15 December 2024
For stirring winter wildlife spectacles in our personal yard it’s exhausting to beat Pittsburgh’s winter crow roost. When you’ve seen them you’ll be able to’t assist however surprise: What number of crows are there? In lower than two weeks, if we’re fortunate, we’ll discover out.
On Saturday 28 December volunteers will fan out throughout the 7-mile radius Pittsburgh Christmas Hen Rely (CBC) circle to tally all of the birds they see in 24 hours. It’s the right time to depend crows nevertheless it takes a group to do it. How will we depend crows?
First, Discover the Roost. Prime Precedence this week.
One of the best ways to seek out all of the crows in a single place at one time is to depend them getting into, exiting or perched at their large communal roost. However they alter their roost typically in late December. I want your assist discovering it.
Let me know the place you see a lot of crows after 4:00pm within the metropolis limits. Inform me about …
- Large flocks of crows
- After 4:00pm or In a single day
- The place are they? Present particular location, avenue or landmark.
- If flying, what path are they going? I’ll map your contribution and triangulate.
When To Rely? Nightfall.
For the CBC we, the crow depend group, arrive within the goal space at 4:00pm (an hour earlier than sundown) and depend till it’s too darkish to see (about 5:30pm).
If we’re unsure the place the roost is (oh no!) we comply with the crows by automotive to the purpose the place they congregate. This can be a nerve wracking exercise as a result of crows don’t fly the road grid.
If we all know the place the roost is (splendid!) we assemble at a vantage level to view the roost.
Estimate!
Are we counting each single crow? No method!
- Estimate the variety of crows in a selected patch of sky or a piece of the roost, then multiply by the variety of patches. This takes apply. Attempt it out this week.
- Rely by 10s or — when it’s intense — by 100s.
In Flight
Should you’re on a crow flight path after 4:00pm you’ll be able to depend them as they go by. Nevertheless, a vantage level beneath the stream (photograph above) is mainly unimaginable to depend.
Discover a straight edge boundary and depend them as they go the sting. The sting on this photograph is a signpost. A sparse flock like this could possibly be counted by 10s.
For the CBC we don’t need to double depend so we discover the roost and observe the flight paths. If the flight paths have good vantage factors we depend there. This takes extra volunteers.
In 2023 you all despatched nice recommendations on the place to seek out the crows so we have been capable of depend them flying throughout the Monongahela to the roost at Duquesne College.
Rely The Roost
If there are good vantage factors on the roost, we wait till they’ve settled and depend them there. This labored nicely in 2017 on the Oakland roost from Heinz Chapel to Carnegie Library.
How You Can Assist
Prime precedence this week is to Discover the Roost. See directions above. Keep tuned for alternatives to affix the Crow Patrol.
p.s. For a extremely good information on crow counting, try Winter Crow Roost Counting Information from Lawrence, Massachusetts.
