Crows Know Who You Are

The crow has long been the subject of myth, imagination, and, in the case of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic "The Birds," bad press.

The crows shared the classic horror film with other species also swarming down in the seaside town, but the crows seemed to seek out actress Tippy Hendron, making a mess of her blonde up-do. Now there’s evidence that crows never forget a face. Dr. John Marzluff is a wildlife biologist and professor at the University of Washington. He’s been studying, and trapping, crows, ravens and jays in the field for 20 years.

He had a hunch that crows could recognize, and evade, individual researchers out to re-trap them. Dr. Marzluff, with the help of a flock of students and volunteers, tested his hypothesis on the University of Washington campus and around seattle - in quite an unusual fashion. We found his story in The New York Times, and then found him. Dr. John Marzluff joins us on the line from Seattle to discuss his first formal study of human face recognition in wild birds.

(Photo by ozlady)