Fieldwork
Canopy access climbing; the picture was taken during a training course in 2005.
As a Postdoc, I am currently in charge of setting up a long-term field research project on New Caledonia crows Corvus moneduloides in the South Pacific. These remarkable crows manufacture and use tools to probe for invertebrates in dead wood; more on their sophisticated tool-oriented behaviour can be found here. I am currently conducting this research together with Lucas Bluff, but new students will soon join our growing field team. To name just a few examples of our ongoing work, we investigate: (i) the use of different tool types by wild crows; (ii) the ecological relevance of tool-assisted foraging; and (iii) the possibility that these birds possess a culture of tool technology. More on our field project can be found here.
Lab Experiments
I am also involved in Alex Weir’s research on captive New Caledonian crows, which is described in detail in several sections here. In our experiments in the lab, we probe into the cognitive abilities of these special birds.
There are many advantages of concerted work in the lab and in the field. First of all, there are certain questions that can only be investigated either under controlled conditions in the lab, or in the crows’ natural habitat. But the two lines of research also lead to beneficial cross-fostering of ideas. A good knowledge of the species’ natural behaviour and general ecology are necessary to design informed experiments, and our anecdotal observations in the wild have indeed inspired new experimental approaches. Likewise, intriguing behaviour of our captive crows in Oxford can help to guide and focus our research efforts in the field, where time is precious and resources have to be managed carefully.