Fall migration

[half-dutch]

The coots are back on the city lakes, but the woodies are still here.  I have been seeing the woodies all over, including open water on the river, and several larger city lakes with the bigger predator fish.  Lots of woodies down at Powderhorn like always.  Looks to me like the woodies had a real good brood year around here.

[Jim Almquist]

I have had a couple of small flocks of Junco's in the yard already. Still a few Warbler stragglers passing through this week as well. Sure is quiet outside in the morning. 

[half-dutch]

Be thankful that you don't get the winter crows that we have here in the cities.  Some hundreds per tree parked right out side my front door at a couple of evenings last winter and tried to repaint my car which was parked at the curb.  The total count must be easily in the 10's (maybe 100's) of thousands at least at its peak.  They are starting to show up already. 

[Jim Almquist]

I really don't like Crows and the noise they make so it would bother the heck out of me to listen to the caw-caw all of the time.

[Ufatz]

Most everybody gone from here.  Now mostly chickadees, ladderbacks,blue jays, nuthatches, pileated and a couple yard owls.  Big flight of robins the other day but now gone. Couple blue birds still hanging around but i don't understand why.

No ducks but some coots. Have not seen a pheasant for years. Two swans the other morning. No mallards.

We have succeeded in clearing, draining and poisoning most of it so that's what is left.

[half-dutch]

I really don't like Crows and the noise they make so it would bother the heck out of me to listen to the caw-caw all of the time.

I'd be willing to bet that your summer crows winter here with us.  In some ways really fascinating birds, the crows very often pack up sorta like wolves with last years adult nestlings sticking around an extra year to help their parents raise the new brood.  I saw what looked like a pickup scrum match down at Powderhorn one fall only a little later than this, complete with spectators cheering on the sides (if you can call it cheering) and shifting sets of opponents.  The actual contestants were only a small and shifting percentage of the whole, but it seemed like all the spectators were screaming at the top of their lungs. Smart birds, and interestingly willing to flock up in the winter but also willing to kill over boundaries of breeding territories in the summer.  

Pretty soon now we will see them moving in long lines back up Excelsior Blvd and then Lake Street to night roosts somewhere near the river.  Every evening the lines extend as far as you can see in both directions starting around 4:00pm. 

 

[delcecchi]

The ones not willing to risk Minneapolis line the streets of downtown Rochester, where they will be safe and warm. 

I wonder how many a guy would have to shoot to convince them to stay out of the big tree by the entrance to our church. 

[RebelSS]

Very sociable animals, that seem to like to have fun.

 

[delcecchi]

Their fun in downtown seems to be defecateing on the sidewalk, especially in front of our church. 

The thought of soaking some corn in a chemical compound and putting it out on the church lawn has crossed my mind.   Golden Malrin ?

[RebelSS]

Like I've suggested to the dumber-than-a-home made-radio city council, get the local clubs to HAVE CROW shoots. One club did do  it 2 years ago, and wiped out about 500 of them. That's the only way you'll ever  get rid of them.These stupid laser light shows, fireworks, and other stuff they spent $25,000 on shows the crows have more intelligence that most on the city council. I can vouch for that.  Corvus are SMART, adaptable, and learn quickly. Shooting is the only way you'll ever reduce their numbers. Until then, we remain CAWchester. 

[delcecchi]

Would shooting in the burbs help the problem in down town.?  Could I make my get away after emptying a unplugged model 12 into the tree before the swat team arrives?  Would it be an exercise of my religious beliefs to keep my church from being desecrated? 

[RebelSS]

Give it a whirl, Del. Maybe they'll put you on the city council. They could use another nut.  Appears you, as most people, don't realize the crows don't FEED downtown, they head out to the surrounding corn and grain fields and ponds. THAT's where the crow shoots were. Did you think they had little sandwiches, pizza, and beverages delivered as they sit atop the big gray Totalitarian building?!  Like you, they head out for food...not enough downtown, except the occasional garbage scrap. The problem started because of all the huge heat generating equipment atop all those totalitarian buildings built by that big gray entity.It's a crow sauna up there in winter...been there, done that. They're the cause of the problem; they should pay to get rid of it. The Whitetail club needs another hunt.

http://bringmethenews.com/2014/03/30/murder-of-crows-rochester-residents-hold-annual-hunt/

 

Edited October 11, 2015 by RebelSS

[delcecchi]

They don't feed downtown but that doesn't mean they wouldn't feed if the opportunity presented itself. 

However the point is moot since they are not going to kill them downtown and not let anyone else do it either.  So my musings are just idle speculation. 

Now I have another question.  How would shooting a few hundred of them out in the countryside change anything downtown?  Maybe if we declare total war and cut them if they stand and shoot them if they run until the population is drastically reduced, that might help.  But a few hundred?   Once or twice a year?   You really think that would make a difference? 

And, oops, they are protected by the migratory bird treaty act (those pesky feds again.  We need to sic big dave on them) and can only be killed outside crow hunting season !!!!! when caught in the act of causing damage to trees, crops, livestock or wildlife, or when causing a nuisance.  But the only legal way to kill them is shooting. 

And it isn't just Rochester that has a problem. 

Local

Winter Brings Thousands Of Crows To The Metro

January 7, 2013 6:32 PM

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Related Tags:

Birds, Crow, Crows, Don Davies, Kirk Mona, Nancy Mulloy, Tracy Perlman, Twin Cities, Warner Nature Center

Tracy Perlman

Twin Cities native Tracy Perlman is an Emmy Award-winning producer and...

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Thousands of the big black birds are suddenly being spotted in the Twin Cities, perching on trees and blanketing the sky.

It’s quite the sight.

