Unhealthy Carrion Crows?

[Ringo1968]

Are large amounts of the wrong type of food detrimental to certain birds health? There is a large car park near me with hundreds of crows ever present and their diet seems to be entirely made up of scraps from the fast food outlets in the park ie fries, pizza scraps, garlic pots etc etc. They even follow people across the park mob-handed eating French Fries!!! Cannot be healthy surely?

[bigdave60dog]

Are you sure that they are not Rooks. In the eighties, Rooks were struggling to make living. Then they found out that they could make good living by scavenging in carparks, playgrounds etc. This has led to an upsurge in the national Rook population which I think answers your question.
Dave

[poschiavanus]

I don't know about Crows, but Jackdaws certainly weren't thriving on this diet in Zurich. Jackdaws are pretty rare in Switzerland these days, apparently breeding success is low when they're on the 'Macdonalds diet'.

On the other hand proximity to a take away ora sweet shop near a school seems a good way of finding Pied Wagtails, and judging by the boxes & papers at the bottom of the garden it's what the local foxes live off.

[rossy]

Originally Posted by bigdave60dog

Are you sure that they are not Rooks. In the eighties, Rooks were struggling to make living. Then they found out that they could make good living by scavenging in carparks, playgrounds etc. This has led to an upsurge in the national Rook population which I think answers your question.
Dave

yes good call bigdave, rooks have learned how that building their nests . in particular motorway services, they have a fast food outlet, at the moment round our end, crows are like sparrows, plenty of them, and each day one waits for me to throw food onto the roof of the house, it then gives out a call, and the rest know its feeding time,these are intelligent birds and dont underestimate them. one thing i have noticed is they have a pecking order, pardon the pun , one in particular is more dominant, and woe betide if any of the others try going before it. rossy.

[artdemole]

Without the corvids and scavengers as some people call them,It would be unhealthy for us humans.

[Billabong Karen]

I dont know about rooks or crows, but in Worthing the gulls have learnt to steal food out of the hands of humans! A gull swooped down and stole a sandwich out of my brother's hand during his lunch hour, and my nephew was even robbed of a Mars Bar!!! I dont know what species of gull it was, they just described them as 'big white vicious b*stds'!!!

[Ringo1968]

Originally Posted by bigdave60dog

Are you sure that they are not Rooks. In the eighties, Rooks were struggling to make living. Then they found out that they could make good living by scavenging in carparks, playgrounds etc. This has led to an upsurge in the national Rook population which I think answers your question.
Dave

They are definitely Carrion Crows and not Rooks. 100%. We have Rooks on farmland near us and they are distinctive with their white faces. These crows are plain greedy and ferret through cardboard boxes as well!

[aeshna5]

There are places around London where up to 100 (+ maybe more) Carrion Crows congregate + will take advantage of any scraps with some people deliberately feeding them.

[Ringo1968]

They can get surprisingly close on occasions but if you try and get closer they hop backwards or sideways while keeping their eyes fixed on you.

[AfternoonLemon]

I don't think that it is unhealthy for them, no. The difference between birds and humans is that they need to keep moving all the time, whereas overweight humans in the 'developed' world can eat and lounge about all day if they want to.

The other thing is that if a crow was to become overweight, and therefore less mobile, it's odds of survival lessen.

In saying that, I don't know what long-term effect all the additives and chemicals in junk food may have...