Birds are brilliant animals, and crows are among the most intelligent. They’re often too smart for their own good, and they ...

They have a different vocal organ, called a syrinx, that they use to make noises. Crow pictures. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: gyro via Getty Images) A murder of crows.

But it didn't take long for the crows to catch on and start making the correct number of sounds for each cue — or so Liao thought. "I was like, 'Wow, these crows are brilliant,'" she says.

They will then compare those sounds to the vocalizations crows make at “pre-roosting aggregations,” when they converge on the UW Bothell campus before retiring to sleep in the trees.