“We were driving home at dusk last Friday heading towards Lake Street and I looked up in the sky, and I saw 10,000 crows. I mean more crows than I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Nancy Mulloy, of Minneapolis.

Mulloy and dozens of others have recently asked us why there have been so many crows around in the metro.

Kirk Mona, a naturalist at the Warner Nature Center, says the sight is actually nothing new.

“It’s been going on for a lot of years in the Twin Cities,” he said. “Crows have always gathered in the winter.”

Usually, crows roost in rural areas. But in the winter, they come into downtown for the same reasons people do — to eat, exchange information and find a mate.

Looks like we are stuck with them. 

[RebelSS]

They are not protected...we're in our 3rd season right now. The crows are the same ones that go OUT to feed, and come BACK. Ever seen them in the fields on the NW end of town? Looks like the entire downtown area population is out there. I've blasted hundreds out there.The prob is they have a warm, heated, safe place downtown, surrounded by fields of food, water, and cover close by. Any city that has those same things usually has a crow problem.

 

Minnesota DNR seasons

Hunting and Trapping Seasons

Hunting and trapping seasons, opening and closing dates, application deadlines

 

Events

09/01/15 - 10/31/15   Crow Hunting (3rd season) 09/01/15 - 11/09/15   Mourning Dove season 09/01/15 - 10/18/15   Bear season 09/01/15 - 11/02/15   Snipe and Rail Hunting season 09/12/15 - 10/18/15   Sandhill Crane season-NW zone 09/19/15 - 12/31/15   Deer Hunt - Archery season 09/19/15 - 02/29/16   Small Game - Rabbits, Squirrels season 09/19/15 - 11/30/15   Sharptailed Grouse season 09/19/15 - 01/03/16   Ruffed and Spruce Grouse, Hungarian Partridge season 09/19/15 - 11/02/15   Woodcock season 10/03/15 - 11/01/15   Fall Turkey season-2015 10/10/15 - 01/03/16   Pheasant season 10/15/15 - 10/16/15   Deer Hunt - Camp Ripley Archery Hunt - 1st se

 

[RebelSS]

I've had a yard full of what looks like starlings, pecking around in the grass. When one takes off, they all do. Not sure what they are; they're smaller, like a small robin. I'll have to try for pics.

[delcecchi]

http://dnr.state.mn.us/livingwith_wildlife/crows/lethal.html

Minnesota has crow hunting seasons. These are opportune times to reduce local resident population levels. To find out when the season is, refer to the Hunting and Trapping Seasons calendar.

.......

No license is required to hunt crows. They may be taken by legal firearms (shotgun not larger than 10 gauge, rifle, or handgun), bow and arrow or by falconry. There are no daily or possession limits, and shooting hours are 1/2 hr before sunrise to sunset.

Crows are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act but can be taken out of season, without a permit, when caught in the act of committing, or about to commit, damage to ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock or wildlife.

Lethal means of control can also be undertaken when they are concentrated in large numbers, such as communal roosts, and subsequently constitute a nuisance (e.g. noise) or pose a threat to human health, as would be the case when accumulations of fecal materials pose a sanitation risk. Legal methods of take are the same as during hunting seasons. Crows cannot be taken outside of the damage area.

 

[RebelSS]

That's always been a totally ambiguous statement...protected but there's a season on them, and CAN be taken outside of the season. Ya, that makes sense. Doesn't meet the FMB definition. I'll just continue to blast them out of the sky. 

 

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA), codified at 16 U.S.C. §§ 703–712 (although §709 is omitted), is a United States federal law, first enacted in 1916 in order to implement the convention for the protection of migratory birds between the United States and Great Britain (acting on behalf of Canada).^[1] The statute makes it unlawful without a waiver to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill or sell birds listed therein ("migratory birds"). The statute does not discriminate between live or dead birds and also grants full protection to any bird parts including feathers, eggs and nests. Over 800 species are currently on the list [1].

[delcecchi]

Yep it says it would be legal, as far as the state is concerned to take a shotgun, rifle, or bow and arrow downtown (the area where the damage is occurring) and blast them.  Like that's gonna happen. 

All sorts of animals and birds and fish are protected and have seasons.  They don't mean protected in the way an ordinary person thinks of it. 

And you can't  go out in the country and shoot them out of season because they are causing damage in town. 

Seems stupid, but that seems to be the way the system is set up.   I

[half-dutch]

It is probably not at all legal to discharge a firearm inside the city limits for the purpose of killing crows, just as it is not legal to shoot squirrels or rabbits inside the city limits either, neither in Rochester or in Minneapolis.  There are more than just the pests involved inside the city.

[delcecchi]

It is probably not at all legal to discharge a firearm inside the city limits for the purpose of killing crows, just as it is not legal to shoot squirrels or rabbits inside the city limits either, neither in Rochester or in Minneapolis.  There are more than just the pests involved inside the city.

That is why I said "as far as the state is concerned".  No shooting in the city limits, and you can't shoot them outside the city limits except during the seasons since they aren't doing damage there. 

So we will continue to have huge flocks of crows polluting downtown Rochester. 

[RebelSS]

The strings of Canada's sure were honking and flying at twilight last night...past that waxing  moon, a beautiful sight.

 

 

Edited October 21, 2015 by RebelSS

[delcecchi]

Nice picture.

 

[RebelSS]

Nice picture.

 

Thanks. It's not mine. For reference only. Was too dark by the time I got the camera out last nite.  Aren't I honest?   

[delcecchi]

I was walking on the Mayowood trail a few days ago.  Fun to watch the geese come over to land in the various gravel pit lakes out there.  Also some eagles were hanging around. 

[Duffman]

This guy was soaking up some serious sun yesterday afternoon. First time I've ever seen a blue heron sunning himself. He knows what's coming shortly.