Facebook — @thecrowandI — he likes picking up things that don’t belong to him and flying off.

“He’s not a nuisance, he’s not harmful, he’s sweet,” Udovicic said. “He likes anything shiny.

“And the colour red. He never takes a blue pen but takes red pens all the time.”

A thousand jobs are still available to that other biped species — humans — Shields added.

Caws for celebration: Canuck the Crow lands a paying gig at PNE
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
24,505
2,197
113
This Crow Is The Smartest Bird You've Ever Seen

[youtube]AVaITA7eBZE[/youtube]

Causal understanding of water displacement by a crow

[youtube]ZerUbHmuY04[/youtube]

S.M.A.R.T!
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
24,505
2,197
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eventually he will have stolen enough keys to get back on the net
:)
mmmm...shiny!
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,530
7,055
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Washington DC
Just washed your car, eh?
I live in a 16-storey highrise. There's another one across the street, maybe 150 metres away. All the surrounding structures are townhouses or low-rise apartments, no more than four storeys. I will often see Jake leap off the other building, snap out her wings, and glide across the street, riding the air and maneuvering by tiny adjustments, never flapping. She'll drop a couple of storeys below mine, then as she comes in, pop up to kill her speed, land on the edge of my balcony, and fold her wings.

Crows are not natural gliders, they flap. If you accept a definition of "art" as "putting forth effort or expense to do something aesthetically pleasing beyond pure functionality" then Jake is indeed an artist. She uses her skill and command of the air to purposefully do something not natural to her species because it pleases her to do so.
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
201
63
RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
I live in a 16-storey highrise. There's another one across the street, maybe 150 metres away. All the surrounding structures are townhouses or low-rise apartments, no more than four storeys. I will often see Jake leap off the other building, snap out her wings, and glide across the street, riding the air and maneuvering by tiny adjustments, never flapping. She'll drop a couple of storeys below mine, then as she comes in, pop up to kill her speed, land on the edge of my balcony, and fold her wings.

Crows are not natural gliders, they flap. If you accept a definition of "art" as "putting forth effort or expense to do something aesthetically pleasing beyond pure functionality" then Jake is indeed an artist. She uses her skill and command of the air to purposefully do something not natural to her species because it pleases her to do so.

My favourite birds, I feed them all winter off my front sunroom. They are very busy with thier young right now who are very noisey and always demanding more from thier overworked parents.
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
24,505
2,197
113
I live in a 16-storey highrise. There's another one across the street, maybe 150 metres away. All the surrounding structures are townhouses or low-rise apartments, no more than four storeys. I will often see Jake leap off the other building, snap out her wings, and glide across the street, riding the air and maneuvering by tiny adjustments, never flapping. She'll drop a couple of storeys below mine, then as she comes in, pop up to kill her speed, land on the edge of my balcony, and fold her wings.

Crows are not natural gliders, they flap. If you accept a definition of "art" as "putting forth effort or expense to do something aesthetically pleasing beyond pure functionality" then Jake is indeed an artist. She uses her skill and command of the air to purposefully do something not natural to her species because it pleases her to do so.


It is said that when death is near, a crow will come to a window or near a home repeatedly for several days before the passing takes place.
Have You Been Seeing Crows? What The Crow Symbolizes (More Than Just Death) – Collective Evolution

been nice to know ya
:)

"One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_for_Sorrow_(nursery_rhyme)
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
201
63
RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
Five or six winters ago there was a crow died down in the field behind my place a big maple tree overlooks the field the dead crow was about a hundred feet out in front of that tree which was literally full of crows warching a hawk consume the dead crow in silence, that lasted for an hour or more. I got the distinct feeling I was witness to some kind of religious exchange.
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,530
7,055
113
Washington DC
My favourite birds, I feed them all winter off my front sunroom. They are very busy with thier young right now who are very noisey and always demanding more from thier overworked parents.
I think Jake has hit the end of her reproductive years. I've known her for five years now, and this is the first time she apparently hasn't produced a clutch. Her mate Joe died a couple of years ago. He was dumb as a rock, but big and brave, and diligent in guarding the territory when they were nesting. Last year she clutched very late, and was already into moving-on mode when her only surviving chick, Jerry, would come to the balcony, first with Jake, then alone. He was very lonely and dependent, to the point where he'd eat from my hand. As much as I enjoyed that, I rarely did it. I wanted him to learn to stay away from human hands.

