Fish crows (Corvus ossifragus) are a relatively recent addition to the corvid species found in western Pennsylvania. Most people don’t realize they’re here because fish crows look nearly identical to American crows (Corvus brachyrhyncos).
If something doesn’t look right, crows are quick to point it out and warn each other.
Ten years ago Pittsburgh’s winter flock saw something very disturbing and circled above it in the half light before dawn. “Watch out! Watch out! It’s dead! Watch out!”
Three hours later a person discovered the disturbing scene. It prompted an investigation.
Pittsburgh’s winter crow flock has been avoiding my North Oakland neighborhood for three weeks now and I miss them. When I see them in the late afternoon, if I see them at all, they are flying very high in a steady stream. Where are going? Does anyone know?
The only crows I see are too few or too high for me to appreciate their raucous calls and aerial antics so I enjoyed them this recent video from #LesleytheBirdNerd. Listen to a crow Meow!
Frustrated that I could not see them from home I searched by car late Monday afternoon. There were no crows staging in the Upper Hill, Polish Hill, the Strip District, or near Trees Hall though I found a few hundred at Oak Hill west of Carlow. As I drove back from the Strip District I found a steady stream of crows flying toward the Cathedral of Learning — from where? — carefully avoiding the airspace above North Oakland and west Shadyside.
I chased them down to Frick Fine Arts where thousands were pouring in from every direction. They swirled in the trees near the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain and perched on the roof of Posvar Hall. In the top photo the fountain’s female statue appears to be holding up her arm to ward off the crows but in fact she is plucking a lyre and singing A Song to Nature for Pan, the reclining male figure, frozen in bronze since 1918.
Of course the crows would love to roost near the fountain. It has everything they’re looking for. Mature trees, night lights and the white noise of splashing water. But there are too many of them. Those who can’t find a spot fly over Central Oakland in the dark, scrambling for a place to sleep.
Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain at dusk, 8 November 2021
Meanwhile the week’s warmth brought out a last hurrah of insects including a Virginian tiger moth (Spilosoma virginica) or yellow woolly bear in Volant, PA …
Yellow woolly bear caterpillar, Volant, PA, 10 November 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
… and a leaf-footed bug outside my window, probably a magnolia leaf-footed bug (Leptoglossus fulvicornis). Last year’s leaf-footed visitor was eight days earlier in November. I think I know why they show up.
Leaf-footed bug outside my window, 11 Nov 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Leaf-footed bugs overwinter in leaf litter and are undoubtedly rousted out of their haven when the leaf blowers show up. Shortly before this bug appeared on our window, the 4-man leaf-blower crew at Ascension Church was in the final noisy throes of blowing and vacuuming a huge pile of leaves. I imagine the bug took refuge on our window while he figured out a new safe place to sleep away the winter.
Crows flying to the roost, October 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
2 November 2021
It’s that time of year again when thousands of crows come to Pittsburgh to spend the winter. In late October and early November they stage in pre-roost areas in Shadyside and Oakland before flying to the roost after dark.
Lately the crows have been changing their staging location every evening from Shadyside near Devonshire, to the highrise roofs near Neville and Fifth, to Baum at the busway, and on and on.
The staging area is easy to find because, beginning around 3pm, the crows make a beeline for it and they are loud. This KDKA video from 2018 shows what its like to be on the receiving end.
Counting crows and finding their roost is much more difficult. To count them I need a wide view of crows flying against the backdrop of a glowing sky, or I need to know where the roost is and count the evidence on the ground (count trees with excrement beneath).
Since the crows fly silently in the dark from the staging area to the roost, I can’t find the roost by sight or sound so I rely on reports from those of you who have crows rustling, murmuring and pooping on the sidewalks overnight. If crows are spending the night in your neighborhood, let me know!
For me, crows are the only reason to end Daylight Saving Time. Counting them and finding their roost will be easier after we change the clocks on Sunday November 7 and sunset is at 5pm.
(photo by Kate St. John, video from CBS Pittsburgh in 2018)
Or wear a mask to disguise yourself so that crows don’t recognize your face. The video in this vintage article — Wear A Mask — explains why crows react to the full head mask John Marzluff is putting on below.
Crows flying to the roost (photo by Kate St. John)
19 October 2021
Pittsburgh’s winter crow flock is back in town with thousands gathering at dusk in Oakland. A week ago I counted 3,000 but more have arrived since then.
Crows hanging out at a staging location (photo by Kate St. John)
As their numbers grow to 10,000 or 20,000, the crows change their staging locations and move or split the roost. They’re looking for the perfect spot with mature trees, ambient light, and white noise where they’ll be safe from predators and not annoyed by humans.
Crows think of roosting at Schenley Farms, Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Unfortunately the “perfect” spot is usually above sidewalks where hundreds (or thousands!) of crows create a stinky, slippery mess and lots of noise. The crows keep doing it night after night unless the site becomes unappealing to them. The best way to change the appeal is to annoy the crows with blinking lights or noise — for instance, the sound of wooden clappers.
Clappers used to disperse crows (photo courtesy Alex Toner, Univ of Pittsburgh)
I suspect “crow annoying” has already begun at Pitt and Schenley Farms because every evening the flock pattern is different. I’ve seen them head for Oakland, then return and circle over North Craig Street as they think about where to roost. When it’s very dark many of them go back to Pitt.
Last night they roosted near the Barco Law Building and made a ruckus outside Kim Getz’s window when they woke up to leave this morning. Notice that they’re on the tips of branches in her photo.
Crows wake up on Tuesday morning outside Barco Law Bldg, 19 Sep 2021 (photo by Kim Getz)
Pittsburgh’s winter crows are still picking roosts that annoy humans but that will change. Eventually they’ll figure out how to coexist with city humans.
“We’d love to stay overnight,” say the crows, “but we can be flexible.”
Flying to the roost, 16 October 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
(crow photos by Kate St. John, clapper photo courtesy of Alex Toner at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Pittsburgh’s crows have finished breeding so the local families now gather in a communal roost. Last week I counted 100 of them, mostly fish crows, congregating at dusk on Ascension Church’s knobby towers, then they flew west to roost beyond the VA Hospital.
Crows congregating on Ascension Church towers, 22 Aug 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Last month they congregated long before sunset near the Cathedral of Learning but they’ve been warned not to do that. On 29 July a peregrine chased the pre-roost flock out of Oakland. I watched her repeatedly dive-bomb them, harass an individual low-flying crow, and push the flock east into the trees in Shadyside. As soon as they had settled far away, Morela flew back to the Cathedral of Learning.
The crows still fly west into the sunset and east into the sunrise but now they give the Cathedral of Learning peregrines a wide berth.
Sunrise with three crows heading east, 15 August 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
After young ravens fledge they hang out with their parents for one to six weeks and putter with their siblings. Sometimes they pick mock fights and wrestle like puppies.
