You'll regret asking this (again, in an entirely non-Furry way), but
A little over ten years ago, when I was still living at home, I watched a carrion crow wandering around my parents' garden and, for reasons I've still never fully understood, I decided this was a truly hilarious sight.

So I started to notice crows more and more, and became a colossal nuisance as I pointed them out to everybody, particularly to those who told me to "get a life" or to "shut the fuck up."

And of course, once the interest had been triggered, I started to read more about crows and found out that they're actually incredibly intelligent birds, and a lot of interesting research was being done on their problem-solving abilities. Did you know they can use tools?

They're very interesting birds and they do seem to express an awful lot of character.

That, and www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:36, 3 replies, latest was 14 years ago)

Ah I see.
I was aware they were clever, I remember reading about the litter collecting experiment.
(TheColonel, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:42, Reply)

Have you seen the one with the vending machine?
They built a machine that dispensed treats if you dropped coins into a hopper. First they left coins on the edge of the hopper, then they scattered them on the ground nearby. The crows figured it out, then they stopped leaving coins and the crows brought dropped coins from miles away... I dunno if they turned a profit, though.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:49, Reply)

Plenty of animals use tools, that in itself isn't surprising.
But when they observed crows using tools to make further tools, that's when people got boners.
( Kroney, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:53, Reply)

The crows round my way have been
dive bombing Barclays patrons who were taking their change into the bank.

Then, 30 or 40 of them fly away with the big bag of change to a secret location where they divvy up their ill gotten gains.

They then fly over to that vending hopper and drop their coins in for a slap up feed.
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:05, Reply)

Crow pirates.
Never has something been so brilliant and terrifying in equal measure.
( Kroney, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:06, Reply)

Just the black ones.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:07, Reply)

I've never seen a crow use a crowbar.
Just sayin.
( mark morrisons prison shoes I love Willie, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:54, Reply)

I've seen pics of one using a bass guitar!

( sporters I’m sincerely gratitude to you, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:57, Reply)

I suppose an axe counts.

( mark morrisons prison shoes I love Willie, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:59, Reply)

The crowbar was actually repurposed from its original design
Constantine John Phipps for a while had a medium-sized entourage of crows. Being passerine (perching) birds, he felt, as a gentleman, it was only polite to give them all somewhere to perch when they gathered to converse with (squawk at) him.

To this end, he created a sturdy iron bar, with some natty fittings at either extremity, should he wish to fix it to another inanimate object, on which several crows could perch simultaneously.

It is unfortunate that a sharp-minded ne'er-do-well realised that he could misappropriate this sturdy iron bar, and use the principle of moments to lever open doors and fastenings with larcenous intent.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:59, Reply)

Excellent

( sporters I’m sincerely gratitude to you, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:59, Reply)

interesting if true.

( mark morrisons prison shoes I love Willie, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:01, Reply)

Even if not

( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:04, Reply)

In Japan, they drop hard nuts onto the road so they are run over and opened
that in it's self is clever, however they make sure that they drop the nuts on a zebra crossing, so that the traffic has to stop and they can retrieve the nuts safely...
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 10:58, Reply)

They did an experiment whereby the provided a long stick and a short stick.
then placed a nut at varying lengths. The crows worked out they could hook the nut with the short stick when the nut was at a shallow depth, and the long stick when it was at an intermediate depth. Clever.

When the scientists put it at a greater depth, the crow looked at it, hooked the short stick to the long stick and used the subsequent extra long stick to hook the nut out.

At that point, the research groups trousers exploded.
( Kroney, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:01, Reply)

The rise of the planet of the Crows

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:02, Reply)

Bow to your corvid overlords.

( Kroney, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 11:03, Reply)