Zoologists at Oxford University are using newly developed video devices to record crows in the wild.
Scientists have developed miniaturised video cameras, each weighing about 14 grams, which can be attached to two tail feathers using adhesive tape.
The device is allowing researchers to track 18 crows in their natural habitat, allowing them to make surprising and intimate observations about their undisturbed behaviour. This technique has been described as helping scientists to break "one of the final frontiers of ornithological field research."
Dr Christian Rutz from the Behavioural Ecology Research Group at the Zoology Department said "Whilst video footage has been taken before using tame, trained birds, it is only now that we have been able to design cameras that are small and light enough to travel with wild birds and let them behave naturally.
"Potentially, this new video technology could help us to answer some long-standing questions about the ecology and behaviour of many other bird species that are otherwise difficult to study."To learn more, visit http://www.newcaledoniancrow.com.
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Birds on Film
