Back in the day, when the The Potentiality wasn’t even The Daily Gumboot – it was merely a weekly affair called The Weekly Gumboot, an article was written about cowmoonity, focusing on what we can learn from cows as we strive towards friendly, more cohesive communities. Acceptance of others and power in numbers were cited as a few things we could learn from these friendly farm animals.

A recent experience with some crows has got me thinking about what we can learn from these avian creatures – with just one letter separating them from the congenial cows, they couldn’t be more different.

Allow me to set the stage:

Michelle leaves the office after a long day at work.

She enters the bike cage (it is Bike to Work Week, after all!), and as she’s attaching her pannier to her bike, a large, angry crow swoops down, squawking and cawing very close to Michelle’s head.

Michelle shrieks, and runs out of the bike cage. As she composes herself and looks back, she notices a small crow sitting on her pannier, and two large crows guarding either side of the bike cage door. Every attempt to come near the cage is met with squawks and fly-byes.

After 10 minutes of this frightening game, The Potentiality editor-in-chief/hero of the day John Horn arrives to rescue Michelle. Realizing the small crow is injured and being protected by the large crows, John enters the cage and frees the small crow, endangering himself to save his lady and an avian friend.

So there you have it. Naturally, I spent a good few hours reading up on crows after this incident.

Should this intelligence be appreciated? Or feared?

I’ve always had my suspicions about this murderous lot, but found myself quite impressed by their valor and intelligence. At the end of my investigation, I was left with more questions than answers: Should I be more apprehensive? Or is there something positive I could take away from this experience? Taking to heart the mandate of The Potentiality, I’ll attempt to quell my apprehension and identify some community-building tips we can learn from the crowmunity:

1. Protect your peeps: To the terrorizing protective crows, I was a threat to their injured friend/child crow who couldn’t fly away. Their terrifying valiant attempts to keep me away point out the importance of looking out for our friends and family in times of need – no matter how large or scary the enemy may be.2. Utilize your resources: Crows are frighteningly amazingly smart, and are able to utilize/adapt resources within their environment in order to meet their needs. Case in point: crows have learned to drop tough nuts into traffic and wait for a car to crush them, and then wait at pedestrian lights in order to retrieve the nuts. They’ve also been known to manufacture and use a variety of tools, including ‘knives’ cut from stiff leaves and plucked/bent twigs to retrieve food.

Crows permeating our cultural – and natural – landscape

3. Crowmunication: Crows have a complex system of communicating with one other – the pattern and number of vocalizations change in response to events in their surroundings and state of being (i.e. arrival or departure, hunger, territory, affection). One of the amazing things we can learn from crows is the importance of communicating with those we normally would not: crows have learned to respond to the calls of other species, keeping the lines of communication open between all members of the avian community – and beyond.

4. Culture and mythology As any cultural anthropologist will tell you, culture is really, really important to a species. And crows, somehow, have been able to permeate ours in an amazing way. In literature, art, legends, folklore, and film, crows have found a niche for themselves. As a community, we need to be able to create our own cultural legends, finding meaning in the social and natural environment that surrounds us.

As I sit in my office attempting to muster the courage to face the bike cage crows outside, I’ll attempt to remind myself of the myriad ways in which crows have created a sustainable, caring and cohesive community amongst themselves. I’ll also remind myself how crows have the ability to recognize one human from another by facial features. With this in mind, I will keep my sunglasses and bike helmet on from the moment I walk out the office door.