The last picture I uploaded was of a Magpie pecking at some roof tiles. This one shows the same sort of behaviour by a Carrion Crow. There's a difference though: the Magpie was pecking at the *front* of the tile, so possibly trying to obtain minerals. The Crow is apparently trying to get at something *underneath* the tile (perhaps invertebrate food of some kind). The difference is most clearly seen when viewing the images at full resolution. The Crow's mandibles are slightly parted: it clearly wants to tweak something out. (Incidentally, the pale oblongs at the top left of this Crow pic are out of focus parts of a TV aerial).
I took about ten pics of the Magpie over a 30 second period, and in all of them the bird was stabbing only at the the front of the tile. In all four of the pics I took of the Crow, the bird was interested only in something underneath it.
Whatever, corvids seem drawn to those tiles! A final thought: corvids are intelligent birds, and possibly the interest in the tiles being shown by one species was witnessed by the other, which decided to check them out for itself.
Thank you for your comments on my pictures, stay safe and well, and good birding!
John
