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How one of the world’s most familiar birds reveals a remarkable capacity for memory, learning, problem-solving, and adaptation

Crows: Intelligence in the Bird World | Kudos365 - Exploring Our World Series.

Overview
Crows are so common in many towns, cities, farms, and woodlands that they are easy to overlook. We see them crossing lawns, gathering along roadsides, calling from rooftops, or watching us from trees and utility poles. Their behavior can seem ordinary because we encounter it so often. Look more closely, however, and a different picture begins to emerge.

Crows belong to the corvid family, a group that also includes ravens, jays, and magpies. Scientists studying these birds have found a striking collection of mental abilities. Crows can remember particular people, learn by watching other crows, adjust their behavior when circumstances change, distinguish quantities, retain information while solving problems, and, in some species, manufacture and use tools.
No single experiment proves that crows “think like humans,” nor would that be the most useful way to understand them. Their brains developed along a very different evolutionary path from ours. What makes crows so interesting is precisely that difference. They show that sophisticated intelligence does not have to be built in only one way.

A Different Kind of Mind
For a long time, animal intelligence was often imagined as a ladder. Humans stood at the top, and other animals were judged largely by how closely their abilities resembled ours. Modern research has made that picture much harder to defend.

A crow does not need human language, hands, mathematics, or a human-style brain to solve complicated problems. Instead, it possesses abilities suited to the challenges of being a highly mobile, social, opportunistic bird. Crows must find food that changes from place to place, recognize danger, compete and cooperate with other animals, remember useful locations, interpret social signals, and adjust rapidly to environments transformed by people.

Those challenges reward flexibility. That is one reason crows have become such important animals in the study of cognition. They help scientists ask a broader question: not “How close is this animal to being human?” but “What kinds of information can this animal understand, remember, and use?”

Key Abilities At a Glance

- Crows can learn that particular people are safe or dangerous.

- Long-term memory: Important experiences can influence their behavior much later.

- Social learning: Crows can learn by observing the reactions of other crows.

- Problem-solving: They can adjust their behavior when familiar methods do not work

- Tool use: Some crow species manufacture and use tools to reach food.

- Numerical ability: Crows can distinguish quantities and respond to numerical information.

- Working memory: They can hold information briefly while using it to make a decision.

- Adaptability: Flexible behavior helps them succeed in rapidly changing environments.

Remembering a Human Face
One of the best-known demonstrations of crow intelligence began with a surprisingly simple question: can a crow remember a particular person? Researchers working with American crows tested this by wearing distinctive masks while capturing and handling wild birds. When people later appeared wearing the same “dangerous” face, the crows reacted strongly, even though considerable time had passed.
The ability is more impressive than simple visual recognition might suggest. A crow must notice identifying features, connect them with an unpleasant experience, retain that association, recognize the same features later, and then change its behavior accordingly.
The experiments revealed something else as well. Crows that had not personally been captured also began responding to the dangerous face after observing the behavior of other crows. Information about a threat was therefore able to spread through the local population.
That distinction matters. An animal that can learn only through personal experience must encounter danger itself. An animal that can learn socially can benefit from what happened to someone else.
For a long-lived social bird, that is a powerful advantage.

Learning From Other Crows
A crow's world is filled with information produced by other crows. A sudden chorus of harsh calls may indicate a predator. A gathering of birds may reveal a food source. The behavior of an experienced adult can provide information to younger birds. An unfamiliar situation can become less mysterious simply because another crow has already reacted to it.

This ability to learn socially extends the usefulness of intelligence beyond the individual. Knowledge does not have to begin again with every bird. Scientists use the word culture cautiously when discussing animals because human culture is vastly more elaborate. Yet one basic element of culture is the transmission of information through learning rather than through genes alone. In that limited sense, crow societies provide intriguing examples of information moving from one individual to another.

This also helps explain why crow behavior can vary from place to place. Birds living around farms, forests, shorelines, and cities encounter different opportunities and dangers. Local experience can shape what they learn and how they behave.
A crow's intelligence is therefore not merely something contained inside its brain. It also develops through its relationship with the world around it.

