This time of the year everybody is crazy about walnuts. We have many walnut trees around our residential blocks and in the park and it is free to pick the nuts. Makes me wonder why on earth the price of the nuts in the shops are so high. Anyhow, it is not just the humans who take advantage of free food, Simon the squirrel is stashing walnuts for the winter and each day climbs countless times to pick the walnuts and to carry to his secret place. But this will be another story for another post.
This post is about the crows, who are also in competition who can pinch the nut first.
I will start with few pics I took in the weekend. I've seen them crows crashing the nuts either with their strong beaks or using more sophisticated methods. Sometimes they will just drop it from above on the concrete floor or asphalt. The walnut may not crack so easily, so the bird will pick it up and try again and again until it is ready to open.
This time the crow hopped on the lamp post, walnut in the beak.
Then firmly gripping with one leg, tried to peck.
But it is not easy to keep the balance.
Still holding and balancing...
And... not for long, the walnut dropped.
What happened next I did not capture. The crow landed, pick it up and flew away. Sure enough to find better place and not to be disturbed.
The above images are in black and white, because I got wrong settings and that day my images turned blue. My eyes are cheating on me and without my spectacles I chose tungsten light instead of daylight. So, I did not want to disregard the photos and the only solution was to turned them in black and white.
Now, some more images of crows with nuts from other days.
This is what I usually see, a crow walking with nut in the beak. Typical autumn picture.
And another one, where the crow successfully cracked the nut.
If you have time to watch them, you will be surprised how resourceful the crows are. I witness though a crow pecking on a baby bird who I thought was a dove. Really gruesome, but alas this is what it is.
Hope you enjoyed my photos. Until next time.
Happy birding!
Thank you for viewing my post.
Very cool series of pics. Even in black and white, you've captured some action pictures of just how resourceful birds can be. You may know that we have a Black Walnut tree plantation on the farm. In the past, the trees produced hundreds upon hundreds of walnuts every year. You've got to be on your toes though when it's time to harvest, if you aren't the squirrels and birds can make them disappear in a few days.
This year the Walnut trees produced zero walnuts, very strange, but it's impossible to predict how Mother Nature will behave from year to year.
I am glad you like my photos. 🙂
I remember that post where you had a bucket on your head while the wlanuts were falling down from the tree. It was the walnut tree, wasn't it?
This is really amazing how much you've got before and nothing this year.
The photo you remember still makes me laugh, but the bucket on the old head worked great!
Yes, that was a Walnut tree for sure.
Not only did we get zero Walnuts, but the pine cones that the squirrels so loved were also non-existent, go figure.
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Zanimljiv post, @nelinoeva, o pticama i orašastim plodovima, omiljenim na celoj planeti, i ljudima i životinjama.
Tek sam prošle godine shvatila kolika je snaga kljunova ptica.
Tada sam svojim očima sa udaljenosti tridesetak metara ugledala pticu Gačac kako pored Kule Nebojša u podnožju Kalemegdana u svom kljunu drži zmiju dužine oko pola metra. Slična scena i na odmorištu pokraj autoputa, ali ovoga puta u pitanju je bio gušter.
Život ide dalje...
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This is so interesting to see that bird with the snake.
I will never stop to be amazed by the birds.
Such a splendid scene, and captures.... all this occasion! ☘️ I wonder if I could 'stage' something like that, with such a nut from my pocket, hehe. Have some !PIZZA as an extra, Neli. Fascinating report! I can feel your excitement.
Thank you so much for your comment. 🙂
It was really exciting to watch the crow and would happen next.
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@qwerrie(1/5) tipped @nelinoeva