Over the years, living where we do, my lovely wife and I have had a pair of crows that comes back every spring, and stays with us all summer long. They also raise their family, which is two, but occasionally they have three. We enjoy watching them. We also feed them any scraps we have and there isn’t a morning that goes by that they aren’t waiting for us waiting for their morning treat.

It should also be noted that Crows are some of the smartest birds out there, and they have some pretty impressive memory skills. They not only remember where they stash their food, but they can also tell which food is the freshest. Let me break it down for you.

Foremost, crows have incredible memories. They can remember individual human faces, and they can remember the locations of hundreds of food caches. They use landmarks to help them remember where they’ve stashed their food, and they can even remember the time of year when they buried it. That’s pretty impressive for a bird, ain’t it?

Now, when it comes to figuring out which food is the freshest, crows use their sense of smell. They can detect the odors of different foods and tell which ones are more pungent, indicating that they’re fresher. Crows also have a hierarchy of food preferences, so they’ll prioritize the freshest and tastiest food when deciding which cache to raid.

Now, you might be wondering, “How does this help us humans?” Well, crows are actually pretty helpful little critters. They’re known for eating insects and rodents that can damage crops, so they can help farmers protect their crops from pests. And, believe it or not, some people even use crows to help them hunt! They’ll follow crows to see where they’re caching their food, and then they’ll set up a trap in that area to catch other animals that might be attracted to the food.

So there you have it. Crows are some pretty smart birds, and they can remember where they stash their food and tell which food is the freshest. They also help us humans by eating pests and even assisting in hunting. Who knew these little black birds could be so darn helpful?