The Extraordinary Tool Makers
Most crows do not routinely manufacture tools, so it would be misleading to describe tool-making as a universal crow ability. One species, however, has become famous for it: the New Caledonian crow.
Living on islands in the South Pacific, these birds use sticks and pieces of vegetation to obtain prey from holes and crevices. They can modify materials to make them more effective, producing tools suited to particular tasks.

Their behavior is remarkable because it combines physical skill with information about objects. A useful tool must have the right size, shape, and stiffness, and it must be manipulated correctly to reach food.
New Caledonian crows also possess physical characteristics that appear particularly well suited to this behavior. Their relatively straight bills and unusually strong binocular vision help them grip and visually guide tools with precision.

Experiments have pushed the birds beyond their normal foraging situations. Some have solved problems requiring them to manipulate several objects in sequence, while others have combined separate pieces into a longer functional tool.
These results are impressive, but they also illustrate an important rule of animal-cognition research: successful behavior does not automatically reveal exactly what an animal is thinking.

A crow may solve a difficult problem through some combination of inherited tendencies, previous experience, learned associations, exploration, and mental representation. Scientists must design further experiments to distinguish among those possibilities.
The achievement itself remains remarkable. A bird brain can support highly flexible interaction with physical objects.

An Unexpected Sense of Number
Tools are only one part of the story. Carrion crows have also demonstrated an ability to work with numerical information. In a particularly revealing experiment, birds were shown cues instructing them to produce a certain number of calls. Depending on the cue, the crow had to vocalize from one to four times and then indicate that the sequence was complete.

The birds learned to produce the requested number with accuracy well above chance. Even more interesting, the time they took before beginning and characteristics of their first call contained information about how many calls they were preparing to make. That suggests they were not simply calling repeatedly and then stopping at random. Their behavior was organized around an expected quantity.

This should not be confused with human arithmetic. The crows were not performing written calculations or manipulating symbolic mathematics. What they demonstrated was a more basic numerical capacity: representing and controlling quantity.
That ability has obvious value in nature. Animals may benefit from distinguishing one rival from several, comparing food quantities, keeping track of group members, or judging whether a situation has changed.
Humans eventually transformed numerical understanding into mathematics, but the ability to perceive quantity has much deeper biological roots.

Holding Information in Mind
Another important component of intelligence is working memory—the ability to retain information briefly while using it.
People rely on working memory constantly. We use it when remembering a number long enough to enter it, keeping the beginning of a sentence in mind while reaching the end, or recalling which turn we were told to take while driving.

Experiments with carrion crows show that they also possess substantial working-memory abilities. A crow can view information, retain it during a delay, and then use what it remembers to make the correct choice.
Researchers examining activity in the crow brain have identified regions that remain involved while the bird holds task-relevant information in memory.

This finding is especially interesting because the organization of a bird brain differs greatly from that of a mammalian brain. Birds do not possess the mammalian neocortex that plays such an important role in human cognition. Yet corvid brains perform some comparable functions through differently organized neural systems.

Evolution, in other words, reached similar functional abilities through different anatomical routes.
That discovery has implications far beyond crows. It suggests that there may be more than one biological architecture capable of supporting sophisticated cognition.

Intelligence in a Social World
A crow's mental abilities make even more sense when considered alongside its social life. Crows recognize other birds, defend territories, raise young, respond collectively to predators, compete over resources, and sometimes gather in large communal roosts. Their relationships create a constantly changing stream of information.

A solitary animal must understand its physical surroundings. A social animal must also respond to the behavior of others. Is another crow warning of danger? Is food available nearby? Is an unfamiliar bird entering the territory? Should the group approach or retreat? Has something changed since yesterday?

Communication becomes important in such an environment. Crows produce a variety of calls, and scientists continue to investigate what information those calls convey. There is no evidence that crow communication functions like human language, and describing it that way would go well beyond what research has established. But it is clear that calls and social behavior help crows coordinate responses and draw attention to important events. Their intelligence is therefore closely connected with the kind of life they lead.

