SuitabookHow to Know a Crow
Candace Savage
- Reading
- Read it in short stretches, pausing at diagrams, glossaries or sidebars to discuss one question at a time. If trying an activity outdoors, follow the book’s guidance about watching wary nesting crows without disturbing them.
- Themes
- Crow intelligence and social life: The book explores how crows see and sense the world, communicate, play, raise young, use tools and live in extended family groups. Crow intelligence and social complexity are presented with clear admiration and as central reasons to look more closely at these birds.
- Fiction used to explain nonfiction: A fictional female American crow named Oki provides a life narrative, while the events and behaviours are described as grounded in real research and observations. The narrative device appears designed to make scientific material more personal and approachable, rather than presenting Oki as a documented individual.
- Worth knowing
- One section explains that West Nile virus can be especially deadly for crows, and describes corvid die-offs. This is presented as understandable science, but the mortality information may merit a calm check-in.