PAGE 42 — Crows: the Bad Boys of Birding
By Kathy Bernhardt (with some editing by Rachel Nabors)
Crows are the victims of a lot of bad press. Deemed nuisance birds, destructive to crops and exceptionally messy in large groups, they have been persecuted and hunted for hundreds of years. It is true that crows are known as scavengers and opportunists. They will eat just about anything that doesn't eat them first, but their undiscriminating taste often makes them a farmer's best friend, not enemy.
For instance, a New Jersey farmer hired marksmen to stand in his field and shoot the crows that landed on his asparagus field each morning. They shot the crows, but the asparagus didn't grow. After careful investigation, the farmer discovered a cutworm infestation. When the crows were allowed to return to the field, they resumed their cutworm feast and the farmer harvested his asparagus.
Crows do go after crops such as corn when the plants first sprout, and then again as the ears ripen. (Unfortunately, scarecrows don't live up to their name after the first few days of service.) But, as described by researcher Arthur Cleveland Bent, crows actually benefited the crops of corn farmers in early spring by eating thousands of white grubs and cutworms. By gathering the bodies of crows shot by farmers, it was shown their stomach contents consisted of 1% corn and other crops and 99% insects and carrion, but convincing farmers of this has been difficult. Some states continue to practice extensive control efforts, sometimes dynamiting winter roosts and killing tens of thousands of birds, and most states issue licenses to hunt crows.
Crows are members of the family Corvidae, which includes jays, magpies and ravens. They are some of the most widespread and adaptable of birds, living in practically every part of the world except New Zealand. Found from Canada to Baja, New York to California, the American Crow, also known as the Common Crow, is one of the widest spread and most easily recognized birds in the United States. A large, 17 to 21 inch, chunky bird with glossy solid black plumage and beak, they are comfortable in woodland, farmland, orchards, tidal flats and, because of their ability to tolerate human disturbance, in most city neighborhoods. About the only place they do not occur is in the hot, dry desert. Crows roost in large winter flocks and can be seen in the early evenings congregating in loud, small groups to join the ever-increasing flocks flying to the nighttime roost. Some winter roosts number in the tens of thousands.
