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Washington Post
a day ago
- General
- Washington Post
Attack of the clever crows
Bruce M. Beehler is a naturalist and author, whose books include 'Birds of Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia,' and, most recently, 'Flight of the Godwit.' Few of us who were of moviegoing age in 1963 can forget Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds,' a horror thriller set in Bodega Bay, California, that pitted flocks of angry crows, seagulls and other avians against Tippi Hedren and a cast of undeserving human victims. Particularly gruesome was the demise by crow attack of the likable schoolteacher played by Suzanne Pleshette. Though its thesis was preposterous, the film has gained in popularity over the years — adding to the already uncertain reputation of crows. In general, crows elicit mixed reviews. They are intelligent, clever and innovative birds. But they are also feisty, conniving and predatory — known to pluck songbird eggs (and nestlings) from nests while helpless parent birds stand by and watch. Crows also get their reputation from their curiosity and cunning, as well as their occasional interactions with humans. A recent development in our area demonstrates just how remarkable these birds really are. I live in the little southwestern Bethesda neighborhood of Brookmont, which overlooks Lock 5 of the C&O Canal and the Potomac River above Little Falls. Brookmont does not usually produce a great deal of excitement on the birding front. But lately, we have been seeing extraordinary behavior among our local fish crows (the lesser-known of the two crow species inhabiting the D.C. region). For the 30-plus years my wife and I have lived here, fish crows have maintained a low profile. That abruptly changed this past spring. We were surprised over several days to find small parties of crows boldly settling onto our back porch, perching here and there, and showing little fear. Our dog, Scout, noticed and disliked the crows' presence. When we opened the back door, she would launch out barking at these unwelcome visitors. We didn't know why the crows were on our porch, but we rightly assumed they were up to no good. Our nearest neighbors mentioned that they, too, were being visited by these crows, which they said were coming to harvest the stuffing from porch pillows to use in their nests. The birds actively attacked the pillows, snipping open the seams to get to the innards. When I queried the neighborhood via our email discussion group, more than 20 people replied that they had witnessed this same remarkable phenomenon. One even sent me photographs of the crows in action. The birds were no doubt collecting the pillow stuffing to use as a soft inner lining to their large stick nests, to cosset the eggs and nestlings. Traditionally, the fish crow's nest lining is provided by bark, moss, plant fibers, mammal hair or pine needles. Brookmont's porches, it seems, offered an abundance of outdoor cushions filled with an all-new, fluffy and readily available nesting material. That I was able to document dozens of reports of pillow-stuffing harvest from this spring indicates two interesting developments. First, one of the neighborhood crows must have somehow discovered the utility of pillow stuffing and learned how to crack open a cushion. Second, this clever bird must have then educated other crows in the neighborhood about this potential nesting-material bonanza. The pillow attacks are typically carried out by groups of four or five birds. I'm guessing these groups include experienced individuals who know the drill, and followers wishing to learn from the experienced birds. This is an example of cultural learning in the fish crow. Without speaking, one crow informs others about a novel discovery so that members of the neighborhood assemblage (some of whom are most likely close relatives) can benefit. The most famous historical example of avian cultural learning involved chickadee relatives — blue tits and great tits — in 1920s England. The birds learned to remove the caps from glass milk bottles delivered to front-door stoops in the early morning and then sip the bottle's tasty and nutritious contents. Over the decades, birds that learned this clever trick spread the knowledge to more and more of their fellows throughout Britain. More remarkably, this knowledge was eventually spread across the English Channel to Western Europe, proving that birds are more than unthinking avian robots and can indeed learn from one another. That this learning transmission can be rapid is demonstrated by the sudden spread of the fish crow pillow attacks across Brookmont. But there is more. Like the birds in 'The Birds,' which no longer feared the humans who had taken over their habitat, the small groups of fish crows visiting our porches are unusually bold, often standing their ground when homeowners approach. That's not the retiring fish crow we're used to! The birds' behavior might actually be evolving. If it is, let's hope their newfound audacity stops at outdoor furniture and doesn't develop into more Hitchcockian aggression. After all, these days, given humans' seemingly ever-growing onslaught against nature, our wild birds might have a legitimate reason to push back.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How to win a press tour, as modeled by Dakota Johnson
The press tour is over. Materialists is out. The verdict is in: There's just something special about Dakota Johnson. She's a nepo baby with a Hollywood pedigree that, on paper, should make her seem unapproachable. Her parents are stars Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, and her grandmother is Tippi Hedren. Her first leading role? Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey, a movie franchise that could have typecast her into oblivion. But somehow, Dakota Johnson has taken everything that might have worked against her and turned it into her superpower. Just like in Materialists, she's technically one-third of a love triangle alongside internet boyfriends Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal — but in every interview, whether solo or alongside her costars, it's clear: she's the one stealing the show. Johnson didn't just promote a movie — she reminded us why she's one of the most magnetic, self-aware stars working today. Her media blitz for the film showed us the actress at her most charming: effortlessly chic, disarmingly unfiltered and entirely in control of the narrative. Materialists marked Johnson's first big press tour since 2024's Madame Web fiasco, the superhero flop that could've ended most stars' careers. Johnson proved once again she's not afraid to get in on the joke. Instead of hiding from the bomb, she met the criticism head-on and didn't shy away from discussing it this time around. It really