A Corvid (Not Covid) Fact

The birding column in today's Star Tribune contained a fact I never new about corvids, or crows:

Q. I recently noticed two crows out in the street feeding intently on something but there didn't seem to be anything obvious in the road. Were they eating the salt in the road or what else might they have been doing?

A. I'll bet they were eating the road salt, not so much for the salt but for the molasses mixture that many public works departments add to coat the salt. This makes the salt stick to the road better and makes it less corrosive. The molasses in those blue-green salt pellets would have a sweet taste, and this appeals to crows. In other cities, cheese brine or beet juice is added to the road salt, either of which might also be tasty to crows.

Of course, there are all sorts of people who already know salt is coated this way and who would be amazed that every person doesn't already know this.

What a varied and complex world we live in.