The smart crows of the princess

There are crows all over the world: these black-and-black intelligence stocks, which can crack nuts, have a lot of humor and are closely scrutinized by behavioral research. For we still know very little about these suspiciously-eyed and so wise members of the order Corvidae, who have not only been screamed since Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "The Birds" and as darkened dead birds.

And they also flutter and squabble in the park around the yellow-painted Schloss Leutstetten from the 16th century, a few kilometers from the misty enveloped lake Starnberger See. The Wittelsbach Castle is located on the outskirts of the village of Leutstetten, right on the main road. The magical castle of crows and jackdaws hides in a romantic way, surrounded by trees, scrub and surrounded by a wall. Here live Prince Luitpold of Bavaria and his daughter Auguste of Bavaria, descendants of the fairytale king Ludwig II.

"My name is Auguste von Bayern and I am a behavioral researcher specializing in comparative cognitive research.We are working on intelligence of birds.I am particularly interested in the family of raven birds and the order of parrots because these are the two bird taxa with the largest brains and who are known to be intelligent, very long-lived, and very keen to speak, and exciting animals for research."

Since her girlhood years at Schloss Leutstetten - right at the Starnberger See around the corner - Auguste of Bavaria has fallen into the feathered black contemporaries. In the salon of the Stammschloss, a striking figure of a raven reminds of her passion.

"Yes, this is a gift from my father, it is a Nymphenburg porcelain figure, which has made a raven and looks very realistic, looks very well done.

Lively, talkative crows
Princess would not like her to be named, of course, because Dr. Auguste von Bayern is a promoted behavioral researcher. The topic of her doctoral thesis is in a transposed sense: the love life and behavior of the jackdaws. Jacks are deaf-sized, extremely lively, garrulous crows with a gray neck and bold blue eyes. Love at first sight. And wonderful sights.

"When I asked for my doctoral thesis, where I really wanted to go to Africa - off into the field and Jane Goodall in the wilderness watching animals, I got a new research group which was founded on the subject of cognition of raven birds. "

The Max Planck Institute for Ornithology is located in the nearby village of Seewiesen. Here the researcher, who reluctantly talked about her blue blood and whose heart vehement for the black feathered Schlaumeier beats. There is a dripping and shivering thing in Seewiesen. From afar you can hear some or other bird animal. We go out into the open.
"Put on the jacket in the weather."

Outside, we walk over a gravel path, which is overgrown with grass. In the background you can see thickly packed employees handling food baskets. The home of the crows is a rustic wooden and wire cloth. On the horizon you can see the light of Lake Starnberg shimmering. Auguste von Bayern studied and promoted in Cambridge and later came to the ornithologist and crow explorer Alex Kecelnik. He experimented with the New Caledonian crow Betty the ability to make tools.
"These are the New Caledonian crows, which are called the German crow's crows, which is the only species of crow that naturally uses tools."

Curious crows
The crow's researcher has swung a scarf and is somewhat freezing in the generous birds. The crows flew curiously into their arms and looked at their crows tenderly:

"This is great, however, that they can take it, it is very rare, this reputation." I interpret this as a territorial call - we do not yet know exactly what is meant by the sound utterances to be a bit warmer. They must be locked in the night. "

They look like tame pets, slender, curious, boldly jumping around.
"He's curious, and you just have a New Caledonian crow in front of the microphone."
Crusoe approaches the guest with the cuddly micro. Later he will jeopardize the intruder on the bald head.

"It is very curious, you can see how the beak is, and the feathers of the beak have a very strong sense of touch, and when they hold this stick and look for larvae in the modern wood, they feel exactly where the And if the larva is oriented in the wrong direction, they poke - that is the only one If you want to get them - deep inside to pull them out very quickly - they'll run out like a burst balloon, now they'll hear - all the New Caledonian crows call out because there's a raven- and call, which they hear here. "

The princess and her jackdaws, crows look calmly after the guest. He's gone again. Auguste of Bavaria, the mother of a small prince, works alongside a research project on a project by a Bavarian natural science museum, which will open its doors on the grounds of Nymphenburg Palace in just a few years. Nature and the environment and not just birdwatching. The black birds, however, occupy the most place in the passionate explorer of the Princess of Bavaria.