As the days get longer, members of the winter crow flock start to think of spring. In only six weeks the flock will start dispersing for their breeding territories so those without a mate need to find one soon. Crows mate for life but they don’t pair up until sexually mature at age two. Time is of the essence for young unattached crows.
In the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed new behavior as Pittsburgh’s crows fly to the roost. More aggressive chases and playful tumbling in the sky appear to be interpersonal jousting and perhaps courtship.
Their vocal repertoire is expanding, too. Beyond their raucous caws, crows are making quiet noises when they perch. Here are a few examples.
Raven in Schenley Park, 4 Jan 2021 (photos by Andrea Lavin Kossis)
13 January 2021
The smartest bird in the western hemisphere, the common raven (Corvus corax), has come to town and is claiming nest sites in the City of Pittsburgh. Ravens have been seen in Schenley Park, above, and are regularly found at Forbes Avenue in Frick Park. This is a big deal because…
Common ravens were extirpated from eastern North America by 1900. After 1950 they slowly recolonized remote areas of the north and Appalachians but were rarely seen in eastern cities. We were very surprised when a pair showed up at Brunot’s Island in October 2007 and eventually nested there. Since then, very slowly, ravens have become more visible in Pittsburgh.
Common raven flies by Western Penitentiary, 13 Oct 2007 (photo by Chuck Tague)
Ted has Pittsburgh roots from the time when ravens were scarce, but now lives in Boulder, Colorado where ravens are common in town. His tweet prompted lots of feedback from Pittsburgh birders.
There’s no unspoiled wilderness in PA so every raven here is impressively smart + cautious about humans (and who wouldn’t be?). I’m glad ravens decided cities are ok.
[When the car noise abates briefly at 0:19 below you can almost hear what the raven is saying, a muted “whup … whup”.]
Yes – just down the road apiece from your boyhood diorama … here he is trying to convey his passion for another raven in the trees below the bridge but being drowned out by traffic. A cyclist saw me videoing and said, wow – that’s a really big crow! pic.twitter.com/3AC4IzaIHR
Huge flocks of crows roost in Portland, Oregon in the winter just as they do Pittsburgh. By 2017 the city realized that the crows’ huge sanitation problem could not be solved with cleanup crews and pyrotechnics so they turned to a team of falconers.
This 9-minute video from Oregon Public Broadcasting, published in November 2018, shows how trained Harris hawks — which normally operate during the day — move the crows at night. Awesome!
Merlin at Homewood Cemetery, 26 Dec 2020 (photo by Michelle Kienholz)
28 December 2020
Pittsburgh’s Christmas Bird Count dawned bitter cold (13o F) and overcast on Saturday 26 December 2020. The weather was daunting, city roads were snow-covered, and birds were very hard to find. Though the official count isn’t in yet, there were notable exceptions less than three miles from my home — merlins, peregrines, 20K+ crows and a Baltimore oriole.
Morela, 12/26/2020, 7:33a (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Ecco arrives on the front perch
Morela and Ecco
Ecco calls as Morela leaves
Ecco alone
Ecco leaves
empty nest
CROWS: Counting crows is always a challenge despite our best laid plans. At dusk at the Allequippa Street Parking Garage, Claire Staples and Joe Fedor counted crows arriving from the north, west, and Allegheny Valley. At Schenley Park golf course I counted them flying in from the east. (The eastern group can’t been seen from Allequippa Street.)
It was so cold! The crows felt it too and used different flight paths than the day before. Erf! Even so, the three of us counted 20,000 to 24,000 crows.
Here’s what they looked like at Allequippa Street on 18 Dec 2020, photos by Mary Brush.
Crows near the Petersen Center, 18 Dec 2020 (photo by Mary Brush)Crows near the Petersen Center, 18 Dec 2020 (photo by Mary Brush)
BALTIMORE ORIOLE (Icterus galbula): Most likely the rarest bird of the count was the Baltimore oriole at Izaguirre’s feeder in Oakland. Frank and Adrienne have been keeping him happy since he showed up on 20 December. In Frank’s photo below he’s slurping jam from the top of the suet cake. Yay!
Baltimore oriole at Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count, 26 Dec 2020 (photo by Frank Izaguirre)
In the typical absurdity of 2020, the weather on the day after the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count was partly sunny and 47oF.
Now that it’s mid December Pittsburgh’s winter crow flock has chosen favorite roosts but continues to adjust the location in subtle ways, especially when it’s cold.
In October they switched sites abruptly — here today, gone tomorrow. In November they focused in Oakland and tried for Schenley Farms. On the 18th I watched the flock hover from four blocks away, then heard a distant BANG! a single banger firework. The crows made a U turn in the sky and didn’t come back.
