Sunday, March 18, 2012

Paleo Crows - Seasons Of The Omnivore (Part Two)

 My local murder of crows were very vocal this morning looking for their breakfast so as I began assembling some food scraps it wondered whether they had any food preferences. Like us crows are apex omnivores and will eat darn near anything but I'm sure they have favorites;either within their natural diets or human foods.

 No better time for a little experiment. I laid out three equal piles of food; raw beef trimings (left), whole wheat bread with peanut butter(centre) and Friskies dried catfood(right).


  Now to determine what the crows would prefer. I led the first crow in to the test piles by baiting him/her with peanut butter sandwich cubes.


Takaways......

A - The bird that followed the bread trail was the only one to really eat the sandwiches. No surprise since he/she already had a taste for them.

B - The two birds that finished off the beef trimmings despite the proximity to the car and a potential predator in hiding. Their body languages were obvious - they wanted the beef but were quite tentative.Interesting result considering there were other safer food options available.The power of food reward.

C - The popularity of the dried cat food.The first four ingredients in the cat food, however, were chicken, corn, animal fat and wheat which is right up a crow's alley. Not so much for the cat though...no wonder it begs for wet food and real meat.

4 - The hesitation one crow gives the pile of bread after the cat food is gone. Almost a "do I want any of this?" look before flying off.

FTR - a couple crows returned to finish off the bread. They are oportunistic eaters afterall and, like us, consider any food better than no food.(wink)

Its good to be an omnivore! Much better to be a Paleo one though........(wink)

Part one....

http://rolfdevinci.blogspot.ca/2011/09/seasons-of-omnivore-food-for-thought.html


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