Saturday, June 25, 2011

Crows on the Beach

Hopefully, you can see this. Four crows on the beach.




What is odd about this is that crows are not shorebirds. They usually live in trees and are scavangers. Normally, you'll see them in parking lots where people have dumped trash on the ground.

But these guys are mutant crows. Not only are they hanging out on the beach, but they are eating coquina, a tiny bivalve sort of like a clam. They must have learned how to do this by watching the plovers or sandpipers, because they run out when the water recedes, grab a coquina, then somehow manage to crack it open with their beak.

They're rather amusing to watch, because they don't like getting their feet wet. If they don't pay attention and a wave rolls in around their feet, they launch themselves into the air. You can almost hear them saying, "Ack! Wet feet! Wet feet!"

2 comments:

  1. Crows are smart birds, thieves too. I have a friend who had a pet raven as a child. It used to fly beside her as she rode her bike. Weird.

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  2. Yep. After I posted this, I went and took a look at wikipedia. Crows are the most intelligent birds of the bird kingdom. They make tools to get food and they're omnivores who scavange.

    The weather channel has a video of a crow stealing food from golf carts on a golf course. :)

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