Mist Crows of Berlin

I was staring out the window of a fine Indian restaurant in Berlin when a strange crow flitted over the sidewalk.

It’s body was the soft gray of an overcast morning and the head an obsidian black. This prompted a search through Wikipedia and the Wildlife Institute’s website for what this bird could be.

I think I spotted a Hoodie. Known in English as the Hooded Crow and in German as the Mist Crow, this corvid is your classic forager, eating carrion, sneaking eggs, and nibbling small birds and insects.

I was originally confused by its range. Hooded crows live all the way up in Russia and on the Mediterranean. They are well-known in Scotland, and in Ireland, they have the charming Gaelic name of caróg liath.

And they strut around Berlin too, nibbling the urbane and sophisticated leftovers of this urbane and sophisticated city. Undoubtedly, the bushes of the Triergarten gives them somewhere to stash their food, but the gleaming glass buildings probably don’t provide them with many drainpipes.

They are a stylish looking bird. I am glad to have met with one.