Where do 14,000 crows go during the day? 

Ever since I counted the winter crow flock this question has puzzled me. 

If Pittsburgh’s winter crows spent their days in neighborhoods, people would complain about their daytime activities as much as they complain about the roosts, but no one comments on daytime crows.  So how do they keep such a low profile?

Today’s weather was lousy for birds and even lousier for hiking – a cold front with high winds and a wind chill of -1^oF.  My hunches about crows required driving (an indoor activity) so I decided now was the time.

A snow squall followed me out the Parkway East but the sky cleared as I arrived at the hilltop cemetery in Wilmerding.  I had guessed correctly that the cemetery was on top of the hill but I had not expected the tree line to obscure the huge landfill to the east.  Were there crows at the landfill?  I couldn’t tell, but there were certainly crows at the cemetery – about 30 – and all of them were coming from the landfill.  

Next stop, Duck Hollow on the Monongahela River across from a large shopping mall.  I’ve seen crows at the malls but I didn’t expect to see four crows on the wild side of the river.  Two were eating fallen fruit, one was sleeping low in a tree, another was hunched at the top riding the wind.  When they discovered I was watching they all left. 

On a whim I went to Woods Run to see if I could find the ravens.  Instead I found hundreds of crows gathering near Uniondale Cemetery.  The wind was too strong up there so the flock spilled downhill to the Ohio River and tried to perch on Brunots Island.  Again the wind was too strong so back up the hill they went, ready to cause trouble.  Crows everywhere, poking holes in garbage bags, landing on rooftops, side streets and fences. 

These were the crows I was looking for and they certainly weren’t making themselves scarce, but it was the end of the day, near roosting time, and I had no clue what they did before they got here.

So I have a few more answers but I’m still wondering… What do they do all day?

Happy New Year!

Many birders start a new list each year of the birds they see.  I don’t, but I still like to note the first bird on January 1.

I would have to be deaf and blind to have missed the first bird this morning.  Even before dawn a flock of crows swirled over my house like a vortex.  Today it’s windy and the crows looked like black rags flapping in the wind.  Some of them used the wind to dive and climb.

In an unusual move, about 100 of them perched in a tree across the ballfield instead of continuing on their way.  It looked like my drawing – a bunch of black dots clustered at the top of the tree.

As more waves of crows passed overhead, the perched birds shouted at the new arrivals to join them.  What a noisy, boisterous greeting to the new year!

6:45am.  Sunrise was still 45 minutes away.  “I hear crows,” said my husband.

I looked out the window, trying to see black birds in a dark sky.  I could hear it was a large flock just in front of our house, but I couldn’t see them.

Then they turned.  I swear there were 300 crows.  The flock turned back on itself twice.  In the dark it looked like a black flapping ball.  And they were loud.

This was the vanguard flock, the first to leave the roost, the noisiest, and the one that looks as if it can’t make up its mind where to go.  This indecision is probably true. 

The vanguard is made up of the cocky, the brave and the adventurous, some of whom are wise enough to know where there’s a lot of food.  The wise ones want to get an early start at the good feeding grounds without a lot of competition.  The cocky follow them closely.  The flock wheels in the air while they all figure out where the lead birds are going and who’s in the lead.

They flew southwest.  A pause.

Ten minutes later the sky is lighter and a noisy flock of a hundred crows flew over.  And then another.

Our house is in the flyway today.  If I’d been on my game this morning I could have been up and outdoors counting crows, trying to estimate the size of the winter roost.  But it’s Saturday and I have too much to do.