His ‘friends and family’ were quite vocal and hung close by. I couldn’t bear to see it destroyed even further, so I came back with a shovel and gently moved it off to the grassy shoulder. “I was walking home and discovered a dead crow in the middle of the street, most likely hit by a vehicle. Susan and Ron Runyan, who live near the roost in Bothell, commented on the intelligence of crows and their grief at losing a comrade. The residents of Bothell, Washington have a Facebook fan page titled “Bothell Crows” in which they post pictures of the birds, discuss interactions with them and share stories. But while some cities may find the birds a nuisance, others actually enjoy their presence. “At this time, we don’t have any plans to address the crows,” she says. Vickie Holbrook, the communications director for the city of Nampa, says that the city has received only two complaints about the birds in the past couple of years.
In a final attempt to cure the city of the crow problem, a bird control company was hired and through the work of shock sticks, reflectors and hazers the birds have left Caldwell … for the neighboring city of Nampa, just a few miles east. Along with being an ineffective method to disperse crows, when residents found dead birds laying around the next morning, further upset ensued. After a few years of complaints, the Caldwell police department got desperate and took to shooting the birds out of trees in the night. Local businesses were left with heaps of feathers and droppings to clean up each day from the birds and were worried this could effect business.
While a few people I know enjoyed watching the crows, they created an unfavorable reaction among locals.Ĭaldwell has a varied agricultural landscape, and worried farmers were calling the mayor and the police department for fear of the crows damaging crops. Each winter a murder of thousands of crows would gather in the local Walmart parking lot and create a ruckus filled with cawing and pooping. One such instance was in my town of Caldwell, Idaho, where I am a student in environmental studies at the College of Idaho. The incessant noise combined with the cultural association of crows being linked with evil or death can make the gatherings of crows a problem for some cities. These roosts and staging areas can be so noisy and immense that there have been instances of people going nearly insane from living near them.
Flocks of crows meaning license#
Photo © Mary Quite Contrary / Flickr through a Creative Commons license But thousands of crows are still highly noticeable. While one documented roost in Oklahoma contained more than two million birds, most are much smaller. The locations of their roosts tend to change from year to year to decrease chances of becoming an owl’s lunch, and in winter when joined by migrating birds from Canada can grow to remarkable sizes. Knowing that there is safety in numbers, crows form massive roosts where they return to rest each evening, and during the day they disperse in groups to several staging areas within a short distance of their main headquarters. Residents have described the crows as “creepy” and a “deafening black cloud” that completely blocks out the sun. But when a huge group of crows - commonly called a “murder” - gathers in a city, human tolerance can be put to the test. They mate for life, can live 20 years and have fascinating social lives. Each winter 150,000 crows roost on the University of Washington, Bothell campus, actually causing the trees to slouch under their weight.īirders and conservationists recognize crows as highly intelligent and complex animals. John Marzluff, a professor of forest sciences at the University of Washington who has been studying crows for over 20 years, described the scene in an NPR interview with Ashley Ahearn. Seattle’s famously gray skies lend an air of Alfred Hitchcock to the scene, but this type of roosting behavior is common for crows. It looks as though the birds are going to take over the city of Seattle. If their creepy gaze isn’t enough, nearby, overflowing a few leafless trees, is a cackling crow army, 10,000 strong. Hundreds of crows are standing stock still in orderly rows on the University of Washington tennis courts.
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