Whats the smartest bird in the world?

i heard the Raven is the smartest, or maybe the Macaw because of its ability to copy human words, but heard Ravens can do that too. The Ravens even though they look evil lookin because of its relation to its color black and the way they look, had been able to use simple human tools to catch or steal their prey.

this site
www.mcgill.ca...

has this to say

The most intelligent bird group according to Lefebvre's research is crows. The Japanese carrion crow exhibits a remarkable behaviour that demonstrates why this bird is at the top of the "bird brain" charts. At a university campus in Japan, carrion crows have developed a unique feeding innovation that exploits human technology. They perch at traffic intersections and patiently wait for the red light. When the vehicles come to a stop, the crows spring into action - they fly down to the cars and place walnuts under the tires. These crows are smart enough to have figured out that the simplest way to open a nut is to get someone else to do it for you.

hawks , falcons , eagles and woodpeckers all rank highly too.

True. I believe it is a crow that uses tools such as twigs in order to aquire insects within trees.

The African grey has to be up there in the top ten, maybe in the top 5. by far the best talker.

Maybe this one?.

Sanc'.

According to Ace Ventura it's Corvus corax (ravens). Jays, crows, and magpies also fall in to this category.

www.birdguides.com...

Peace

[edit on 28-7-2005 by Dr Love]

I'll have to go with Corvids, too..Especially, the Ravens.

If they come across an animal carcass, but can't get into it.
They will sit in the trees, and make lots of noise, until a coyote, or Wolf comes along (who was probably listening for the Raven noise)..
The wolf then opens up the carcass, eats his share, then the ravens fly down to have a bite.

I watched a video once, of an ice fisherman, who would go back to his fishing spots, to find that although the little fish flag had popped up.
The line had been pulled out of the water, and the fish was gone.
The culprit was a Raven, who only went for the tripped lines, he would pull the line up with his beak, the STEP ON THE LINE to hold it, pull a little more up, step on it etc..until he reach the fish..
I thought that was one smart bird..

The african grey parrot is the smartest bird and close to being the smartest animal. The have been tought to identify different materials, count, understand the concept of zero, indentify colours, do basic math, identify and recall the names of objects and do obsticle courses.

Originally posted by GoldEagle
The african grey parrot is the smartest bird and close to being the smartest animal. The have been tought to identify different materials, count, understand the concept of zero, indentify colours, do basic math, identify and recall the names of objects and do obsticle courses.

Maybe,
Could be a tie, between ravens, and the gray parrot.
However, the ravens are self-taught..LOL

One of the surest signs of intellegance in animals, is the ability to mimic things. That is likely why humans were so successful in that they could mimic animal noices and lure them into amushes.

THo all birds are stupid, there is a reason they call them bird brains

The African Grey Parrot is the smartest bird by far.

Hooded crows get my vote.

Heres a reason why.


In stornoway there is a stepped slip way so fishermen at low tide can access the harbour (the tide levels falls dramatically).

The crows gather up all the spare bits of crab that are thrown away into the water and the fishermen have to crunch their way up over the mess.

The crows then gets the goodies.

Heres the pic i have of it after watching a family of crows working together.

reply to post by GoldEagle


definately the african grey.
without a doubt the most intelligent of the bird species.

they do more than mimic thousands of words, they identify, problem solve and think for themselves.

below is a video of an african grey called "alex".
Alex and his trainer were interviewed by Alan Alda (hawkeye from m.a.s.h. series) and even Allan was amazed at Alex's intelligence.

if you havent seen this, its definately recommended viewing.

Entertaining Parrots - PBS documentary


Besides having a very broad vocabulary of hundreds to thousands of words he didnt actually mimic and was shown to problem solve and identify by himself.

he could be given a childs puzzle with various coloured shapes, and could identify each one.

what colour is this.
what shape is this
what number is grey? (shown various coloured childrens numbers)
how many
what matter? (alex's answer "wood" )
what colour is the bigger?
whats different about these items.

truely amazing bird. i bet his trainer was devastated when he died.




[edit on 2/6/08 by Obliv_au]

[edit on 2/6/08 by Obliv_au]

[edit on 2/6/08 by Obliv_au]

I actually watched a whole show on this subject.

The answer to your question is the New Zealand Kia. It's not only the smartest bird in the world, but the smartest animal (other than humans) with the IQ of a 6 year old child.

Here's a very intelligent bird. You can whistle a tune to it, and then it will learn the tune right away. You can teach him/her curse words by saying them only once...



Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa)



...ironic, with such a religious sounding latin name.