[Birdtalk] Crow Ruminations

[David Wheeler]

Hello, birders.

Well, I didn't start birding until much more recently than Steve, but I have also noted a steady increase in crows in the Sugarhouse area where I live.  Where once I never saw any, they are now a regular, welcome sound, reminding me of other lands.  I used to see crows in Weber County in the area near the railroad yards and especially the landfill.  Being omnivores like us, and lacking the squeamishness that characterizes the well-off segment of our species, they seemed right at home at the dump (which is also close to grain elevators, for that matter). 

David

>>> Steve Carr <stevecarr9 at msn.com> 1/8/2009 1:34 PM >>>

As some of you know, I've been birding in Utah for over 50 years and, although as far back as the Utah checklist of 1954 where it listed the Common Crow (as it was known then) as a common winter bird, I never saw one till March 1998 in North Salt Lake.  At least I don't recall one before that date.  Interestingly, I saw at least one individual in Salt Lake and a couple of other counties also in 1998.  We often had discussions about why we didn't have crows in Utah when they were as thick as grasshoppers in SW Idaho.  Then, when they started to appear more frequently, they seemed to congregate in Weber County even more so than Davis County with its many farmlands.We know they are basically omnivorous with a tendency toward grain, yet we generally don't see them hanging around grain elevators or RR sidings where grain hoppers are known to be placed, as opposed to pigeons that habituate such locations.  Maybe there are a lot of dog owners in Weber County and the crows have taken over the various dog food items from the magpies.--Steve Carr