1 November 2016
The crows are back in town! On Halloween evening they made such a huge scene in Oakland that I’ve preempted my scheduled blog for this breaking news.
Christina Schmidlapp reports,
Oh, they are back! They’ve been massing around trees in Schenley Farms for about a week, though I think they only settled here for a night or two along Bigelow Blvd. between Schenley High School and Bayard. They make stops on the tops of the Madison Apartments on Bellefield and also an apartment building on Dithridge en route to even higher ground. I can watch their flight trajectory at the end of the day from the east into the Hill district. Almost nonstop for quite awhile.
And Dr. Tony Bledsoe wrote:
A student sent me a video of American crows assembling to roost around the Clapp/Langley/Crawford complex earlier tonight [Halloween]. I estimate, inferring from some in the background, at least 1,000. That’s probably conservative.
Crows love to spend the winter in Pittsburgh because it’s 5-10 degrees warmer than the countryside, our night sky glows with light, and food is everywhere if you aren’t picky (garbage dumps in the suburbs and dumpsters in town).
The flock is settling in and retaking the streets. Here’s their South Side Story to the tune of When You’re A Jet, a throwback to November 2009:
(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)
They’ve been stopping in the London planetrees for a week or two now. Based on the sidewalks I’ve guessed that they aren’t staying over night. All for the best I suppose if it will just lead to them playing falcon alarms from the union roof.
When did they go away? They are annoying all summer here in Upper St. Clair.
Dottie, so that’s where they spend the summer! Thanks for the tip.
Saw a small flock gathering around the Shop N Save on Center Ave. a couple of weeks ago, with a lone fish crow calling from atop a lightpole. Always interesting to see their interactions and struts about the parking lot.
In Shady side several days ago, thousands coming in just beyond the PNC bank on walnut St. None landed in the large oak at the bank, but hundreds landed in the trees beyond the bank. The oak has just been trimmed, consequently only sturdy, thick branches remain. Seems like they prefer the thin high branches. Safer?