Outside My Window

The crows are back in town, raucous as ever!  Thousands flew over my house this morning.

I was planning to use this photo to blog about them when I showed it to my husband and we started to laugh.  These crows look so much like a gang that my husband started to quote the lyrics from the song When You’re A Jet from West Side Story.  He knows all these songs because his parents were really into Broadway musicals.  Soon he was inventing crow lyrics.  Soon he had written a crow version of the song.  And so was born…

South Side Story

Coal: Hey, Biff, getta load on what them filthy pigeons are doin’…

Biff:  Them?  With their stupid green heads and silly pink galoshes?  We’ve already laughed ‘em off the street…

Coal:  Oh yeah? Well they’ve moved into the parking lot down at the Giant Eagle.

Midnight:  Yeah, they’re takin’ over OUR dumpsters.

Sulfur:  [chiming in timidly] One of ‘em swiped a cheeto I had my dibs on…

Biff:  Well, don’t worry, we’ll take care of them – because we’re CROWS!

When you’re a Crow
You’re as black as the night.
You’re as sleek as cold steel
and you’re ready for flight.

When you’re a Crow
You are sure of respect.
You’ve got boys in your roost.
You’ve got cards in your deck.

          The Crows are in gear,
          our cylinders are clickin’.
          You Pigeons stay clear –
          cause once you’re in the pot
          you know you taste like chicken!   
   
When you’re a Crow
well, you’ve been to Crow school.
You can poke open bags.
You can even make tools.

You can steal a gold ring.
You can gang up on cats. 
You can count up to five.
You’re a bird and a half!

When you’re a Crow
You’re an Army of One
You make plans for the day
and your plans all get done.

          Here come the Crows,
          we are cruisin’ your way!
          We are takin’ the mirror
          from that new Chevrolet.
          We are climbing the curbs
          and we’re eating old meat.
          We are chasing the rats.
          We are claiming this street!
 
Once you’ve been marked
With a capital C
You’re the top-perching bird
any pole, any tree.

When you’re a Crow
You can chortle and caw
You don’t “sing,” man, you SHOUT
And your word is the law.

          You Pigeons watch out
          Cause we’re namin’ your name.
          We’re not takin’ crap,
          you are outta this game.

          You’ll be feeling our heat.
          You’ll be tasting our juice.
          So, get off of our wires…
          Cause
                 We
                        Rule
                                The Roost!

– by Richard St. John with a huge tip of the hat to Stephen Sondheim and West Side Story.  Here are the original lyrics.  Photo by Marcy Cunkelman.

1 or 2…  10 or 20…  100 or 200.

That’s what it’s been like to count crows around here this fall.

In August I could always find 1 or 2.  In September it was normal to see 10 or 20.  Now the winter crow flock is gathering in the East End of Pittsburgh and I see 100 or 200 fly over my house at dawn. 

Why stop there?  

Soon there’ll be 1,000 to 2,000 and by the time we do the Christmas Bird Count in late December we’ll have 10,000, maybe even 20,000 crows.  At that point they’ll change their staging areas frequently, just to keep us on our toes while we’re counting crows.

(photo by Chuck Tague)

Crows and ravens are both corvids but they aren’t friends.  Crows are smaller and can be preyed upon by the smarter and much more powerful ravens.  So crows raise the alarm – if appropriate – when they see a raven.

I say “if appropriate” because crows are careful.  If they think they can’t safely make a ruckus they show great respect and quietly leave the scene.  But if the raven is at a disadvantage, watch out!

That’s how I found a young raven one morning at Acadia National Park.  I heard two ravens calling at dawn and had seen an adult with a youngster the evening before, so I assumed it was them.  One of the ravens landed in a tree near the road, the other flew away.  About ten minutes later six crows showed up.

The raven cawed like a crow as the crows approached but they weren’t fooled and started shouting at the raven.  They surrounded him and scolded him loudly.  They were really annoyed by his attempt to speak “crow.”

The raven changed his tune and made a noise that sounded like a girl shouting “Ho!”  If I hadn’t seen the raven do it I would have thought it was a girl calling to her companions from the hiking trail. 

Ravens are great mimics so perhaps this one learned by example.  He called again and the other raven returned.  The crows quickly dispersed.  His call for help worked, even though it was the sound of a human voice.

(photo by M.I.K.E. via Shutterstock)

You bet they’re smart!  Here are two stories about how very smart they are.

