I stood in a parking lot near the Hochstein School of Music just before 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, watching crows stream overhead by the hundreds, flying in a southwesterly direction.
And I mean hundreds of them, in a long line that seemed to originate over at the river gorge somewhere to the east of WXXI.
Every time I thought this procession was about to end, here came more of them, flying low enough that I could make out their cawing above the sound of late afternoon traffic.
And that’s not all.
I noticed that as the crows streamed over one of the nearby buildings, a few would swoop down low near the roof, almost as if they were landing on top of it.
I looked more closely, and had my answer.
One of those fake owls had been put up on the edge of the roof, no doubt in an attempt to deter gulls and other birds that might want to roost there and make a mess.
It was funny to watch.
The crows obviously took it to be a real owl and reacted accordingly. Great Horned Owls are a crow’s worst enemy (next to man!), and these crows were swooping at this one in the same way they would “mob” a real owl or hawk.
One even landed on the roof edge a few feet away, cawing loudly all the while.
It was interesting, though, that not all of the crows reacted in the same way. Many simply continued to fly by overhead. Were these the older, more experienced crows? Only some of the crows — younger, less experienced crows, perhaps? — bothered to engage in the “mobbing.”
But they didn’t do it for long.
I’ve watched crows harass a real owl or hawk for long periods of time — 15, 20 minutes at least.
But these crows apparently sensed there was something phoney about this owl that narry flinched.
Invariably they would fly off after a minute or two, only to be replaced by crows flying up from behind, which would also “mob” the “owl” for a brief time before flying off as well.
It’s hard to fool a crow.
And hard to miss them when these huge flights converge on the downtown area late each afternoon during winter.
Twenty thousand or more have been tallied on recent December Christmas Bird Counts entering their traditional nighttime roosts along the river and near the GEVA theater.
Why does this happen?
Bob Marcotte
