Birdchick Blog
Crow Coughing Up A Pellet
I periodically do segments on our local All Things Considered broadcast in the Twin Cities. I offered to show them the winter crow roost and the host Tom and his producer Sam were interested. You can listen here and they brought along a videographer who got some terrific footage of the crows, be sure to check it out.
We had to reschedule the recording at least once because of the cold weather. We are having the sort of winter that Ned Stark would be proud of up here and I didn't want to take them out to see the roost in sub zero weather. Yeah, I know birders are hardy and we can take it, but I find with newbies and casual birders that they really don't have as much fun and I'm not into sadomasochist birding for everyone (just a select few). I like to do it when it works with everyone's schedule and comfort level.
We finally found a day when it was in the 30s and it was a great time.
I joked with producer Sam by asking if that is how he keeps his microphone warm in winter. He said that this was for wind protection but it looks like a piece of Muppet more than a microphone.
I know crows are pretty common birds, but I do really enjoy their winter roost--thousands of crows coming in and swirling around at dusk, it's beautiful spectacle. Not quite a murmuration, but definitely lovely in its own way. And I love taking non birders out and see them be just as awed as I am (if not more so).
As we did the interview, I tried my hand at digiscoping the crows with my iPhone. I can get some arty shots, but it's still can't quite capture the majesty of the roost. However, as I was grabbing footage, I managed to get a shot of a crow coughing up a pellet--just like an owl or hawk would. Watch the crow on the far right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGrIpbUqkIA
Several bird species cough up pellets, just not as regularly as birds of prey. I've seen gulls, shorebirds, robins and even a scissor-tailed flycatcher do it. In theory, any bird will cough up parts of food they cannot digest from scales, exoskeletons or even berry husks. But you don't often see other birds do it. Was fun to capture the footage.
Stupid Hipster Crows
Non Birding Bill and I drove by Loring Park tonight and expected to find this:
But when we arrived there, the crow roost was bare! The roost has moved. As I let loose a stream of profanity as to how this affects Birds and Beers, NBB said, "You know what happened, they arrived around Thanksgiving and said, 'Oh, we were here last year, this place is all played out,' and then another crow said, 'I know this other little spot that's much quieter that no one knows about and is so cool.' See your problem is that you have hipster crows."
Indeed, the roost has officially moved to Elliot Park, not too far away, but we will not get the same view we had at last year's Birds and Beers. We should still see crows fly in but they will most likely not stay at Loring outside of Joe's Garage. Perhaps after it gets dark, we can caravan over to Elliot Park to see the sleeping crows? So Birds and Beers is still on at Joe's Garage for Saturday at 4:30pm. Sounds like we'll have more beer than birds.
January Birds and Beers at the Loring Crow Roost!
The next Birds and Beers is on January 22, 2011 at 4:30pm at Joe’s Garage. This is the one where we watch the millions of crows fly into Loring Park!
I'm looking forward to this one, the crows at Loring Park are a spectacular sight and last year's gathering was the biggest Birds and Beers we've ever had! The only downside is that we have to pay for parking for this event but we get a spectacular show in exchange. Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities–if you’re interested in birds, you’re invited. You can meet other birders–maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog–the sky is the limit. It’s low key and it’s fun.
Non Birding Bill and I stopped by Joe's Garage the day after Thanksgiving to check out the crow roost and even took a moment to walk beneath the crows in the dark. Loring is a busy city park, these birds are used to a bit of pedestrian traffic. As we walked through, one of the flocks abandon their tree. For a second I was worried that we startled them but then NBB said, "That doesn't look like a crow..."
Sure enough, it was a great horned owl passing through the roost, no doubt looking for a vulnerable crow for a meal. Hope you can make it and again this is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and meet some new birding friends, promote your bird club or group.
The Crow: A Reappraisal
NBB's Guide to the Bird You Saw: Crows
Okay, so hopefully you've gotten the identification of Sparrow down pat. If not, there's no hope for you, and you're destined to lead a lonely, sheltered life, fearing the companionship of your fellow man. Which, ironically, makes you a perfect candidate to be a bird watcher. But I kid the birders.
Let us now move briskly on to the other type of bird you just saw, the Crow. In contrast to the Sparrow, which is vile, corrupt mockery of all that is righteous in the world but which is extremely popular—the Internet Explorer 6 of birds, if you will—the Crow is, in fact, a fairly awesome bird which people hate. People hate Crows so much you'd think they horked in the back of their car, or had a reality show.
This is not an unreasonable reaction. Crows have several things working against them, the first being is that while Crows are cool, they know it. Crows don't walk, they strut, making sure that you notice them without acting like they're making sure you notice them. I don't think that anyone would disagree that Crows have what Vice-Principals the world over would describe as "an attitude problem," before adding "Mister" with a very significant period at the end, because Crows are basically the teenagers of the bird world. You'll often find them hanging around behind feeders, sneaking a smoke. Chase them off and they'll simply fly off—slooooowly—to the nearest tree, glaring at you without looking like they're glaring at you. You can almost hear them mutter "bogus," and "whut-evah, grand-dad."
Yeah, I'll get right on that. Watch me go. Zoom.
I can hear my wife cringing from across town as I write this, because she can't stand anthropomorphization of animals. But it doesn't really apply to Crows, because I feel they are so very human, which is, again, part of the reason why people don't like them. They're cooperative, family-based, and part of the reason they've been so successful is that they've adapted to humanity, eating the roadkill (created by us) and garbage (likewise).
So, it can be easy to hate on Crows, but nonetheless I urge you take another look at them: I honestly really like them. Crows can be a lot of fun to watch, provided they don't know you're watching them: they play pass-the-stick and have this weird cartwheeling game they play in the park in the winter. And winter is the best time to watch crows, because that's when they lose some of their smugness and are, like the rest of us, just trying to get from A to B. Their strut becomes a trudge as they try to make their way through the snow, and they'll hang in the trees, wrapped in their feathers like trench coats. They hang out at my bus stop, probaby waiting for the cross-town to take them to the U. campus, where they are no-doubt studying Russian Formalism and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes. And as we stand there, both freezing our butts off, they'll shake off the snow with a shudder as if to say "this weather is b.s."
Yes, yes it is.
Sharon tells me that the Crows we have around our house are notoriously hard to take pictures of (again, like teenagers), so your best bet is try try and snap a picture with a motion-sensitive camera like the Wingscapes Birdcam. Both items are available at the Birdchick’s OpenSky Store, and 20% of the profits are donated to the ABA’s kids programs.
As an added bonus, if you enter the coupon code Sharon1009, you’ll get an additional 10% off your OpenSky order.