Fish Crows: Egg Thieves

Fort Mellon Park
Fish Crow with Egg
Crows are smart, and because of this I'm somewhat fascinated with them.  They're not particularly attractive birds, but they have a lot of ingenuity. I've read stories of crows working together to steal food from gulls. One crow comes up behind the gull and pulls a tail feather, distracting the gull.  When the gull looks away, the other crow steals the food.  That's some smarts.  But this aspect of crow behavior I'm not so fond of--they are exceptional at stealing eggs.  I'm told they're particularly good at stealing eggs from wading birds, since most are colonial nesters.  Crows have learned how to return to the scene of the crime and steal even more eggs. The other day I photographed these fish crows with some egg they had stolen. I have no idea what kind of egg this is. And to me, this egg looks a bit too large for the crow to carry in its bill. But somehow it must have managed.  They know how to crack it open and take the yoke out of the egg. In one photo, you can even see some of the yoke in the crow's bill.   These crows were pretty far away, so the pictures aren't great, but I thought the behavioral dimension of the photo made them worth showing.

Fort Mellon Park
Fish Crow with Egg
Fort Mellon Park
Fish Crow with Egg

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