| This morning, at dawn, I listened to the morning | | | | which I had never heard before. |
| news delivered by a large, black crow in the tree | | | | I duplicated that whistle, and the bird looked |
| next to my bedroom window. This crow has a | | | | confused. It tilted its head, shifted around, then |
| very large vocabulary, and its language is tonal, | | | | issued the second whistle again. |
| like Thai. Although crows can make only one | | | | I repeated it. |
| sound, which in English we transcribe as "caw", in | | | | The bird settled down, and went back to issuing |
| fact it uses the same five tones as Thai. | | | | the first whistle. |
| The morning news lasted about ten minutes, with | | | | So what happened here? |
| frequent pauses, which I took to be the pause | | | | Clearly, if the first whistle meant "Is anyone |
| between sentences or paragraphs. This crow | | | | there?", the second whistle meant "I am here, |
| used repetition and tones to create different | | | | who are you?" and it should have been followed |
| words. Unlike Thai, which only duplicates a word to | | | | by a third whistle, which I did not know. |
| indicate a generic plural, the crow would issue as | | | | This is similar to the "discovery protocol" used in |
| many as five identical caws quickly, then pause | | | | computer communications, for example with |
| slightly. I took the five caws to be one word or | | | | Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices. An initial signal, called |
| phrase. | | | | "Attention" in computer-speak, is followed by an |
| Thai uses five tones: low, middle, high, rising, and | | | | "Acknowledgement", and then a "Begin |
| falling. The crow used the same tones. There was | | | | Transmission". This is also termed a "handshake". |
| clearly a "caw?" and a "caw!", which were quite | | | | When communicating with the parrot, the |
| distinct from the other three caws: low caw, | | | | handshake failed as I did not provide the correct |
| middle caw, and high caw. | | | | third whistle, and the bird realized that I was not |
| As far as I could tell, the crow did not repeat | | | | another parrot. |
| itself during the ten minute news announcement. I | | | | Getting back to the crow, it did not do what the |
| could not hear any answering crow, so I took this | | | | parrot did, that is, issue a single sound repeatedly. |
| as general broadcast news, as opposed to "hey, | | | | It was clearly speaking different sentences for a |
| I'm looking for a mate!". | | | | long period of time, ten minutes, without repeating |
| In Thailand, 20 years ago, I lived at JB Mansion on | | | | itself, as far as I could tell. |
| Phaholyothin Road, Soi 3. I often went into the | | | | In Australia, some crows in the Northern Territory |
| pool, but I had to wait until sunset, as I have fair | | | | have figured out how to eat cane toads, which |
| skin and burn easily. There was a large bird, | | | | have two poisonous sacs behind the head. |
| perhaps a parrot or toucan, in a cage that was | | | | Normally, anything that eats a cane toad dies. |
| obviously too small, on the balcony of the | | | | Because of this, cane toads have spread |
| apartment building next door. | | | | southwards and have now reached Sydney. But |
| All day, this bird sent out a single whistle, which I | | | | the crows near Darwin have figured out that if |
| took to mean, "Is anyone there?" | | | | they flip the toad onto its back, they can eat the |
| One day, I repeated the whistle back to him. It | | | | cane toad by going through the stomach. |
| was easy to reproduce and I did it accurately. | | | | Amazing birds, crows. I never realized before |
| The bird immediately perked up, shifted around on | | | | today that they spoke a version of Thai. I wrote |
| its perch, sat up straight, turned its head around in | | | | Speak Easy Thai to help people learn Thai; maybe |
| both directions, and issued a different whistle | | | | I should write a Speak Easy Crow. |