Amanda

"Easier" and "harder" are much too subjective labels. From what I've learned in this lesson, I wouldn't say it was easier or harder so much as it is a longer, more involved process for crows with a different, though not necessarily unequal, set of challenges to reaching that status of breeder. With other birds that don't live in groups, there is an immediacy in their eligibility to breed. They are thrust, sink-or-swim style, into the adult world of breeding to discover by trial and error how to do this successfully. They lack the skill refinement and familial support that crows have thanks to their cooperative nature. The crows have more options, but it takes longer for them to be eligible for those options. Think of it like human children upon graduating high school: which has it harder, the student who immediately moves out and starts working, becoming essentially "adult"; or is it the student who pursues higher education, delaying complete autonomy in favor of skill refinement? I think it is all a matter of perspective. I, subjectively, would feel it easier to be a crow because I like being prepared, having a safety net, and I love learning. But to others, the idea of more "education" that the crows receive by living in families might seem harder or stifling.

I'm pretty good distinguishing crow from non-crow/raven; but between a crow and a raven in real life, not still pictures, I'm a little shaky. It doesn't help that there aren't many ravens in this area for me to practice on. I appreciate the tips from this lesson, though. I'll be sure to put them into practice when I go birding in the future.