As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Ravens Know When Food-Thieving Rivals Are Watching

by Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | February 02, 2016 02:08pm ET

In Norse mythology, two ravens named Huginn and Munnin — "Thought" and "Memory" — employ these faculties as Odin's emissaries, acting as the god's eyes and ears on Earth and reporting back to him about whatever they observe. Even in common ravens, problem-solving, decision-making and remembering past experiences are traits that scientists recognize as highly developed.

Now scientists have found that ravens seem to know when they're being watched by a rival that might steal from them, and then take steps to hide their food.

Previous behavior studies with scrub jays, which are raven relatives, showed that they could interpret other bird's thieving intentions — if they spied another jay watching them while they had food, they hid the food away.

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