We coevolved with What??

kw: book reviews, nonfiction, ornithology, cultural evolution, coevolution

The great irony of ornithology: corvids are songbirds. Yeah, I'm talking about crows, ravens, jays, magpies, rooks...all those mainly black birds (that aren't blackbirds), with awful-sounding voices. To an ornithologist, "song" has a broader meaning, than to the average Ipod addict. So, it makes scientific sense, but the idea still makes me giggle.

Professor John M. Marzluff and illustrator Tony Angell have teamed up to produce In the Company of Crows and Ravens, half zoology and half enviro-polemic (as all naturalist writing must be these days, to get published). That means, out of 300 pages, plus apparatus, about 150 pages tell us about corvid natural history. Actually, a good chunk of that is a discussion of six threads that illustrate Prof. Marzluff's hypothesis that crows and humans co-evolved, or perhaps that the human-plus-wolf versus crow-or-raven creative tension has affected what all these species are today.

I many ways, corvids are more like primates than they are like other birds. They recognize themselves in reflections (dogs usually don't), they play, they gossip, and many species make tools.

Humans and corvids are social, inquisitive, problem-solving, and highly communicative. The peak of corvid evolution seems to be the American Crow. Crows do best in human-disturbed habitat. They don't favor untouched forest the way ravens do. Crows like the crops we grow, but even more, they thrive on the bugs that eat our crops and on our garbage.

People have a love-hate relationship with crows. It may be quaint—even beneficial—to have a few crows frequent your yard to pull up earthworms or decimate the lawn grubs. But if your house is near a spot they choose for a night roost, say 10,000 or so, every evening, in a shrieking, milling gabble, you're likely to become a card- and rifle-carrying member of NRA in short order!

I have to remark on the illustrations. Tony Angell has a deft hand, rendering a bird on scratchboard (I think that's the original medium). But I had a bit of nostalgia. I used to draw, a few birds and animals but mainly plants, mushrooms, and scenery. Whenever I tried to draw a person, somehow I couldn't get a human look. I wanted to be able to draw anything, but the human figure was my bugaboo, and by my twenties I gave up drawing altogether. I am glad Mr. Angell didn't give up drawing. His human figures are nearly as bad as mine were. In fact, he has a real problem drawing mammals in general. But his bird figures are sublime.

I'll have to think a while about the coevolution ideas. Meanwhile, I've a bit better appreciation for the noisy critters.