The crow is a large bird with clearly marked traits of the scavenger and predator. In the Far North, the favorite habitats of the crow are confined to the steep cliffs of the coasts of the seas of the Arctic Ocean. Often crows settle here near the bird markets, where they find abundant food in the form of dead birds, chicks, abandoned eggs. Often, they also robbed themselves in nests. Crows adore seafood products and regularly examine littoral in search of shellfish, crustaceans, snuffled fish, surf-ejected dead seals.
If there is not enough food for them by the sea, crows go hunting in the tundra, where they fish lemmings, young long-tailed ground squirrels, chicks of white partridges, geese and ducks. In the forest zone, the basis for feeding an ordinary crow in all seasons, and especially in winter, is carrion, which is used regardless of its origin, storage time and degree of freezing. Especially rich prey goes to crows from hunters, who leave behind a multitude of doomed wretches. In the summer supplement to the diet are insects, berries, nuts, and also game, which occasionally it is possible to extract.
By the breadth of spread and the ability to adapt to the diverse conditions of existence, the ordinary raven has no equal. Its vast range covers almost the entire northern hemisphere – except for the deserts of Central Asia, where it is replaced by a smaller brother – the desert crows. In Russia, the common raven breeds everywhere: it coexists in the arctic tundra, in the remote taiga, in the oak forests of the middle belt, and in the mountain forests of the Caucasus.
Desert raven is an indefatigable fighter of ground squirrels, gerbils, jerboas, hamsters and other small rodents. On occasion, he catches lizards, small snakes, eats young turtles, pecking their soft shells, and various insects. This carrion does not eat carrion only occasionally.