This month the flock has split into several roosts including rooftops and trees at Bouquet and Sennott, at Fifth and Thackeray, and perhaps at University Prep in the Hill District. On 11 December I followed them to the Hill where I found them staging at Rampart Street, Herron near Milwaukee, and University Prep.
But I don’t know where they sleep. I plan to count them on 26 December for the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count so if you see them sleeping somewhere let me know!
Meanwhile, the flock’s incursion into Oakland prompted this tongue-in-check tourism video by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy interns, posted on 20 November.
The crows and I recognize a lot of places in the video. 😉
In the late 1990’s technologist and inventor Joshua Klein began thinking about crows and how they thrive in the human landscape. Crows pick up food we’ve left behind but can they learn to do useful things? What about picking up coins? By 2008 he’d invented the crow vending machine.
When thousands of crows come to town for the winter what do they find to eat?
Every morning they wake up in the city and spread out during the day to find food near and far. Some travel 10-20 miles to glean from fields and landfills. Others raid dumpsters, prowl parking lots, or poke holes in garbage bags waiting for neighborhood collection.
Up to 65% of an urban crow’s diet is made up of human food and we sure make a lot of it available. Nothing is faster than fast food, especially fries.
They are not daunted by paper bags. In this video by Quiscalus a flock of fish crows fights over a bag of fries until the herring gulls take over. I’ve seen this happen in Virginia Beach.
Crows gather in Schenley Park, Jan 2017 (photo by Mike Fialkovich)
15 November 2020
This was a big week for crows.
Early November is the time when Pittsburgh’s huge winter flock decides where to sleep for the next three months but no site is large enough to house 20,000 crows. Right now the roost is in flux as the sub-flocks collect and break apart, testing their options.
On Sunday 8 November they came to Oakland from all directions — eastern suburbs, north+west suburbs, and Allegheny Valley — raising the overnight total to 17,000 to 20,000 crows! The next night fewer groups arrived so Oakland’s overnight population dropped to 9,000.
On Thursday the 12th I saw the flocks prepare to roost in Schenley Farms so I called my contacts below and told them to start smacking their “crow clappers.”
Crow clappers for making loud clapping noise (photo courtesy Alex Toner, Univ of Pittsburgh)
It worked. Thousands of crows levitated over the neighborhood then wheeled south to perch on Webster Hall, eventually moving elsewhere. They didn’t roost in Schenley Farms that night.
Some of them are sleeping in the trees at Pitt but even that location is in flux. I’ve seen sidewalk evidence near the closed section of Bigelow Boulevard …
Evidence of the crow roost at Pitt, Nov 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
… but they were avoiding the trees at the corner of Bellefield and Fifth after a predator — peregrine? — ate a crow after yanking off the head and wings. The crows stayed away from that warning for weeks. (If you’re curious about the head, click here.)
Someone ate crow, only the wing is left, 26 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Eventually the flock will pick a winter roost. I hope it’s one that doesn’t bother people so we can coexist in peace.
(photos by Mike Fialkovich, Alex Toner, Kate St. John)
Crows flying over Soldiers and Sailors Hall, 24 Oct 2020. 13 in the circle (photo by Kate St. John)
9 November 2020
For the past three months I’ve been trying to count Pittsburgh’s crows but it’s incredibly hard to do. Last night I tried again as they flew from a staging area in Shadyside to a roost somewhere west of Bellefield Avenue. After 20 minutes I suddenly realized I’d missed a steady stream flying in from the Allegheny Valley. How many thousands had I missed? Aaarrg!
My sister-in-law suggested I use photos to count them so here are four photos with 13 crows circled in each one.
Crows roosting near Heinz Chapel, 1 Dec 2017. 13 in the circle (photo by Kate St. John)
Crows flying past Chevron Hall, 24 Oct 2020. 13 in the circle (photo by Kate St. John)
Crows flying at sunset over Wilkins Ave. 13 in the circle (photo by Joanne Tyzenhouse)
Thanks to all of you, my readers, who have kept me blogging about birds, nature and peregrine falcons. Your enthusiasm keeps me going. And a big thank you to all the great photographers who let me use their photos. See who they are here.
This week the Pittsburgh winter crow flock changed their habits. Last week they staged above Oakland at Sugar Top but this week they moved to the edge of Shadyside where they hang out on trees and rooftops before flying to the roost. Their evening flight is right outside my window.
On November 2 and 4 I recorded just a fraction of the 10,000 crows flying past my window.
Earth will be a different sort of place—soon, in just five or six human generations. My label for that place, that time, that apparently unavoidable prospect, is the Planet of Weeds. Its main consoling felicity, as far as I can imagine, is that there will be no shortage of crows.
