SINGAPORE: In a moment that looked straight out of a Disney animation—or perhaps a Hitchcock thriller—a curious crow landed just a metre away from a diner at a Singapore hawker centre and appeared to “whisper” something to him.
The now-viral post in the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group, contributed by a group member named only as Komm, has sparked a wave of reactions, reshares, and wild speculation about what exactly the crow was trying to say.
“What’s wrong with it? It came next to me and behaved funnily, or is it trying to say something to me?” Komm wrote out his question, alongside a one-minute 11-second video that shows the bird standing on a chair, making faint vocalisations, almost like it’s mumbling under its breath.
The crow then shifts its gaze from the diner to the hawker centre, emits more whisper-like noises as if to say something about the food and/or location, and then turns its head back towards the diner to give one last piercing look before flying off like a mysterious messenger that just dropped a riddle to be solved.
Komm added, “These birds always come when I’m having lunch, but none of them behave like this one, which seems to be expecting an interaction. Strange bird, and it came up close, slightly less than a meter from me… it was there for a good few minutes, and other people were watching it too.”
Group members wasted no time jumping into the comments with their own collective theories:
- “Sore throat. Asking for a lozenge.”
- “Maybe it came to warn you about something…”
- “He’s saying, ni hao 你好 (hello in Mandarin).”
- Hungry and thirsty.
- It needs something. Food, water, or help.
- “Could be released tame or rescued… hand-raised crows often form strong bonds with humans.”
- “They are very smart… I saw some crows know how to turn the tap to drink water.”
Another member mused that the crow might simply be saying, “I want food. Please give me food.” One commenter even shared that a crow once sat silently on his shoulder, purring at Paya Lebar MRT, before eating some bread and flying off.
Crows in Singapore
Despite their bad rep for being noisy or disruptive, crows in Singapore are among the most intelligent urban birds. They are capable of recognising human faces, using tools, mimicking sounds, and even learning to solve puzzles. Some crows are also known to form “friendships” with humans, especially if they’ve been rescued or hand-fed before.
“Crows are incredibly smart, and with that, I believe they are intentional in what they do.
Maybe asking for help,” one group shared his insights.
However, feeding wildlife in public spaces remains discouraged by Singapore authorities, such as NParks and NEA, due to concerns over public hygiene and population control. That said, the awe around these birds is, nevertheless, justified. To many wildlife lovers, crows aren’t pests, as deemed by some; they’re just misunderstood geniuses of the sky.
As another group member shared, “When they (crows) approach, they are smart enough to be polite to ask for food. I’ve experienced this before. It ‘caws’ to me as if it were talking. Although authorities warned against feeding the birds and wanted to fine anyone who did, at times, you just have to have a heart.”
While this mysterious feathered visitor may never reveal what it truly wanted, it did give Singaporeans something to think, feel, and smile about.
Read related: ‘Oriental pied hornbill brought his friend to visit me’ — Singaporean shares her ‘delight to have them up close and personal’
