European chafer

I first saw lawns in the Langara area south of 49th Ave being ripped up by crows and just thought it was crows being inventive as they tend to be. Living in Langley I haven't seen lawns destroyed like this and until I read an article in the Sun newspaper on cafer beetles I didn't know the root cause. How ever troubling it sounds like biodiversity at work.
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/chafer.htm

 

I've seen such lawns in Burnaby and Coquitlam as well, but I'm pretty sure that crows are not the culprits. They aren't big enough or strong enough to tear up the grass that way. I assume that raccoons actually do the damage during the night when no one is watching. Then, crows scrounge around in the broken soil looking for food remnants during the day when they can be seen.

 

It could be the grubs eating the roots of the grass weakening the hold in the soil.

 

I think the primary diggers feasting on these grubs are skunks, but other critters like them too.