New PhD-student

The Cognitive Zoology Group grows, and we are happy to welcome our third PhD-student - Katarzyna Bobrowicz! Katarzyna comes from University of Warsaw, Poland and has already moved to Sweden with her family. Karzyna will be working in the project "The social intelligence hypothesis and the episodic memory system – the role of memories in the social skills of cognitively complex animals". More about our research projects here!

Here, a brief greeting from Katarzyna:

"Hi there, I love working with animals and that's why I am very excited to join the Cognitive Zoology Group. I am mainly concerned with memory and self-recognition as I consider them important for our approach to non-verbal creatures in our everyday life, and also for a much simpler reason - it's really absorbing :)".

New semester

Summer is over, the juvenile ravens have all moved and things are going back to normal again in the aviaries. At the moment we are preparing for the new semester by repairing and maintaining the station.
During summer the weed grows to almost biblical proportions. And as we don't want to use pesticides or machines inside the aviaries, the weeding has to be done by hand.

The ravens also appreciate more open ground, so they are happy with the change. To make them even more happy I built sandboxes in both aviaries and the famous crow bird neuphobia (= fear of new things) was quickly defeated by their curiousity and passion for digging.

Rickard, None and Embla.

A nice place for caching food, however not the most secret one.

Juno - a bit afraid of the camera, though.

Next week, the whole research group will be back after summer, and we will start the new semester with the usual get-toghether.

//Helena

Fledging

Rickard and None's first fledged. Almost 6 weeks old.

I guess fledging is not that dramatic when you can easily climb back to your nest again. Nevertheless, yesterday (May 22nd) two of Rickard and None's chicks fledged and spent their first night out of the nest.

Three still to go.

I witnessed the fledgeling take its first sip of water from the tub, but it only took one shot before None and her wary look was between her chick and the camera.

Siden and Juno's chicks are a few days older than the ones next door, but maybe the hight of their nest makes them less daring. At least I would like to be sure that I could trust my wings before I dared the jump.

One of the chicks testing a branch.

However, at the feeding this morning one of Siden and Juno's chicks had also fledged and was walking around on the ground - curiously exploring the new surroundings.

//Helena

First steps

Rickard and None's nesting spot that at first seemed a bit awkward,  might not be so bad after all. The flat surface under the nest is quite spacious, and the chicks have started to take short walks outside the nest!

Baby raven walk, around day 36

We don't expect them to fledge until next week or so, and their way to full-fledged fledgelings might be a bit easier than Siden and Juno's first broods'. I wouldn't be surprised if I one morning find them all sitting on the board below the experiment room, and then they will only have 1, 5 metre to the ground. A small distance compared to wild ravens, that usually nest in very tall trees or on inaccessible cliffs.

The situation for Siden and Juno's nestlings has also improved with the new nestbox. Not only do they have more room for flight training and walking on the bottom of the nestbox, but also some branches outside the nest, to practice branch-sitting and prepare for the first trembling flight.

The family of seven chilling after lunch

 //Helena

Dirty work

Around 29 days old, with open beaks to keep cool.

Even though the chicks are now big enough to lift their rear ends over the nest's edge and poo outside, the parents still tidy away feacal residue to keep the chicks as clean as possible. Normally the plumage of a healthy adult ravens in speckless, so the somewhat dusty appearance and white beaks of the parents is a rare sight. But not for long, though. Two to three weeks from now, the fledging should begin.

Juno, tearing off pieces of meat for her young.

None, approaching me to see if I bring any treats.

//Helena

Visiting biology students

In April/May the annual student visit from the course in Ecology of behaviour/ethology at the Biology Department is scheduled. As it coincides with the breeding season, the timing couldn't be worse, and it's a pity that the student's are not able to observe the ravens' everyday life in the aviaries. This year we managed to postphone the visit a few weeks to not disturb the delicate incubation period, and yesterday two groups of students arrived. Thanks to Kungliga Fysiografiska sällskapet, we now have a brand new lecture hall, and we started off with an introduction of the research conducted here.

Can presenting his project on planning.

Ivo telling the students about his work on physical cognition.

We were a bit unsure of how the ravens would react, and the students got strict instructions to not go near the nests, but the raven parents were happy as long as the students stayed outside the aviaries on the opposite side of the nests.

Blog post 2014.
Blog post 2013.

//Helena

Day 18

It is Day 18 for Rickard and None's chicks and maybe the end of close-ups.
Sharp alarm calls fill my ears as I enter the experiment room with my camera.

Quickly I fire off a few shots, since I have already stirred the parents.

I try a different, safer view - and yes - the chicks have now grown so big that they are visible from outside the aviary.

Siden and Juno have been happy without my camera, and this is as close as I can get. Well, that is not entirely true. When I built their new nestbox, I put a plexi glass in the ceiling, and the ladder is still up...but I am not going to try.

//Helena