Corvids with cholesterol

by Rhiannon Law
Rook, Irvine Beach

I recently read an interesting article on the National Geographic website titled ‘Crows love cheeseburgers. And now they’re getting high cholesterol’. Andrea Townsend is an ornithologist studying how urban living affects the health of American crows, including their cholesterol. Her work has included supplementing the diet of a crow population in a rural area of New York with cheeseburgers. The research found that cholesterol levels did not have a detectable effect on the birds’ survival.⠀

I have always wondered how our love of junk food impacts our urban birds, particularly corvids. My personal experience of watching these birds would back up what is said in the article. For example, many of the birds I have watched loitering in the car parks of fast-food restaurants appear to be healthy and thriving; they are often large with glossy looking feathers and seem full of energy. I’m not suggesting we start actively feeding birds junk food, but I was interested to read my suspicions were confirmed by the research; junk food doesn’t seem to do crows harm in the short term. Further research is needed into the long-term effects.⠀

This photo of a rook eating chips was taken last month at Irvine beach, as you can see. We were walking towards the coastal path when I spotted it land on the sign. My long-suffering partner carried on walking and, I think, talking to me for some time before he realised that I’d been distracted and came back to find me with my camera pointed at the sign. I was glad for the reach of my lens 70-300mm lens, as I could tell that if I’d taken a step towards the sign the rook would have flown away. This was taken at 240mm to fill the frame while still fitting in the whole sign.

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