While humans built Vancouver for humans, crows sure seem to enjoy the place.
The black birds are one of the most common critters in the city (not including bugs); odds are if you've left the house today, you've seen at least one crow.
Given that, Langara College professor Dr. Laura Adams (who specializes in psychology) wanted to know more about the relationship between the two different types of Vancouverites.
Often, she tells V.I.A., people seem to either like crows or consider them a menace.
"I was really curious to look at that and see how that breaks down, especially within Vancouver," she says.
This spring she ran a survey on crows; this month the survey concluded and Adams gathered the results, which she shared with V.I.A.
Crows are popular
In pop culture, crows are often portrayed as a sign of gloom and death, or as a pest, but in Vancouver, the majority of people are fans of black birds.
"I found people really had positive attitudes towards crows; 67 per cent felt very positive towards crows and only 5 per cent very negative," Adams says.
That response went beyond just clicking a box on an online form, too. The 468 people who responded wrote a collective 15,000 words about crows.
"People were quite thrilled to share their opinions about crows; that was one of the most interesting things, how much people wanted to talk about crows," she says, suggesting it replace weather as the go-to small talk topic in Vancouver.
And even though the majority of people reported being dive-bombed by crows, it didn't much diminish the positive feelings. Adams suggests this means people understand why they were dive-bombed (crows do this to protect their nests).
A symbol of Vancouver
Cute or majestic animals, like orcas, eagles, otters, or seals, are the tourist-friendly animals of Vancouver in brochures, but many locals view crows as a symbol of the city.
"More than half somewhat or strongly thought crows are a symbol of our city," the professor points out.
That's supported by the fact that crows show up a lot in local groups or businesses. Crows have also popped into the local pop culture, like Canuck the Crow or the East Vancouver crow commute. The Vancouver-crow connection is not dissimilar to Toronto and raccoons.
More than just another bird
Even though crows can cause chaos and be pests, Adams believes there's a complex love-hate relationship between humans and crows in Vancouver. She notes crows' intelligence and behaviour take this relationship beyond other wild animals (though, again, it's similar to Toronto and raccoons).
Crows, and the corvidae family (which includes B.C.'s official bird, Stellar's jays), are generally considered intelligent for birds and individual birds can create bonds with humans, like Canuck the Crow.
People who interact with other birds, like ducks, often just toss food or leave bird feed out for whichever birds are around.
With crows, there's more of a "quid-pro-crow" Adams says, and likened it to a friendship or neighbour.
"People are feeding them, but often they're expecting to get gifts back," she says.
One thing she didn't expect to find out was how common deeper relationships are. In the survey, she asked people to list their pets, expecting to see answers like cats, dogs, or fish.
Some people listed crows.
"It seems like with crows it's about building a relationship," she notes.
As a psychology instructor, Adams is interested in learning about these relationships between humans and crows, and plans on continuing her research.
"Every day we walk by these highly intelligent animals, and the more I pay attention to them the more I see how complex their behaviour is," she says.
She plans to publish the results of the survey in the future and continue the research under Vancouver Crow Research.
