Walton Street crows

We went to Walton Street market and car boot sale this morning and I couldn't help but notice the crowds of Carrion Crows. At least 50 individuals were about, on van and car roofs, atop flood lights,

 and walking amongst the huge puddles left by yesterday's rain.
Some patrolled just over the paths, elaborately flying slowly, sometimes almost hovering - in black-headed gull style - scouring the ground.

Soon it became apparent what they were after. No, they weren't hunting for antique bargains, but taking advantage from the fast food bonanza that inevitably follows human crowds.

Crow on roof van. 

A starling passed too close and made him jump

I missed the wing tip in the phot, but I like the shadow of the crow

I watched as one individual landed on the roof of a van, triumphantly holding half a hot dog sausage in its bill.

The remainder of the hot dog was being dealt with a few other crows: a dominant one pushed another aside...

...and quickly picked up the other half of the sausage in its bill, before flying away

while the other, less fortunate crows contented themselves with bread smeared on ketchup.

We associate scavenging behaviour with dirt, rotten food and germs, but I doubt the hot dog had been on the ground longer than the five-second rule allows, before it was cleared up, taken away by the crows.

But, occasionally, the bin man gets there first. Crows watched him picking a paper bag...

...but leaving some food behind, which was quickly dispatched

There were many gulls and starlings about, but I didn't see them take advantage of the market food. Crows appeared bolder, and cheekier than in other places, maybe they are all locals used to take advantage of the markets - and Hull Fair - and are used to people. This one spent some time checking itself out in the wing mirror of a car.

The it jumped to the roof and spent some time watching from this vantage point.It allowed me to approach close enough for a portrait (top shot)

 After filling their tummies, some crows took turns in the puddles for a bath.

Crows on ice

After days of heavy rains, it has been quite cold the last few days, and the large puddles everywhere have frozen over. A group of a dozen Carrion Crows had gathered this afternoon on the grass of my local park, probably before flying to their roost. This pair of Carrion Crows, undeterred by the cold, was actually foraging on an iced up puddle. One of the individuals even dared to walk on the ice, not bothered by slipping on it occasionally, an experience that is probably quite unusual, as they do not normally wade. This individual must have overcome a natural inhibition to walk on water. But not only that, both exploited this ability to look through the ice in search of food tidbits which normally would be out of reach, far from the puddle edge. The crows used their beak as a hammer to break through the ice and reach underneath, or to lift pieces of it. The less adventurous individual did this from the safety of the shore, but the other one walked about checking the whole surface of the puddle. Many ground-living invertebrates, such as earthworms, might have drown in the flooded ground after surfacing in search of air, and the ice itself provided the crow with a platform from which to obtain these otherwise unreachable resources.
 Another illustration of the wonderful opportunistic behaviour of crows.
 The following video has a short clip of the pair of Crows on ice. There is another one in my YouTube channel.