T'was for decades around here the crow was one the most numerous of winter birds. They were a most clever bird too, as they could sneak into the yard and steal our pecans. They would first send in their scout; if all was clear, in came the whole flock ...but for the last several years crows are few and far between.
I can look across the fields this morning and instead of seeing hundreds of crows...guess what is out there now?
Seagulls!
They just moved a little further south. Flocks of then all around my place until a couple of days ago. They scattered when 2 red tail hawks took up residence.
Not to many crows here either! Not that we want them! ;)
South of us, in the Watertown area they actually hire people to come and dispearse them out of the city area!
Chain, your story reminds me of when I was stationed at Anchorage, Alaska.
When Spring arrived, the ravens would move out and the sea gulls would move in and just the opposite in the fall!
Probably the biggest factor in your case is the wierd weather we've been having over the past few years!
Plenty here. I drove by a field yesterday with at least 200 gathered. We'll box up a dozen or so and send them to you. I always loved watching the infighting between crows and hawks or owls. I feel sorry for the raptors, because the crows are relentless. I have been able to identify a large number of hawks and owls because of this behavior, so I guess I should be grateful to them.
They follow their food source. They were thick here when our pecan crop was max. Some places are overrun with Blackbirds. Thousands. Talk about yuck, stink, and noise.
We have pretty good polulationd of hawks, eagles, falcons and owls here...they seem to really keep the populations under control.
http://youtu.be/iRNqhi2ka9k
if its that cold out you need a hat on, chances are YOU shouldn't be in a canoe!
I have watched flocks of birds to that once like in the video.
Really neat YouTube video, Steve. Thanks for putting it up.
Norm
At least we now know what Starlings are good for. :)
I'm happy to know there are crows around the country, I use to watch the crows as they would clamor and call when following a bobcat or coyote...or owl across the woods.
We had a crow nest in a white pine in our yard, one day I heard this awful ruckus and squawking and I looked up to see a small crow falling to the ground dead. Another small crow had also been knocked from its nest by a group of bluejays and they had come down to finish the other little crow off. I saved it and put away three of the jays before mom and pop crow came in to the rescue and began dive-bombing me as I held the small crow.
I put the crow in a privet hedge and believe he survived to fly off. ???
Loved the video.
The vido remined me my sister and I was in the back forthy and we saw a space ship and we hid in the corn feild ;D , now years later I realized it was a flock of blackbirds
The video is a real good example of why you never look up with your mouth open. ::)
Quote from: Texas Ranger on January 21, 2012, 01:25:07 PM
The video is a real good example of why you never look up with your mouth open. ::)
And, wear a wide-brimmed hat! ;D
The blackbirds are here and the robins just showed up. Some daffodils are blooming now, too.
Wow, cool video Steve. At first I thought that was Jill in the canoe!
Y'all know why crows never get hit on the hiway right? There is always one nearby to holler CAr CAr
We get them flocking up in the fall. I know they migrate, but we still have some in winter along with the ravens. I can throw a piece of meat or bread out in the yard and the ravens know within minutes it's there. Most of the time you can see a big old fat raven roosting up in the spruce in the back yard. The darn things are like parrots. :)
Flight of crows:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_Crows2.jpg)
We had a tree full of blackbirds yesterday evening. :-\ :-\ I hope that they were just ahead of the weather front that passed through last night and are now long gone.
crow vs hawk.... This may have been deliberate, maybe accidental, but I saw it happen. Two mature hawks, one sittin in an obvious perch in a big pecan tree, the other circling about a thousand feet up. Flock of crows went for the one in the tree, raising a ruckus and tormenting the hawk unmercifully. Suddenly, BAMM, cloud of black feathers, dive bonb from 1000 feet. The crows never saw it coming. New definition for the term "eating crow" ;D
Quote from: pineywoods on January 23, 2012, 09:36:06 AM
Suddenly, BAMM, cloud of black feathers, dive bonb from 1000 feet. The crows never saw it coming. New definition for the term "eating crow" ;D
That's awesome!!!
Quote from: Patty on January 22, 2012, 02:26:01 PM
Wow, cool video Steve. At first I thought that was Jill in the canoe!
I thought the same thing!
What kind of blackbirds? rusty, grackle, red wing, tri-color. ??? I never had any trouble with any of them here. Just the nuisance starlings, they stay all winter. And not really much trouble here because they can't get into my buildings.
Morphed the subject into blackbirds. ::) ::)
Thought it was crows, and they are still "up north" :) :)
Maybe crows are blackbirds to, I don't know. ;D :D
SD
Crows are black birds, but not blackbirds. ;)
I heard that the West Nile Virus took out a lot of the crows in this area. NPR even did a segment on how the smaller groups reformed into new groups.
Up on the tree farms in WV we have a lot of crows and ravens. I like hearing the ravens talk.
Jon
Quote from: beenthere on January 23, 2012, 11:43:05 AM
Morphed the subject into blackbirds. ::) ::)
Thought it was crows, and they are still "up north" :) :)
Black birds are just small crows.
Use yer imagination...... :D :D :D :D
Beenthere I think some of our crows migrate. We are right on the edge of the winter/summer range where I live. ;) In the fall the sky is full of them, so they must be the ones that leave from further north. Some places the ravens bother the curb side garbage. I've never had a bird ever touch my garbage. Just cats and dogs that roam about from neighbors. The ravens are pretty smart, so maybe they figure all the scraps are what I've tossed out and not in the garbage, who knows. ;)
Quote from: Weekend_Sawyer on January 23, 2012, 01:57:53 PM
I heard that the West Nile Virus took out a lot of the crows in this area. NPR even did a segment on how the smaller groups reformed into new groups.
Up on the tree farms in WV we have a lot of crows and ravens. I like hearing the ravens talk.
Jon
Now that you've mentioned the WNV I'm remembering the virus infected several birds, maybe jays & robins too. But that's about the time the crow began to decline greatly around here. They may be federally protected in nesting season; Missouri has a March to November closed season on them
.
We have a cedar tree windbreak on the west side of our yard, several years ago we had a near blizzard, a 'white-out' I think the weather people called it. It blinded crows from flying to their roost, about dusk the storm ended, the crows all piled in to the cedars from a field near the house, probably two or three thousand of them, they jabbered to each other all night.
Unfortunately, the crows are alive and well in South Central Mississippi. :-\