Crow
Antoinette Franke, Consolidated Cooperative
Q. Hi, Chip: I maintain a feeding station for birds, and daily I provide sunflower seeds in feeders. When the weather is very cold, I also put out suet cakes. But whenever I put the suet out, a flock of crows finds it an hour later and devours it all. How do they find the suet? Do they smell it? Do they see it? Since I don’t provide the suet every day, how do they know when it’s there?
A. Thanks for your question, Antoinette. As with most species of birds, crows don’t have an exceptional sense of smell. However, they do have excellent eyesight and are among the most intelligent of birds. My guess is that after finding suet at your location in the past, they remember that incident and check back regularly to see it there is any more suet available. They probably do so from a distance, which is why you don’t see the crows every day.
