Burt Guttman said:

"This is largely a question of perception. We humans see the live jay
eating a dead jay as cannibalism, because we can see that they're the same
species. The jays don't see the world that way. When jays are jumping
around and doing jaylike things, they perceive one another as jays, and
they engage in mutual jaylike behaviors. But once the jay is just a piece
of meat lying on the ground, the live jay gets no clues from it indicating
it should be treated differently from any other piece of meat lying on the
ground. Same kind of change can occur with gulls and probably other
species. ... "


Crows would seem to be a big exception to this. I've heard so much from
Tweeters and elsewhere about how crows treat dead crows with ritualistic
behaviors that as far as I have heard do not include eating them. What do
other corvids such as Ravens do in this regard?

Andrea Grad
Alki
agrad at helsell.com