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by undersuit 3169 days ago
Birds have already been observed to use cigarette butts for nest building, and no resultant population crash has happened for them.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2138655-birds-use-cigar...

Maybe the food being given to the crows is more beneficial than any of the downsides of the exposure to the butts.

2 comments

If you read through to a linked article you'll find there is indeed long term health effects to the birds https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22730341-600-birds-lo...
I never said there weren't. I specifically worded my comment to suggest that the benefits might outweigh the harm.
For instance, if the crows are picking up enough, then there will be less birds using them for nesting material, which is a more prolonged exposure.
It seems to offer some sort of advantage in pest resistance, and I would assume over the (sometimes) shorter lifespan of the birds that do this that advantage outweighs the toxicity of the butts.