Now I think Jake is grandmothering, because the local breeding flock appears to be four or five families, one of whom I know belongs to Justine, Jake's daughter. The pattern is different than in years when Jake had her own chicks, but she's still very much in charge of the neighbourhood.

I've always said, observing crows for about three days will convince all but the most bigoted and insecure that they are possibly smarter than you, probably smarter than your boss, and definitely smarter than your Congresscritter (MP for Canadians).
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
24,505
2,197
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Five or six winters ago there was a crow died down in the field behind my place a big maple tree overlooks the field the dead crow was about a hundred feet out in front of that tree which was literally full of crows warching a hawk consume the dead crow in silence, that lasted for an hour or more. I got the distinct feeling I was witness to some kind of religious exchange.

Yeah, they won't go into that field again unless they know the hawk is long gone.
They have found out that to control crows you catch one, scare the crap out of it, and send it back on it's way.
It will tell all the other crows and they will then avoid that area.
 

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
14,698
73
48
My favourite birds, I feed them all winter off my front sunroom. They are very busy with thier young right now who are very noisey and always demanding more from thier overworked parents.
I love to watch the crows in our park feed their babies. If it weren't for the squack you wouldn't be able to tell which is the parent and which is the baby. I'd love to be able to feed our crows but I'm too busy and wouldn't be consistant enough which would make me feel guilty and then become a big emotional bag of shit feelings. So I don't. I do, however, go out of my way to not scare them off when they are feeding and I will give them a wide birth while walking so they don't have to hop out of our way.

I wonder what Darwin would say, or any of the other human supremists.

humna supremist? are those the people who think they are so much better, more valuable etc then the other animals on this planet? I don't like them much. People who are incapable of seeing the value of sharing this planet with a wide variety of animals are short sighted thinkers...greedy...non empathic. I dislike those with the superiority complex. they're just bags of foul air...
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
201
63
RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
I think Jake has hit the end of her reproductive years. I've known her for five years now, and this is the first time she apparently hasn't produced a clutch. Her mate Joe died a couple of years ago. He was dumb as a rock, but big and brave, and diligent in guarding the territory when they were nesting. Last year she clutched very late, and was already into moving-on mode when her only surviving chick, Jerry, would come to the balcony, first with Jake, then alone. He was very lonely and dependent, to the point where he'd eat from my hand. As much as I enjoyed that, I rarely did it. I wanted him to learn to stay away from human hands.

Now I think Jake is grandmothering, because the local breeding flock appears to be four or five families, one of whom I know belongs to Justine, Jake's daughter. The pattern is different than in years when Jake had her own chicks, but she's still very much in charge of the neighbourhood.

I've always said, observing crows for about three days will convince all but the most bigoted and insecure that they are possibly smarter than you, probably smarter than your boss, and definitely smarter than your Congresscritter (MP for Canadians).

If the crows like you there is no doubt you're a genuine person of solid stature. They live for thirty or more years I believe.
 

bill barilko

Senate Member
Mar 4, 2009
5,863
487
83
Vancouver-by-the-Sea
If they start making too much noise early in the AM I go out and rip a few alleys through the canopy of the big leafed Maples out front that usually shuts them up-and are they polite when I walk out onto the street later!
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
37,070
6
36
I live in a 16-storey highrise. There's another one across the street, maybe 150 metres away. All the surrounding structures are townhouses or low-rise apartments, no more than four storeys. I will often see Jake leap off the other building, snap out her wings, and glide across the street, riding the air and maneuvering by tiny adjustments, never flapping. She'll drop a couple of storeys below mine, then as she comes in, pop up to kill her speed, land on the edge of my balcony, and fold her wings.

Crows are not natural gliders, they flap. If you accept a definition of "art" as "putting forth effort or expense to do something aesthetically pleasing beyond pure functionality" then Jake is indeed an artist. She uses her skill and command of the air to purposefully do something not natural to her species because it pleases her to do so.

In the late 1940's, early 1950's, my Dad worked in what was then the tallest office building in Montreal... the Sun Life Building. Back in the days before DDT got to them, there were Peregrine Falcons nesting on the building and it was common to see them whiz by your office window, crouched in a 60 mph dive while going after pigeons.



p.s. Living in "the Projects"?