Gone in 60 seconds

If I tell you that the movie Gone in 60 Seconds (the original, not the remake) was one of my favourite movies as a youth, it will tell you something about how I spent my time. Not car-jacking, but certainly tinkering with fast cars. Unfortunately, as much as I tried mine was not one of them.

Last week it took a lot less than 60 seconds for me to take a hen’s egg out of the chicken coop, put it down, walk the chooks around to their run and return. In that time a Little Raven (Corvus mellori), pictured left, had found the egg and was having breakfast.

Corvids (ravens and crows) are omnivorous. Depending on the season they will feed on invertebrates such as caterpillars, spiders, centipedes and grasshoppers, plant material and carrion. In late spring and early summer they will explore trees looking for bird’s nests and take the chicks and eggs. As with raptors such as eagles you will often see ravens being harassed by other birds protecting their nests. They are opportunistic feeders and whilst not hunters of chicken eggs will certainly feed on them if they chance upon it.

They are sort of like a ‘reverse Easter Bunny’.