There was a radio article on NPR yesterday morning – you may have heard it – in which two eminent crow specialists described how crows recognize humans by their faces. 

Kevin McGowan (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) and John Marzluff (University of Washington) wrote the book on crows – literally, books – and they know what they’re talking about.  They’ve banded and studied more crows than most of us will see in our lifetimes and they soon realized the crows knew exactly who they were no matter what they were wearing.  Marzluff conducted a study to prove it.

I am so impressed!  I was even more impressed when I visited the Morning Edition website, watched the video and took the “Can you recognize a crow by its face?” test.  (I can’t.)  You really must check it out!

And… on the way to finding that article, I found another one about a crow-sized camera that was fitted to New Caledonian crows to record them making and using tools.  My favorite part was, “They caught 18 wild crows and attached the cameras, which weigh less than half an ounce. A timer kept the cameras from filming for a couple days, otherwise they would just record crows trying to tear them off.”  

Of course!  It made me laugh out loud.  

(photo from Shutterstock by Alexander Chelmodeev)

I’ve been frustrated by the lack of crows lately.  Every winter for the past four years thousands of crows used to fly over my house at dusk and dawn.  This winter after one spectacular showing on November 18th they’ve been absent from the area. 

This doesn’t mean there are no crows in Pittsburgh.  Far from it.  They’ve just moved the roost.  But where? 

Yesterday I decided to find out.  I’d heard about a large flock of crows on South Side and my friend Karen saw hundreds in the Strip District a week ago.  Armed with two clues, my first move was to check out the South Side so I went up to Billy Buck Hill for a wide view of the Mon Valley, Downtown and Oakland.  There wasn’t much crow movement but every flock was headed for the far side of the Hill District.  By 4:15pm it was obvious I was in the wrong place.  I should be on Polish Hill. 

As I drove out Bigelow Boulevard I found a huge flock gathering in the trees above the road.  What smart crows!  This site is inaccessible, there are no buildings, and foot traffic is impossible because the Boulevard has high speed traffic without sidewalks.  After a lot of maneuvering I managed to turn around and pull into Frank Curto Park.  From there I could see thousands of crows flying in from the North Side.  Behind me thousands more piled in from the East End.  The numbers kept building.  There was no end in sight.

Frank Curto Park is a creepy place, only accessible by car on a narrow one-way lane.  I didn’t want to be there at dusk so after another time-consuming maneuver I parked on Polish Hill near the West Penn Rec. Center.

By then the distant hillside from Bigelow to the railroad tracks was covered in crows.  More were still arriving and they began to do The Wave, rising up in dense shouting circles that reminded me of snow geese at Middle Creek.  Night was falling fast but I could see the waves were not returning to the hillside.  Each flock landed closer to the valley. 

I crossed the 28th Street Bridge and I found them again, this time on the roof of Liberty Commons.  As I pulled into the parking lot I wasn’t alone.  Another car followed me trying to take pictures of flying crows.  I jumped when the other car honked but the crows did not.  Birds continued to collect on the roof. 

By now the sky was so dark I couldn’t see more than a hundred yards.  If the crows made a move I wouldn’t be able to follow.  Besides, I felt confident I’d found the roost.  Then silently, in the dark, the crows streamed off the roof until all of them were gone. 

But where?

(photo by Chuck Tague)

I knew the crows were back in town for the winter but there was no doubt late yesterday in Oakland. 

Around 4:20pm thousands of crows started passing WQED, heading for Schenley Heights. 

I wish I’d thought to count them but I missed my chance.  Not a big loss though.  They’ll give me ample opportunity in the days and weeks ahead.

Here’s what they looked like last winter as they passed Carnegie Mellon University.  Click on Tom Merriman’s photo to get a better idea of how they fill the sky.

(photo thanks to Tom Merriman, who knows about my addiction to crows)

p.s.  If you read “Hope is the bird…” November 15th but didn’t find out if I saw tundra swans, read the answer at the end of that post.

Weather:  We had an east wind today - not good in this land where the prevailing wind is from the southwest.   Eventually the wind dropped and it began to rain steadily.  I took a picture at 5:00pm near the Cathedral of Learning.  Dreary, dreary sky.  Not a good day for watching birds.

As of yesterday Pittsburgh’s precipitation was 2.39″ – that’s 37% above normal for the year – in only 10 weeks.  No wonder the rivers are in flood.

