Birds can be friend or foe.

On the friend side of the ledger, check out the short film Canuck (it’s on YouTube) about the guy in Vancouver who walks around the city with his pal Canuck the crow. Instead of flying away on the day his neighbor went to release it after rescuing it as a chick, the bird flew to this guy’s arm and now that happens every day.

It’s a wild crow, but still hangs with this Vancouverite when he’s out and about.

On the foe front are the Australian magpies that harass cyclists anytime they ride near the birds’ roadside nests. There’s a YouTube video of a rider deploying his custom magpie-frightener. The DIY device looks like a pair of party blowers (those things that unroll and honk when you blow into them) attached to his helmet. When a... Read More