American Crows Eat Prickly Pears

To our astonishment, spines of the prickly pear do not deter our neighborhood American Crows from eating the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. Who knew this was a source of sustenance for them? Moreover, might the crows’ digestion of the fruit disperse the seeds to start new plantings?

We marveled at how they could cling to the cactus’ beavertail-like paddles without impaling their feet on the barbs of the plant. Crows are scavengers. Perhaps Agnes Varda would approve of their gleaner tendencies.