Why Crows Do So Well Around People
Human communities create environments unlike almost anything found in nature. Roads, cars, buildings, trash containers, lawns, streetlights, construction sites, and constantly shifting food sources present wildlife with both opportunities and dangers.

Crows have proven exceptionally capable of adjusting to these conditions. They are opportunistic feeders, but diet alone does not explain their success. Behavioral flexibility matters. Crows watch what happens around them. They learn which places are productive, when particular food sources become available, which disturbances are temporary, and which situations represent genuine danger.

A rigid response that works in one environment may fail when conditions change. An animal capable of modifying its behavior has an advantage. That adaptability also explains why people sometimes experience crows as if the birds are carefully watching them. In many cases, they probably are. Humans are important features of the crow's environment. We provide food, hazards, nesting opportunities, disturbances, and patterns that can be learned. To a crow, understanding human behavior can be useful.

What Crow Intelligence Does Not Mean
The more impressive animal cognition becomes, the easier it is to exaggerate it. Crows are not tiny people with feathers. Their sensory world differs from ours, their social lives differ from ours, and their brains evolved under very different pressures. A behavior that resembles human reasoning from the outside may arise through a different internal process. Scientists therefore try to separate observation from interpretation.

If a crow solves a multistep problem, researchers can confidently say that the bird completed the task. Determining whether it planned every stage in advance requires additional evidence. If a crow responds differently to quantities, researchers can demonstrate numerical sensitivity without claiming that the bird understands mathematics as humans do.

This caution does not diminish the animals' abilities. It makes the science stronger. Crow intelligence becomes more interesting, not less, when we allow it to be genuinely crow-like rather than trying to transform it into a smaller version of our own.

How the Abilities Work Together
Memory, social learning, numerical discrimination, problem-solving, communication, and adaptability can sound like separate talents, but in a living animal they operate together.

A crow notices an event and remembers it. The memory affects a later decision. Other crows observe the reaction and may learn from it. New circumstances require the bird to compare past experience with what is happening now. If a familiar response fails, the crow may alter its behavior.
The result is not simply a collection of clever tricks. It is a flexible way of dealing with the world. That may be the most useful definition of crow intelligence: the ability to gather information, retain what matters, learn from experience and from others, and modify behavior when circumstances change.

The Bigger Picture
Crows have changed the scientific conversation about intelligence because they demonstrate what a very different kind of brain can accomplish. The evolutionary lines leading to modern birds and mammals diverged hundreds of millions of years ago. Since then, their brains have developed along substantially different paths. Yet both lineages produced animals capable of memory, complex learning, flexible decision-making, and sophisticated responses to social and physical environments.

That makes crows part of a much larger story Primates provide one evolutionary solution to the problem of intelligence. Dolphins provide another. Octopuses, whose nervous systems are radically different from those of vertebrates, offer yet another. Corvids add their own version. Instead of imagining intelligence as a single ladder, it may be more useful to think of it as a landscape with many possible routes. Different species develop the abilities that help them solve the problems their lives present.

And that brings us back to the ordinary crow on the lawn, beside the road, or watching quietly from a tree. Its familiarity can make it seem unremarkable. Science has shown otherwise. The crow is a reminder that an extraordinary mind does not always arrive in an extraordinary-looking animal. Sometimes it is already living beside us, watching, remembering, learning, and adapting while we barely notice.

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Publication Notice. This article is for general educational purposes. Scientific understanding may change as new research becomes available.

Exploring Our World | Kudos365 © 2026. All Rights Reserved.  

Horses grazing at Trunkol meadow in the Himalayas of India. The meadow is situated on the way to the sacred Gangabal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir.

UnpetitproleX, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

This poem is in the public domain.

William Ernest Henley (1849 – 1903) British poet, writer, critic and editor in late Victorian England. He wrote several books of poetry. Read more

John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) Prominent English social thinker and philanthropist. Art critic as well as an art patron, and water-colorist.  He wrote on many subjects including geology, ornithology, architecture and botany.

“Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time,” E.B. White insisted. “You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth.”  More at The Marginalian ➜

"This beautiful eight-legged lady spent the best part of summer in our back garden. She made a new orb-shaped web every night (I understand that she eats the web in the early morning hours and sleeps the day away close to her web location, although I never was up early enough to see this). Spiders of this species (Eriophora transmarina) are quite large, and relatively common in Australia, and will bite when provoked. I used hand-held DSLR camera with inbuilt flash to take this photo, giving me nice detail o both spider and web and good contrast". Andrew Rate on Unsplash

"They say your photography should capture more than what you saw, but how you felt in that moment. Embarking on a thousand-mile road trip to Grand Tower, Illinois, a small town on the banks of the great Mississippi River. Nervous and excited to make the most of the event, I set up my tripod and put on the solar filter just before first contact. The moon covering more and more of the sun while I fired away on the shutter release. The air became cooler, the sky grew darker, and then… majesty. Over two minutes of wonder; a 360 degree sunset and the most awe-inspiring sight ever to behold."

Adam Dutton on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Is our universe haunted? It might look that way on this dark matter map. The gravity of unseen dark matter is the leading explanation for why galaxies rotate so fast, why galaxies orbit clusters so fast, why gravitational lenses so strongly deflect light, and how visible matter is distributed. The featured image from the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium Space Show, Dark Universe, highlights one example of how pervasive dark matter might haunt our universe. In this frame from a detailed computer simulation, complex filaments of dark matter, shown in black, are strewn about the universe like spider webs, while the relatively rare clumps of familiar baryonic matter are colored orange. These simulations are good statistical matches to astronomical observations. In what is perhaps a scarier turn of events, dark matter -- although quite strange and in an unknown form -- is no longer thought to be the strangest source of gravity in the universe. That honor now falls to dark energy, a more uniform source of repulsive gravity that seems to now dominate the expansion of the entire universe.

Photo by Tom Abel & Ralf Kaehler (KIPAC, SLAC), AMNH

The Week in Review | The consequential news of the past seven days — October 25, 2026

The Big Picture | Connecting Current Events

The week of October 19–25 brought several consequential developments into focus, particularly in international diplomacy, economic policy, and the relationship between governments and technology. The central question running through many of these events was how countries can protect their immediate national interests while preserving the cooperation on which international stability depends.

The continuing conflicts involving Russia and Ukraine and the Middle East remained important sources of uncertainty. Their consequences extended beyond military operations to energy markets, international trade, public finances, and diplomatic relationships. Governments faced competing pressures to protect national security, reduce costs for households, and maintain international commitments.

Economic conditions remained closely tied to these geopolitical developments. Higher energy and transportation costs can affect inflation, business investment, and government budgets, while uncertainty about trade and security can discourage long-term planning. For developing countries, such pressures are particularly difficult when public debt and borrowing costs already limit financial flexibility.

Technology policy added another dimension. Governments increasingly regard advanced computing, artificial intelligence, and strategically important industrial capabilities as matters of national security as well as economic development. Restrictions intended to protect domestic industries or sensitive technologies can also complicate international commerce and scientific collaboration.

These developments illustrate a broader shift in the international environment. Economic interdependence remains essential, but governments are placing greater emphasis on resilience, supply-chain security, and national control over critical resources. The challenge is to strengthen those protections without undermining the trade, investment, and cooperation that support prosperity.

Yet these pressures do not affect every country equally. Wealthier economies generally have greater capacity to absorb higher costs and finance technological change. Poorer countries may face the same external shocks with fewer resources to respond. That imbalance remains a major concern for international economic institutions and national governments alike.

The week's broader significance lies in the interaction of these challenges. Military conflict can disrupt energy supplies; higher costs can weaken economic growth; economic difficulties can intensify political pressures; and technological competition can reshape international relationships.

The coming period will test whether governments can manage these overlapping problems through durable agreements and effective institutions rather than temporary responses to individual crises.

A Closer Look: The Week’s Major Developments

Russia and Ukraine — Renewed Diplomacy Meets Continuing Warfare

Efforts to reopen negotiations between Russia and Ukraine gained momentum during the week, although fundamental disagreements remained unresolved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated willingness in principle to resume talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed readiness for further negotiations, potentially in Abu Dhabi during November. The diplomatic contacts followed the release of an American citizen from Russian detention.

