Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
KEEPING AN EYE ON CROWS
In some areas,
the American Crow leads a double life. It maintains a territory year-
round in which the entire extended family lives and forages together. But during much
of the year, individual crows leave the home territory to join large flocks at dumps and
agricultural fields, and to sleep in large roosts in winter. Family members go together to
the flocks but do not stay together in the crowd. A crow may spend part of the day at
home with its family in town and the rest with a flock feeding on waste grain out in the
country.
Communal crow roosts can range from a few hundred to two million crows! Some
roosts have been forming in the same general area for well over 100 years. In the last
few decades some of these roosts have moved into urban areas where the noise and mess
cause conflicts with people.
Sometimes they conflict with people's pets as well. I used to watch three crows that
would arrive in my neighbor's yard the moment she left for work every morning. As she
headed out to the car, she would tie her Springer Spaniel up and give the fairly large dog
a bowl of food. No sooner did she back her car out than the crows would drop down and
walk slowly toward the dog, staring intently at her. The dog meekly backed away from
her dish, and the crows stuffed their throat pouches with dog food before leaving for the
day.
AMERICAN
BIRDING
ASSOCIATION'S
PRINCIPLES
OF
BIRDING ETHICS
Birds often go about their business as usual even as you watch them, but birding, espe-
cially by large groups or in sensitive or popular areas, can cause stress for birds and can
sometimesevendamagetheirhabitat.Birdersshouldbeespeciallysensitivearoundnests,
since distressed birds may draw the attention of nearby predators.
The American Birding Association (
www.aba.org
) has created a set of guidelines to
address situations in which birds may be harmed. Their Code of Birding Ethics emphas-
izes that “In any conflict of interest between birds and birders, the welfare of the birds
and their environment comes first.”
Code of Birding Ethics
1.
Promote the welfare of birds and their environment.
