Strange Growth on Crow

For the past couple of weeks a family of American Crows (2 adults and 2 young) have been visiting my feeders everyday. The youngsters are VERY vocal and I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbors think something is being attacked in my yard. I have a good time watching the kids beg for food and try to figure out how to get to the suet in the hanging feeder.

One day while watching the commotion in the yard I noticed what looked like an acorn stuck to the upper bill of one of the crows. I can't tell from the photo but it might be an engorged tick. Below are a couple of relatively poor photos taken through a window screen that show the growth close-up.


Anybody have a guess or has anyone seen something like this before. The object appears to be located right about where the base of the upper bill or perhaps just anterior to it. Is it just a tick or some other type of growth? I suppose if the family keeps coming around and the growth is gone it was probably a tick.


The bird appears to be healthy not displaying any symptoms of illness or injury, behavior is normal and feeding is unimpeded. So I'll leave it up to those of you who know a lot more than I do and wait to see if anyone can give me a definitive answer as to what I'm seeing. In the mean time the kids are back in the yard raising a ruckus. I think I'll go watch.