By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-19 20:36:20 | Updated at 2025-01-19 23:10:59
2 hours ago
The battle between crows and humans doesn't just exist in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror film, The Birds.
The city of Rochester, New York, faces a real-life crow infestation every December, thanks to the bird's migration patterns.
Rachel Kubida, a wildlife expert with the US Department of Agriculture Services, told the New York Times that the scenes starkly resemble that of the classic film. Wildlife experts estimated that more than 20,000 crows taunt the city each year.
Crows that breed in Canada often winter in the US. They congregate in 'roosts' or groups to maintain warmth in the colder months.
The birds travel together when the weather turns and have begun to move into urban areas, which can cause frustration among the public.
The city of Rochester was faced with a choice - how do they prevent bird droppings from littering their city right before Christmas while not harming the animals?
Officials answered that question by turning to unconventional tactics. Wildlife biologists took to the streets during the nights of early December to disperse the crows away from the city.
The goal is to break up the crows into smaller groups to minimize damage and push the crows out of the busy downtown area.
Thousands of crows can be seen across the sky in Rochester, New York
Crows cross through the city to prepare as part of their migratory pattern. Officials have resulted to fighting their presence with lasers
The wildlife biologists set out with the goal of making a scene.
They shot pyrotechnics into the sky, projected laser beams onto nearby buildings, shined spotlights on the roosts of crows and even sounded off recordings of crows in distress.
A press officer from the City of Rochester - which was recently listed as one of the best cities for first time home buyers - told the DailyMail.com that the methods do not harm the birds and simply work to minimize the concentration of them.
'Once the methods are in progress, the crows disperse into smaller groups that will spread out over a broader area, reducing the crows’ damage and mess,' the city said.
After years of fending off the crows, the city has caught on to where they like to congregate. Karen St. Aubin, the director of Rochester's Bureau of Operations told local ABC outlet, WHAM-TV that the crows have taken a liking to Washington Square Park.
'They roost in big groups and go to open areas with trees, but they can be very damaging,' Aubin told WHAM-TV. She added that the city's methods aren't lethal and are just designed to shoo them away.
Aubin told the Times that the operation costs the city about $9,000 a year, a price she argued was worth it.
'We used to have to power wash benches, sidewalks, statues,' she said. 'It's really about maintenance. Some of these larger roosts are in public places and they can make them unusable.'
Wildlife experts shoot flares at the crows to discourage them from congregating
Karen St. Aubin told local news that the city's methods don't harm the birds and prevent spending on cleanup
Wildlife experts launched flare guns and fireworks to disperse the crows
Dispersing the crows and scaring them away from popular spaces doesn't eliminate the cleanup, but it makes it more manageable for the city.
Even though no crows are harmed in the process, some bird enthusiasts have taken personal offense to the city's anti-crow stance.
A Facebook group called Rochesterians for Crows has generated 1,000 members who want to protect the birds from lasers and fireworks.
"'Rochesterians for Crows" was started in February of 2012 in response to the city's intolerable actions against the massively intelligent and often misunderstood bird that tends to polarize communities across the nation,' their description reads.
The group argued that the crows don't harm anyone and could help promote 'eco-tourism' in the area. The City of Rochester told Dailymail.com that they haven't received any direct concerns from the community.
Rochester continues to disperse the crows every December and the practice has even become an odd holiday tradition for the citizens of the city hoping to get some peace and bird-free quiet.
