Caw, Caw, Caw or Shout Out for the American Crow

This morning a murder (flock) of crows was in my backyard trees making lots of noise.  The observation begged the question, do “birders” love, or merely tolerate/coexist, or abhor crows? 

How do you define birder?  I am a birder.  I watch, count and feed birds.   I work to create habitat to attract birds to my yard, I volunteer for a birding organization and I take special trips to see new birds.  But I think anyone who feeds or enjoys watching birds is a birder.

When I lived in an apartment in Washington, DC there was a strip of pine trees just outside my window where a family of crows nested every year. I'd watch the family of crows every day as they worked to survive sandwiched between a high rise apartment building and a convention center hotel.  These crows endured the heat of summer, torrential rains and ice storms while I watched them from the comfort of home.  Living in close range with this family of crows created a few conflicts, as they would start cawing before dawn and in the summer months that is around 4:30 a.m. 

The more I learned about crows the more I appreciated them.  They are highly intelligent and can even identify human individuals on sight as friend or foe.  The nestlings that survive their first year come back to help their parents raise the next brood of young. There is a study documenting a female crow using “tools” to get food.  The only other animals that I know the use tools are humans or monkeys. 

In the winter, crows gather in large roosts for protection.  One hundred or one thousand crow eyes on the lookout for danger or food assists the survival of all of them.  Congregating together in large groups keeps them warmer in the winter than they would be on their own. 

Crows can be noisy, but you must understand that it is simply their way of alerting other crows to danger, declaring their territory or intimidating a raptor out of hiding. What might seem like a nuisance to us is the result of thousands or millions of years of survival adaptation.   

In the spring, they disperse from their large winter flocks and break up into pairs and family groups to begin nesting again and defending their breeding territory.  I can't hate a crow for being a crow, even when they steal another bird species nestling out of the nest for food.  It is hard to watch, but that is how they survive. 

I love the crow for its intelligence, adaptability, and beauty. I tolerate crow behavior when it is not in tune with me and my habits or they make a mess, including getting hit with crow droppings while walking between business meetings.   Sometimes bird poop happens, and it lands in your hair.

I abhor West Nile virus.  When West Nile arrived in the United States, most of our local family of crows as well as many other birds like cardinals and blue jays disappeared.  It is probably safe to assume they all died.  When the crows were gone I missed their raucous calls and interesting behavior that used to wake me or disrupt me.  So, no I don’t really mind when a murder of crows stops by in the morning.  It is a sign of hope that in our birds have rebounded from West Nile virus or at least they have overcome it for now. 

So the next time you curse a crow or a murder of crows, I ask that you step back and take second look at our adaptable natural neighbors.