Thousands of Birds Photographed Atop Snow-Laden Trees in Downtown Portland, Oregon

Meanderer

Meanderer

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"One evening last week, C.S.I. Walker Berg of the Portland Oregon Police Bureau looked out a window on the 12th floor of the Justice Center to discover an incredible sight: trees freshly covered in thick white snow were covered in yet another layer of thousands of black crows. Berg grabbed a Nikon D700 and snapped this amazing shot of the trees eerily lit from below by street lamps before the birds disappeared. The police department shared the image dubbed “Crows on Snow” on Facebook and Twitter where it quickly went viral."

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Meanderer said:
"One evening last week, C.S.I. Walker Berg of the Portland Oregon Police Bureau looked out a window on the 12th floor of the Justice Center to discover an incredible sight: trees freshly covered in thick white snow were covered in yet another layer of thousands of black crows. Berg grabbed a Nikon D700 and snapped this amazing shot of the trees eerily lit from below by street lamps before the birds disappeared. The police department shared the image dubbed “Crows on Snow” on Facebook and Twitter where it quickly went viral."

snow-birds-portland-2.jpg
Click to expand...
What a fascinating photo!
 
Meanderer said:
"One evening last week, C.S.I. Walker Berg of the Portland Oregon Police Bureau looked out a window on the 12th floor of the Justice Center to discover an incredible sight: trees freshly covered in thick white snow were covered in yet another layer of thousands of black crows. Berg grabbed a Nikon D700 and snapped this amazing shot of the trees eerily lit from below by street lamps before the birds disappeared. The police department shared the image dubbed “Crows on Snow” on Facebook and Twitter where it quickly went viral."

snow-birds-portland-2.jpg
Click to expand...
They look far too small to be crows but I definitely could be wrong.
 

Birds of a Feather — Why Crows Congregate in Winter

"We've lost so many birds to a number of things, but when you hear about accounts of flocks of passenger pigeons by the millions, now they're completely extinct,” he says. “It makes you wonder to see how amazed we are by a few thousand birds, and to think that there were things like passenger pigeons going overhead by the millions a hundred years ago."

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But Doug Hitchcox says the crows aren't gathering for any nefarious reason. They do it, scientists believe, to stave off predators like the Great Horned Owl, stay warm, look for mates and possibly share some news.

"You've got all these birds probably coming in from probably various places that they've been feeding throughout the day,” he says. “There are some people that think there's an exchange of information going on so maybe crows are coming together - not that we could ever tell what they're actually saying - but maybe they're saying they found a big field full of grain."

"You know, there is no Captain Crow who tells everybody, 'OK guys, tonight we're going this place. It's all a group decision that gets made," says Dr. Kevin McGowan of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (MORE)
 
Meanderer said:
You've got all these birds probably coming in from probably various places that they've been feeding throughout the day,” he says. “There are some people that think there's an exchange of information going on so maybe crows are coming together - not that we could ever tell what they're actually saying - but maybe they're saying they found a big field full of grain."
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Up at the cabin. we experienced many flocks of many birds

But, on occasion, the black birds would fill the sky
So much so, it seemed, at times, a solar eclipse

This would last a couple hours and up to a few days
and then
they were gone

Same with the nutcrackers
But they would hang around for weeks, sometimes months
The bullies of the feeders

Baldies would cruise thru looking for chippies
Same with hawks, Coopers and Red Tails

The sky was pretty facinating up there

Nary a dull moment
 
I doubt they are crows. They are more likely grackles. I quit feeding birds because grackles began to overbreed and would cover the trees like that. Now they are still around but in normal numbers. I don't have them nesting in every hole in and around the house either. Noisy opportunists and terrible to their chicks, it's best to keep their breeding in check.
 
Crows took over downtown Portland. Then they left. What happened?
The urban district was inundated with thousands of these boisterous corvids this winter. Where did they all go?

"Matteo Brunozzi has an unusual job: He’s a professional abatement falconer, meaning he uses a trained hawk to scare off other birds at landfills and farms — or, if it’s the middle of winter, in downtown Portland."

"Crows are extremely territorial, but only part of the year. In the winter, they spend their nights huddled together in massive roosts — usually in urban areas, where tall buildings can shield them from harsh winter winds — much like the one in downtown Portland, which attracts about 15,000 at its winter peak."

“These communal roosts provide crows with safety from predators, warmth and protection from the elements, and they also allow for exchange of information,” said Micah Meskel, interim urban conservation director at Portland Audubon. (MORE)

The Downtown Portland Crow Roost
 
12 Fascinating Facts About Crows
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An irate fish crow (Corvus ossifragus). / Jim McKinley/Moment/Getty Images

Crows have caused blackouts in Japan.

"Since the 1990s, crows have experienced a population boom in Japan, where delicious garbage is more plentiful than ever. Urban crows like to nest on electric transformers and will often use wire hangers or fiber-optic cables as building materials for their nests. One result was an epidemic of crow-caused blackouts in major cities: Between 2006 and 2008, the corvids stole almost 1400 fiber-optic cables from Tokyo power providers, and according to the Chubu electric company, crows are responsible for around 100 power failures per year in their facilities."

"Chubu started installing artificial nests in 2004. Made with non-conductive resin, the nests are placed on company towers high above the power lines, where the birds are unlikely to cause any trouble. The strategy seems to be working: two-thirds of the faux nests have been used."
 
Why are there crows all around the world?
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Australian Ravens - Corvus coronoides. Credit: tracielouise / Getty Images
"Crows and ravens are almost everywhere. The big black birds from the genus Corvus are native to every temperate continent except South America, popping up in a diverse range of habitats."
(MORE)

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