>I should think that any observation of a crow taking prey with its feet
>would be very well worth documenting in a very thorough and detailed
>way. I have never seen this, but -some 40 years ago- I believed I saw a
>raven carry a young (dead) California Ground Squirrel in its feet.

A year ago this spring, I saw a raven swoop to a flock of Brewer's
blackbirds on a barbed-wire fence along Diamond Lane in Harney
County. It snagged one in its feet and flew off with it, as
the rest of the flock chased it and mobbed the hell out of it.

I was, as you can imagine, shocked. I think I posted about this
to tweeters last year, but don't remember for sure...

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, at http://www.xxxpdx.com/~dhogaza