A limited humanitarian arrangement offered a more immediate possibility of cooperation. The two sides agreed to a localized suspension of fighting intended to allow assistance to reach people in the Kherson region. Its limited scope, however, did not constitute a general ceasefire.

Military operations continued alongside the diplomacy. Russian missile and drone attacks struck Ukrainian targets, while both sides reported extensive attacks involving unmanned aircraft.

The central obstacle remains the territory Russia occupies and the security guarantees Ukraine seeks. Moscow continues to demand recognition of territorial claims that Kyiv rejects. Ukraine maintains that any settlement must provide credible protection against renewed invasion.

The week's developments therefore represented renewed diplomatic activity rather than a demonstrated breakthrough toward peace.

Middle East — Threats to Shipping and Aviation Continue

The confrontation involving Iran, Israel, and the United States remained unsettled, while renewed fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi movement increased regional insecurity. During the week, Iranian military authorities reported that several vessels in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz had been damaged in incidents involving mines and attacks. The claims underscored the continuing danger to commercial shipping, although details of individual incidents required independent confirmation.

Saudi Arabia reported additional Houthi missile and drone attacks, including an attack affecting Dammam's airport that killed two people. Saudi-led forces responded with further military operations in Yemen. The United States ordered nonessential diplomatic personnel and their families to leave Saudi Arabia because of increased security risks.

President Donald Trump also raised the possibility of renewed military action against Iran. Such statements increased uncertainty about whether diplomatic efforts could produce a durable arrangement governing maritime traffic and regional security.

The stakes extend far beyond the immediate conflict. The Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea approaches are important routes for petroleum, commercial shipping, and international supply chains. Prolonged insecurity can increase transportation costs, complicate insurance arrangements, and affect energy markets across the world.

Israel and the Palestinian Territories — West Bank Violence Escalates

Violence in the occupied West Bank intensified during the week, particularly around Hebron. Following a shooting that killed two Israeli soldiers, Israeli forces launched a large military operation in the city. Palestinian officials reported that approximately 1,200 residents had been displaced, while Israeli authorities described their operations as measures intended to prevent further attacks.
Movement restrictions affected Palestinian communities, and military operations extended across numerous locations. The restrictions also disrupted employment and ordinary economic activity.

Separately, attacks involving Israeli settlers and Palestinians during the olive harvest renewed concerns about civilian protection. Incidents affecting foreign diplomats and international volunteers brought additional diplomatic attention to the situation.
In Gaza, Israeli military operations continued despite earlier diplomatic initiatives intended to stabilize the territory.
The developments illustrated the difficulty of separating immediate security operations from the broader unresolved questions of occupation, civilian rights, territorial control, and political settlement.

France — Large Demonstrations Challenge the Government

France experienced another week of substantial public unrest over living costs, education, and dissatisfaction with government policies. On October 24, authorities estimated that approximately 410,000 people participated in demonstrations nationwide. Labor organizations reported substantially higher participation.

Although many marches remained peaceful, clashes erupted in Paris and other locations. Police reported hundreds of arrests after incidents involving projectiles, fireworks, property damage, and confrontations with security forces.
President Emmanuel Macron's government deployed a large police presence following earlier episodes of rioting and looting.
The demonstrations reflected concerns extending beyond immediate household expenses. Participants also raised questions about public-school funding, economic inequality, and the government's responsiveness to social demands.

The scale of the protests created a significant challenge for the French government during the final months before the country's next presidential election.

Brazil — Presidential Runoff Tests a Divided Electorate

Brazil reached the final stage of a closely contested presidential election, with voting scheduled for October 25.
Incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro presented contrasting approaches to economic management, public spending, and Brazil's international relationships.
Their final debate emphasized living costs, corruption allegations, and the direction of national policy. Both campaigns sought support beyond their established political bases.

