Hacker News Reader

It seems likely to me that the birds have suffered by these spikes and repurpose them as much for the message they send to avian predators as their structural merits. It is like humans wearing the head of a wolf or other things to communicate they are a threat to would be interlopers.

View on HN

In the OP:

But for the magpies, there was an additional layer of intrigue; not only were the birds using the spikes to build nests, but it’s possible they were also employing the devices for their intended purpose—to ward off other birds. “It’s a very natural behavior,” Hiemstra says. “We think these spikes are for nest defense."

That’s exactly what they are, it says as much on the box.

Right, my point is to push a more complex psychological truth, obviously they aren’t too hindered by these “defenses” if they can dismantle them and reuse them, instead their value is more symbolic, and if i dare, cultural

Crows going for a Mad Max aesthetic for defense and deterrence seems both incredible and simultaneously unsurprisingly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com