I have a certain crow who visits my bird bath several times a day. Sometimes he drinks but usually comes with another purpose in mind.
Often he comes winging in carrying a piece of bread that he proceeds to soak in the water and then gulp down. Since we’re in the middle of the Brood-X cicada invasion, he will clear out any dead cicadas before dipping the bread in the water. I’m thinking he’s pretty smart to have figured out that bread (probably stale) is actually bad for birds and perhaps this makes it more palatable. Some people have the mistaken idea that birds like bread when in fact it’s bad for them.
Basically, bread robs birds of the opportunity to take in the true nourishment their bodies require to survive.
Bread offers wild birds absolutely ZERO nutrition. ZERO. But, how could it possibly harm them, if it has zero effect? Simply, bread fills up a small stomach in a hurry. The bird doesn’t know the food is useless, but leaves feeling full and satisfied, nonetheless. This is a deadly combination, considering how many calories birds need to eat in order to survive.
To begin with, birds must be very efficient eaters due to rapid metabolism and the small size of their stomachs. Birds need to max out every meal in order to take in enough nourishment. Ideally, they should be filling up with food that has a high density of the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates they require. The food Nature intended. Bread is not that food.
Eating bread can turn deadly. With no calories to metabolize to stay warm, a small bird like a chickadee can freeze to death overnight with a stomach full of bread.
Many people dislike crows and even fear them based on superstition. Even the term for a group of crows is “a murder of crows” and they are often associated with death or as an omen of bad things to come. In parts of Appalachia, a low-flying group of crows means that illness is on the way.
The reality is that crows and their corvid cousin, the raven, are extremely intelligent, capable of solving complex puzzles, and making multipart tools. Recent research even shows that they know what they know and can ponder the content of their own minds, a manifestation of higher intelligence and analytical thought.
Click here to watch this BBC video of a crow name 007 who solves a complex, 8-step puzzle to get a food reward.
My crow visitor has demonstrated his intelligence by solving the problem of eating stale bread. Marinate it! Downside? He is a very messy eater so I’m cleaning the birdbath a lot more.
References: Backyard Naturalist and ThoughtCo.com
Ross A. Feldner, RCC Board Member
Ross Feldner is the lead, with Bob Musil, of the RCC Bird Watch and Wonder Program. Ross is a life-long birder and photographer who is the editor of the Friends of Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge newsletter. Ross also serves as a guide at the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge, a frequent birding spot for Rachel Carson who first learned about the health effects of DDT at the laboratory there. He is also the owner/art director of New Age Graphics, a full-service graphic design firm in Wheaton, MD.
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