The election attracted international attention because Brazil is Latin America's largest economy and an important participant in agricultural trade, environmental negotiations, and regional diplomacy.
Foreign diplomats also discussed the importance of recognizing the result through Brazil's established electoral institutions, reflecting concern that disputes over the outcome could create additional political instability.
The result was not established in the reporting available for this edition.

United States — New Restrictions Proposed on Investment in Sensitive Technologies

The United States proposed expanding restrictions on American investment in strategically important technologies developed in countries designated as security concerns.
The proposal would extend existing oversight to additional fields, including advanced artificial intelligence, supercomputing, biotechnology, and hypersonic systems.

The objective is to limit the possibility that American capital and technical expertise could support military capabilities in rival countries. The measures reflect a broader change in economic policy. International investment, once evaluated primarily in commercial terms, is increasingly examined for its national-security implications.

Businesses and investors must consequently navigate a more complicated environment in which access to foreign markets may be limited by government assessments of technological and strategic risk.
The proposals also contribute to a wider international trend toward tighter controls over technologies considered essential to future economic and military capabilities.

South Korea — Military Dialogue Proposed With North Korea

South Korea proposed direct military discussions with North Korea to reduce the possibility of accidental clashes along their heavily fortified border. The proposal focused on disagreements concerning the location and management of the boundary separating the two countries.

Although the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953, no comprehensive peace treaty has formally ended the conflict. Military tensions therefore remain a persistent regional concern. South Korea's initiative represented an attempt to manage immediate security risks without requiring a broader political settlement. North Korea had not publicly accepted the proposal at the time of the announcement.
The development also occurred amid continuing uncertainty over possible future discussions between Washington and Pyongyang.

Climate and Environment — Coral Reefs Face a Worsening Global Crisis

A new global assessment classified nearly all shallow-water coral reef ecosystems as critically endangered, drawing attention to the accelerating effects of ocean warming.
Coral reefs support marine biodiversity, fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection. Their deterioration therefore has ecological and economic consequences for communities around the world.

Extended periods of unusually warm seawater can cause coral bleaching, in which corals lose the organisms that provide much of their energy. Repeated bleaching events can prevent recovery and lead to widespread reef mortality.
The assessment added to concerns about the effects of rising ocean temperatures and the difficulty of protecting marine ecosystems through local conservation measures alone.

During the same week, new research estimated substantial mortality associated with extreme summer heat in European cities. The findings reinforced the growing importance of climate adaptation, particularly for urban populations exposed to prolonged heat.

Southeast Asia — Forest Fires Prompt Protests in Indonesia

Thousands of Indonesians demonstrated against the government's handling of extensive rainforest fires. Protests spread across several cities, with participants demanding stronger action to prevent destructive land-clearing practices and control the resulting environmental damage.

Forest and peatland fires can produce severe air pollution, disrupt transportation, threaten public health, and damage ecosystems. Their effects may also cross national borders. The demonstrations placed additional pressure on President Prabowo Subianto's administration to strengthen enforcement and emergency response. The controversy illustrated the continuing tension between agricultural expansion, economic development, environmental protection, and public health.

Technology — Artificial Intelligence Creates New Cybersecurity Risks

A significant cybersecurity investigation demonstrated how artificial intelligence can make sophisticated online attacks more accessible. One attacker reportedly used AI-assisted tools to attempt approximately 1,200 intrusions, successfully compromising more than 100 websites and digital systems. The activity showed how automated agents can reduce the time and technical expertise required to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.

Separately, newly discovered weaknesses in widely used web software prompted urgent security updates. AI-assisted discovery of vulnerabilities created opportunities for defenders to identify problems more quickly, but also increased concern that attackers could exploit weaknesses before organizations applied repairs.

These developments revealed a growing challenge for digital security. Artificial intelligence can strengthen protective systems while simultaneously increasing the speed and scale of malicious activity.
For businesses, public institutions, and website operators, the practical consequences include greater pressure to maintain updated software, monitor unusual activity, and prepare for incidents that may unfold much faster than traditional security processes anticipated.


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Morning fogs in the Skolivskyi Beskids. At the top there is a church, the highest in Ukraine, Skolovsky city council, Ukraine.

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