The trees in her Phillips region were thick with the caw birds. And above, multiple murders of crows were streaming in assorted directions, stretching all the way to downtown ‘s U.S. Bank Stadium .
“ I could see them clouding the flip for miles, ” she recalled.
Reading: Yuen: Why do crows suddenly appear? A legion of urban fans appreciate this winter phenomenon
If you ‘re having a hard time picturing this, just imagine what it sounded like .
“ They are crapping on me — yes, that is the noise you are hearing, ” Polinske said while recording video recording on her cellular telephone as crow dope plopped onto her hat and collar and splattered all over her car. “ sol. many. Freaking. Crows. Holy misprint bullshit. Wow. So insane. So glad I have napkins in my boxing glove compartment. ”
Despite the casual mess, urban crow-watching enthusiasts like Polinske joy in the cold months of the year, when crows gather by the thousands in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Rochester. It has become such a phenomenon every winter that there are Facebook groups in which spectators ebulliently post their sightings .
The images show crows flapping past familiar city haunts — Loring Park, the Basilica of St. Mary, the Mississippi River, or a periwinkle downtown skyline just as the sun starts to recede for the night. Most captions are brief and involve some variation of the idiom “ CAW cawcawcaw CAW CAW ! ! ”
The fascination around crows seems to buck the conventional wisdom that most people despise them. Crows are the thrust of repugnance movies, as famously parodied in Schitt ‘s Creek .
Are these Hitchcockian tropes inequitable ?
“ Yes, ” says science teacher and photographer Karen Kraco, who has been chasing them with her camera for the past several years. “ They do n’t care about us much at all. They ‘re equitable busy living their lives. It ‘s like another culture — when people do n’t know about another culture, they ‘re afraid. But they ‘re our neighbors. ”
Kraco, known to some friends as Karen “ Kra-crow, ” likens her artwork to a phase of street photography. The beginning time she followed the crows after a small group took flight from her northeasterly Minneapolis region, she stood in awe when she arrived at their destination : the University of Minnesota ‘s West Bank, good as the sunday was setting .
“ There were thousands and thousands of them coming from all directions, ” she recalled .
Crows are communal roosters, flocking to particular locations as a kind of self-defense, said Dudley Edmondson, an avid bird watcher, generator and wildlife photographer. You may see them hang out in smaller groups in your neighborhood during the day and retreat to the alleged “ mega-murder ” before nightfall .
“ These birds are chic. They communicate with one another, which is contribution of the cause they gather up, ” said Edmondson, who lives in Duluth. “ The more eyes, the dependable they are. Crows get together in these large roosts and spend the night together for safety. ”
Read more : Sea Eagle
author and photographer Dudley Edmondson
The pack brain of crows does n’t end there. He ‘s watch crows rely on their numbers to outsmart bald eagles feeding on deer carcasses. Edmondson says one crow will volunteer to be the instigator, nipping at the fag end feathers of the eagle. Regal as it may be, the unwitting bird of prey will turn around to see what ‘s pecking its behind, while the early crows dive into the fresh meat of the deer .
“ They ‘ll even sit at street corners waiting for squirrels to be run over because there ‘s kernel they want to eat, ” he said. “ They stop at traffic lights, waiting for something to be killed. ”
Edmondson mentions all of these things in admiration : Crows recognize human faces. They can solve complicated puzzles .
“ Crows are cool, ” he said. “ These birds are arch ache — they equitable are. ”
But many things about them remain a mystery. Kraco, the science teacher, wants to know more about their patterns. What is the sign they use to migrate ? How do they figure out which places to roost ?
possibly the exhilaration some crow enthusiasts feel has more to do with a proclivity to embrace the surprises of urban life. Granted, “ crows do n’t have a identical beautiful call, ” Polinske said. But in the city, she said, “ you do n’t have excessively many of these big nature events you can see. You ca n’t ignore it. ”
A ten ago, Gabe Sehr founded one of the Facebook communities, “ Minneapolis Crows : the Mega-Murder, “ after witnessing a massive bunch of crows for the first clock time. He created the group thus that others could easily learn more and share information after they experienced their own moment of urban wonder .
“ very quickly others who had witnessed the wonder of the murder started showing up, gathering not unlike the crows themselves, ” he told me .
today his community has closely 5,000 people, and Sehr says there ‘s a soar in followers every winter as people discover the giant roosts and go on-line to start digging into the phenomenon.
As we thaw out these future several weeks, a newfangled crow radiation pattern will emerge. They ‘ll hang around, but not by the tens of thousands that we might be golden adequate to stumble upon in winter. The mega-murder will vanish, fair as ice houses and region rinks fade off when the days become longer .
These birds will become less social, as we humans crawl out of our dens and become more social .
But they ‘ll be bet on adjacent winter, as straight and arsenic certain as the brag flies .
I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.