My dad had a friend who worked at a remote logging area and tossed his bread crust to a raven that was perched by the road. Next day, the raven swooped past his truck as he drove past. Eventually he stopped and dug something out of his lunchbox and gave it to him.
Then every day for months, he would just hold a snack in his fingers and the raven would swoop down and grab it as he drove past. Pretty amazing to think about. That level of foresight, adherence to a routine, not giving up (days off, etc).
The Australian Magpie has similar behaviour to crows/ravens, although they are not closely related. They are very intelligent birds and will respond to regular feeding quickly and then expect it. If they are not fed, they'll tap on your window or walk into your house through an open door to tell you off.
They recognise the faces, voices, unique gait, posture and body language of people from their local area, and can remember an average of around 30 people. Some have been known to recognise up to 100 different people. They remember people for around 5 years. They'll know who lives where, what your regular schedule is, and which path you regularly travel along. They even know all the local cats and dogs and even can identify specific bicycles, cars and bright clothing uniforms (such as postal uniform).
During breeding season, they are most famous for swooping anyone near their nest who they deem as a threat (about 10% of males swoop). They will avoid swooping people they recognise though, so friends get a free pass.
They also hold grudges, so if you do something to annoy or threaten them, they will remember you. Some people have been on a magpie's "enemies list", and returned to a location 10+ years later and immediately been targeted, as the bird recognised them. Some birds even teach their young which people are to be treated as enemies.
They are fascinating. I think you understate a little just how aggressive they can be when they are nesting nearby. You literally neeed to run for your life if a local magpie decides you are not to be trusted! Their attacks can be vicious, it makes the news regularly :)
Oh and I saw videos of them opening garbage cans in teams! One cannot possibly do it but they manage it by partnering with their friends.
A while ago they stopped research with backpack-like trackers on magpies because the magpies figured out a way to take the trackers off each other. The first instance of magpie-cooperation that was purely altruistic! No food reward involved.
Down here in Tasmania we have Black Currawongs (strepera fuliginosa) that patrol around on bin night calling out to each other when they find a wheelie bin they can smell food scraps in. An individual bird can open the lids on their own. Our neighbours countered this by zip tying full 600ml water bottles to the lid handles. Heavy enough that a bird couldn't lift the lid, but not heavy enough to stop the lid opening when the truck lifts the bin.
In response to this, the birds now work together in groups of 3 to open the lids. So people started zip tying two water bottles to the bins... the birds can't get past that as there isn't enough room for them to work in a group of 6.
Me, I just put some green waste on the top of my bin before I take it out. We've also replaced our front lawn with native plants and there's lots of things in there that the birds like to eat. When something in there goes to seed we'll often have 20+ currawongs.
I couldn't find a link, but there's a Bizzaro strip that shows a sculptor putting the finishing touches on his latest work: an elderly mannequin made of peanut butter and bird seed, dressed and seated in a wheel chair. The artist smiles as he imagines the reaction he'll get when he wheels the sculpture through a park full of pigeons.
I knew somebody who had logged in Alaska and they swore that this one town had a huge crow who would hang out by the town's welcome sign and...welcome the visitors. Apparently crows who spend enough time around people will sometimes mimic human speech and this particular crow had been taught to welcome people in.
My family rescued a jackdaw when I was growing up and it lived with us, we named him Klaus.
He could say “goddag” (hello) and “gå væk” (go away), and he would use them in context. Say hello to people entering, and go away if he wanted to be left alone.
When he was young he would steal my granddads cigar, fly up somewhere high in a tree or a lightpole, but where he could be seen, and dismantle it.
He grew very old and had a lot of white feathers in the end. I’ve always liked jackdaws after that, I love seeing them around and their little personalities.
18 minute short film about a very social corella that adopted an entire community in the north of Australia, surfing on car bonnets, stealing cards from players, performing for food, hurling insults, teasing dogs, etc.
There was an American Crow at a local wildlife rescue who could speak and mimic sounds. He would do a ringtone sort of sound, said "caw, caw" in a very human voice (presumably mimicking people mimicking crows), and sometimes would say "American Crow" (as he was identified by the sign on his enclosure).
Then every day for months, he would just hold a snack in his fingers and the raven would swoop down and grab it as he drove past. Pretty amazing to think about. That level of foresight, adherence to a routine, not giving up (days off, etc).