Q: My place of work faces an expanse of grass, about one-quarter acre, beside a small wood with fir trees. During November and December large numbers of crows fly up into the fir trees, collect cones and then fly down and bury the cones in the grass. By the end of December there must be several hundred of these cones buried. Is this behaviour normal?
George Ball, Clontarf, Dublin 3
A: A very interesting observation, which as far as I know has not been observed or recorded before in this country. Rooks and jackdaws break open acorns and eat the kernels; they also hoard the acorns. The only member of the crow family known to feed on the seeds of pine cones is the nutcracker. This is a small crow, about the size of a jay living in the conifer forests that stretch east from Scandinavia through Asia. However, rooks are very clever birds and no doubt can learn new tricks.