Fwd: A "murder" of urban crows

[Steve Voiles]

In south Minneapolis we noticed the crows (?) collecting in trees near my son's home in the evening.  

DSC_0292

 

They would come and go in waves filling the top of the trees.

DSC_0293

 

Then we realized this was not just his street but every street for at least a 10 or 12 block area.

DSC_0294

 

We went up and down the streets nearby marveling at the sheer numbers.  There had to be 10's of thousands of birds.  In the evening they were fairly quiet, but my son says they make a lot of racket in the mornings at times.

This was just one area we explored near Powderhorn Park.  It is mind boggling to think of the numbers if there are many roosting areas around the cities.  I didn't notice much of a mess or droppings as a result, which surprised me.  Will such numbers devastate the songbird fledglings if they persist into the spring? we wondered, but Bill says they will disperse into the surrounding areas as spring arrives.  Are they just feeding from dumpsters and such.  I can see they benefit from the lack of predators and probably the heat island of the city, but it is daunting to imagine the amount of food they much required.  There must be someone studying this phenomena.

[Jean Vertefeuille]

This is so fun!  Crows often roost in the many hundreds and even thousands at times.  I've seen it back east in several locations.  They won't normally stay at one roost forever but it may last a long time!

On Mar 14, 2011, at 9:35 AM, Steve Voiles wrote:

In south Minneapolis we noticed the crows (?) collecting in trees near my son's home in the evening.  

<DSC_0292.jpg>

DSC_0292

 

They would come and go in waves filling the top of the trees.

<DSC_0293_2.jpg>

DSC_0293

 

Then we realized this was not just his street but every street for at least a 10 or 12 block area.

<DSC_0294.jpg>

DSC_0294

 

We went up and down the streets nearby marveling at the sheer numbers.  There had to be 10's of thousands of birds.  In the evening they were fairly quiet, but my son says they make a lot of racket in the mornings at times.

This was just one area we explored near Powderhorn Park.  It is mind boggling to think of the numbers if there are many roosting areas around the cities.  I didn't notice much of a mess or droppings as a result, which surprised me.  Will such numbers devastate the songbird fledglings if they persist into the spring? we wondered, but Bill says they will disperse into the surrounding areas as spring arrives.  Are they just feeding from dumpsters and such.  I can see they benefit from the lack of predators and probably the heat island of the city, but it is daunting to imagine the amount of food they much required.  There must be someone studying this phenomena.

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