Crows Really Are...Disgusting!!!

I have been pretty busy lately, but at least some of that "busy" has been birding. Today is an overcast day here inChicago, and there are supposed to be some pretty nasty storms the rest of the weekend. (I think the folks doing the "Birding Bitz" in Southern Illinois this weekend are going to be in for some rough weather.) So, since I expect to be rained in most of the weekend, I made sure I got out and hit some of the local hotspots before it started to pour.

Now, there are quite a few blogs that purport to be about "urban birding." I think there's even a blog called "The Urban Birder" from St. Louis or something. I think that St. Louis might be "urban" for a lot of the people reading this blog, but it sure ain't for me. I wake up every day in a 45+ story building, go to work in an even taller building, and some days, if I take the train or the bus to work, the only green I see all day is the tiny little "lawn" on the side of my building.

I have seen some goodies in that yard over the years, including a Chat, a couple rails, and most of the standard sparrows. Because the idiots that run our building can't even grow a lawn, they have re-seeded the dirt (again), and that has attracted a few more sparrows than usual. The Red-winged Blackbirds have left, but the local American Crow family is hanging around more than ever.

Yesterday I have a good laugh because the idiots that run our building (do you sense a theme here?) spent a lot of money to plant some tulips, and the crows were in there ripping them apart and eating them. Pretty funny unless you're Dutch, I suppose.

Anyway, these crows must be pretty hungry, because today I snapped the following photo:

Not a great shot, but yes, that's my local crow eating one of my local sparrows. Now, I have no love for House Sparrows (which I assume this was, but the head was already gone, so???), but still, when you only have a couple dozen birds in your neighborhood, you hate to see any of them go. The amazing thing is, the other crow from this pair, at the same time, was also eating its own sparrow. Double yuck.