Meanwhile my car developed a leak in the driver’s side door that made the carpet into a squishy, water-seeping bog.  I had it fixed today… I hope.

Crows:  Bonnie Jeanne Tibbetts brought an NPR story to my attention called “Taking Over the World One Crow at a Time.”  Apparently Josh Klein invented a box that teaches crows to pick up loose change in exchange for peanuts.  I have no idea if he’s tried it on wild crows yet, but I’d love to be there when he does. 

Bird song:  As the days lengthen, more birds are singing every day.  Yesterday was a good day to hear cardinals, robins, song sparrows, house finches, goldfinches and the mockingbird at Pitt.

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?

Last Friday outside my office window I noticed a steady stream of crows flying west-northwest into Oakland.  They were coming in to roost.

I went back to the task at my desk but when I looked up again the stream was still there, still steady.  Amazing.

I usually don’t try counting crows because I lose track but I remembered Dr. Tony Bledsoe telling me how he estimates flock numbers by counting the rate of birds during a given period of time, then measuring the time.

I picked a point of reference and set my stopwatch.  200 crows per minute.  Now all I had to do was watch until the stream ended and check the rate of crows periodically. 

I watched until it was too dark to see them.  I checked the rate a couple of times and they still flew in at 200 crows per minute.  Even after dark they kept coming, though the rate seemed to drop, but at that point I couldn’t be sure because they matched the sky.

From start to end, it was 70 minutes.  14,000 crows.  And those were only the crows I could see!  Judging by reports of crows elsewhere in Pittsburgh, the total number could be two or three times that.

In about a month, the flock will begin to disperse.  In the past few weeks they’ve changed their start and end points, and anyone who thinks “as the crows flies” means a straight line ought to watch this flock.  Even their flight path curves in the sky.

What a spectacle!  I’ve been to Nebraska to see sandhill crane migration and to Middle Creek to see snow geese.  Crows aren’t as “nice” as cranes and geese but they put on just as big a show.

           The photo is a Pittsburgh crow roost at dawn by Doug Bauman.

In the evening the crows now flock to Oakland and roost around WQED.  Everyone notices them and asks me what the crows are doing. 

Expert answers, by Dr. Kevin J. McGowan of Cornell University, can be found here.  Please do click on the link and read about it.  It’s fascinating!

My answers – totally non-expert – are best expressed by my favorite poem that describes what these entertaining black birds are up to: 

Crows  by Doug Anderson, from Blues for Unemployed Secret Police Curbstone Press ©2000.  Reprinted by permission, http://www.curbstone.org/.

Crows

Hunch in the trees
to gossip
about God and his inexorable
experimenting,
about deer guts and fish so stupid
you could sell them air
and how out in the deserts
there’s a dog called coyote
with their mind
but no wings.
Crow with Iroquois hair.
Crow with a wisecrack
for everybody,
Crow with his beak
thrust through a bun,
the paper still clinging.
Then one says something
and they all leave,
complaining
the trees are not
what they used to be.
Crow with oilslick eyes.
Crow with a knife
sheathed in a shark’s fin.
Crow
in a midnight blue suit
standing in front of a judge:
Your Honor, I didn’t
kill him,
just ate him
and I wasn’t impressed.
Crows
clustered in the bruise light
in the bottoms
of dreams.
Crows in the red maple.
Crows keeping disrespect
respectable.
Crows teasing a stalking cat,
lifting off at the last minute,
snow shagging down
from their wings.
Crows darkening the sky,
making fun of the geese
on their way to Florida.
Crows in the roses,
beaks and thorns.
Crows feeding lizards
to their brood.
Crows lifting off road kill,
floating back down
after the car has passed.
Crow with a possum eye
speared on its beak.
Crow with a French fry.
Crows
in the chicken cages
on their way to market,
the farmer finally gone mad.
Crows hunkered down
rumpling feathers,
announcing the cataract
of snow
over the sun.
The crows prosper.
Carrion is everywhere.
The night
that is coming
is so dark
it will feel
like fur on the eyes.
So dark suddenly
you cannot see the snow.
Thrust your hand in it.
Hear it like sand
blowing on the roof.
A crow shifts his foot
and snow sifts
down from the tree.

(The picture is a stock photo of a raven – not a crow – but he looks so cool I had to use him here.)