was a master class in turning chaos into a cool, controlled comeback, with really good outfits. From the outside, Johnson's Materialists rollout looked like the usual checklist: a few late-night appearances with funny and relatable anecdotes, a podcast or two, fashion blogs buzzing over every cool girl outfit and dinner with high-profile friends like Taylor Swift. But what set it apart was Johnson's authenticity. There were no obviously rehearsed talking points, no damage control and definitely no over-explaining. The latter applied to her personal life too. The more she leaned into the unpredictability — showing up a little cheeky and extremely herself — the more fans (and fashion blogs and internet stan accounts) leaned in. Whether she was kissing a cardboard cutout of Pedro Pascal's face on the red carpet at the film's premiere, dropping a casual curse on live TV or flawlessly eating hot wings in a suede jacket worth more than most people's rent, this wasn't just a press tour — it was performance art. And Johnson nailed every scene. Here's how she pulled it off — with sharp humor, sharp style and a complete command of the spotlight. Need proof? Just watch what happened when she strolled onto The Tonight Show on June 3 in a plunging Ferragamo blazer, mini skirt and zero panic. Johnson joked to host Jimmy Fallon that it was the 'wrong outfit' for the occasion. 'My eyes are up here,' she told him. Fallon handed her a tissue in a mock attempt to help cover up her cleavage, which she gamely wore, and teased that he was going to sell it on eBay after the show. Johnson knew what she was there to do — she had a film to promote, after all — so once the wardrobe discussion was out of the way, she went on to share funny anecdotes about her relationship with her Materialists costar Pascal, who himself has charmed the masses with his endearing interviews, offbeat sense of humor and disarming humility. Fallon showed the audience a photo of the two of them together at a 2024 Stevie Nicks concert in London, and Johnson said Pascal was wearing her sweater. "He does that a lot; he takes my clothes," she said. 'He's always underdressed … I mean, he's wearing a T-shirt and it's cold outside. Not like he forgot his pants.' And with that deadpan nod to her ensemble, the audience ate it up. Days later, over on Late Night with Seth Meyers, she once again opened with a line about her not wearing pants. The girl is committed to her bit! She brought her signature dry humor to a conversation about baseball, or rather, her lack of knowledge about it, while cheekily explaining the custom Mets jersey she wore to a game that read 'DJ 69.' It's not just limited to late night, either. In the early hours of the Today show with costar Chris Evans, he kept it safe, whereas she went for it. When asked by Craig Melvin what a nonnegotiable quality in a partner was, Evans said, 'Must love dogs.' But not Johnson. When prompted for her response, she calmly said, 'Not an asshole.' The host scrambled, asking producers to 'clean that up for the West Coast.' Johnson sat there, unbothered. Johnson's Hot Ones appearance was no different. She dressed in a rich toffee suede Khaite jacket that retails for nearly $6,000 and devoured increasingly spicy wings without flinching — all while dropping a perfectly timed dig at Madame Web. When host Sean Evans joked he wasn't a superhero after a particularly brutal wing, Johnson shot back, 'I'm also not a superhero. Tried. Failed.' And no, she didn't spill one drop of sauce on that jacket. Of course she didn't. If her commentary was performance art, her wardrobe was the visual storytelling. Take the sheer Nensi Dojaka dress she wore heading to Late Night with Seth Meyers. She wore the gauzy, body-skimming number just one day after news of her reported split from Chris Martin broke. Whether intentional or not, it screamed 'revenge dress' — and it worked. Johnson looked every bit the unaffected movie star: polished, elusive and aspirational. Throughout the Materialists tour, her outfits reflected the same energy she brought to the screen: expensive, a little unapproachable and totally watchable. Fashion blogs and social media accounts dissected each look like it was an episode recap. Where was that Balenciaga bodysuit from? Which Gucci purse is that? Can you get those knockoff Ophelia Eve earrings? And it tracked. After all, her character Lucy is a high-end matchmaker who says she only wants to marry rich — so naturally, Johnson's press tour wardrobe felt like something both she and Lucy could pull off. Whether it was the see-through dress, a plunging Ferragamo blazer with no shirt underneath or paparazzi shots of her in thigh-high boots and an oversized trench, every outfit served a purpose, served a headline or just served us great fashion. Then there was the Materialists premiere on June 7, where Johnson showed up in a floor-length, asymmetrical, backless black Gucci gown. It oozed romance — fitting for a rom-dram, sure, but maybe also a wink at the end of a very public (and very quietly handled) breakup. As always, she let the look speak for itself. Everyone else did the talking. Johnson's alleged split from Martin, her partner on and off for eight years, could have been a tabloid distraction. But it never really got the oxygen it needed to dominate headlines. That wasn't by accident. The news broke as Johnson's press tour was kicking off, which is a time when personal questions are generally off-limits during any press appearances. It controls a narrative and was a strategically perfect moment to let the story land — and then disappear. Although her ex didn't exactly give her a helping hand. After reports surfaced of their breakup, the Coldplay frontman shouted out Johnson's film on stage at the band's Las Vegas concert. ('Thank you, everybody! Be kind to each other!' he told the crowd. 'Don't forget to go see Materialists!') It's giving text me back vibes while Johnson metaphorically has already changed her number. Rather than offer quotes or go quiet, Johnson did her job as she kept showing up, delivering sound bites and stealing the spotlight. She even made space for a little realness, or at least the appearance of it, when she mentioned her no 'assholes' rule on the Today show. The result? A breakup that barely registered amid a wave of headlines about her humor, her style and her undeniable charisma. And isn't that the most Dakota Johnson move of all, letting people talk about her without really saying a thing? In the end, Materialists might be a hotly debated rom-dram, but Johnson's press tour was its own kind of love story between a movie star and her audience. She made us laugh, made us want her closet and made us want to be her best friend. She wasn't just selling a movie. She was selling a feeling — and we bought it. We can't wait to see what she does next.
