Talking crow greets squirrel with a friendly "hello" at bird feeder

A small action camera stationed at a back yard bird feeder was intended to capture images of colourful birds and cute squirrels as they dined on their morning supply of peanuts in the shell, but instead, it captured surprising footage of a very interesting conversation between a polite crow and unfriendly red squirrel. The squirrel has been munching away on his breakfast and wasn't intending to share. He's been aggressive in his attempts to chase away all the crows and the blue jays, and even the black squirrels who would like a few nuts themselves.

But a patient crow lands on the branch and makes several clear attempts at winning the squirrel over with a single word "hello", spoken with a voice that resembles a talking a parrot. In fact, he tries to say it 3 or 4 times. The squirrel does not seem impressed and he still refuses to share. But at one point he dashes off to hide a nut for later and the crow and his buddies take this as their opportunity to grab a little food and fly off with it.

The crow is definitely trying to speak like a human and it's no accident that he says "hello", although his pronunciation is no longer quite as clear as it used to be. This story actually started about ten years ago when a nest of crows fell out of a tree in small town, Millbrook, in Ontario, Canada. The property owner tried putting the nest back up on the branch and he hoped that the parents would return to care for their babies. After a few hours, it was clear that they were abandoned and he called a veterinarian who lived up the street. They watched the nest until it was almost dark before deciding that the baby crows were orphans. They would not survive the night on their own.

The veterinarian's family adopted the babies and raised them, feeding them meat, dog food, turkey mash, and they also taught them to find their own food. The crows quickly learned to fly and they began living in the trees, returning throughout the day for food. They grew and thrived, and the family inadvertently taught the crows to say hello. The crows even seemed to understand that this word was a greeting, as they would use it to announce their arrival.

The crows became more wild over the late summer and they were accepted by the local crows. The orphans migrated south the first winter, but the family still sees crows that will allow them to get slightly closer than is usually possible, and at least two still say "hello" occasionally.

As time has progressed, this family has maintained their love for the local crows and they feed them peanuts, but they also believed that the crows they raised would likely be passed on by now. Each winter that comes and goes makes this more likely.

And yet, this crow that speaks to this squirrel shows that at least one of them is still alive and well. The squirrel may not understand how special this crow is, or how amazing it is that he is greeted in such a away, but the family was delighted beyond words to see this footage. It is truly heart warming to connect with a wild animal and to help it in a time of need. It is even more wonderful to see them still doing well more than a decade later.