Cork City, where birds have become incredibly adept at turning human carelessness into dining opportunities.
Urban-adapted birds like the seagulls and crows photographed here have developed significantly different behaviours compared to their rural counterparts. City-dwelling seagulls often show reduced fear responses to humans and have learned to time their foraging around peak human activity periods, such as lunch hours when dropped food is most available.
Crows, meanwhile, have demonstrated remarkable problem-solving abilities in urban environments and can even learn to associate specific locations with regular food sources. Studies have shown that urban bird populations often have different dietary compositions, stress hormone levels, and even song patterns compared to rural birds, reflecting their adaptation to city life and the constant presence of human activity.
Walking along Corporation Street, I was watching out for interesting people to photograph when I saw a man watching people walking past. We’d just come out of Grand Central Shopping Centre, the sun was shining, and I quickly walked over to the shaded part of the street. It was too warm for me. Might have been the same for this gentleman.
A pair of Eircom phone booths on St. Patrick Street, Cork, pictured in 2005.
The phones were there until at least 2022, but Eir announced a few years ago that they’d be removing their public phone booths, so away they go.
Aperture
ƒ/13
Camera
Canon EOS 20D
Focal length
55mm
ISO
400
Shutter speed
1/320s
Close
Ad-blocker not detected
Consider installing a browser extension that blocks ads and other malicious scripts in your browser to protect your privacy and security. Here are a few options.
uBlock Origin is a free, open source, ad blocker for your browser.
Use pi-hole if you have a spare Raspberry Pi on your network.
Set the private DNS settings on your phone to dns.adguard.com to block adverts and trackers.