Last year I joined a Birds Connect Seattle “Neighborhood Bird Outing” at Magnuson Park in North Seattle. About an hour into our walk, we emerged from the wetlands into a more open area, and someone exclaimed with rapt excitement, “Pine Siskins!” Much like the gregarious Siskins themselves, attendees of the outing flocked to get a better view. Everyone was elated to see them and the group leader commented that people come from all over the country to our area in the winter to see our Pine Siskins. These were clearly special birds.

Crow on a fence next to a native plant area . photo by Gunnison Langley

No matter your feelings about them, we must co-exist with crows in the Salish Sea region as they are here to stay. As it turns out, many behaviors that crows would use in the wild are well suited towards urban living. As natural hunters, foragers, and opportunists, crows thrive and play many roles in the urban ecosystem that surrounds us.

Crow visiting someone’s home. photo by Gunnison Langley

the human and crow population correlation

We have experienced considerable population growth and urban sprawl in the Puget Sound region over the last several decades. This growth has led to widespread wildlife habitat loss which has subsequently resulted in drastic population declines in many animal species, especially those of birds such as Purple Finches, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Cliff and Barn Swallows. Despite this, crow populations have remained steady or have increased. Why is this, and what benefits does having crows living in such close proximity to humans have?

nature’s cleanup crew

One of the main reasons for the steady or augmented crow populations in our region likely has to do with access to an abundance of food.

Being opportunistic foragers, crows take advantage of the mass amounts of waste created by humans. Forty percent of a Seattle crow’s diet is that of garbage, and humans present crows with a veritable smorgasbord of delicacies each week when trash bins are put out to the curb.

Additionally, our bustling cities and suburbs furnish crows with another food that they would consume in the wild: carrion. Cars, buses, trucks, and sometimes bicycles supply plenty of roadkill “delights” for crows.

Local municipalities often do not have adequate staffing to tend to the task of removing roadkill, however a crow’s instinctive feeding habits are well suited to the city where they step (fly) in and take on this role.

Another culinary crow favorite are insects. Crows feed on a wide variety of insects and bugs including grasshoppers, moths, spiders, grubs, and — the bane of every northwest gardener — snails and slugs.

Crows are incredibly adept hunters and will catch creatures such as snakes, frogs and small rodents such as mice, rats, voles, and sometimes even squirrels.

Most human-deployed pest control methods utilize poisons (rodenticides and pesticides.) These poisons can seep into the earth, pollute our waters, circulate into the food chain, and contribute to small bird deaths. Not only do crows render their pest control services for free, they supply insect and critter control that is more environmentally conscious than conventional approaches.

crows: nature’s Johnny Appleseed

If you have ever walked through Seattle in the fall, you may have seen fruit trees surrounded by their fallen and unclaimed crops.

When crows eat fruit, the act of pecking at an apple or a pear breaks down the larger fruit into smaller pieces that then will decompose into the earth more readily.

By consuming fruits and berries, crows assist plants by dispersing seeds further than the plant itself could do. A crow who ingests a seed may fly off to the next block or many miles away and deposit the seed through their feces. In turn, their feces then supply phosphorus and nitrogen to the soil which are essential for plant growth.

Crows have many functions within our urban environments, from natural pest control and keeping our roads clear of deceased animals, to assisting in plant propagation.

Yet there is something else that crows can gift us, and that is enriching our lives by observing their behaviors and personalities while learning about them.

noisey neighbors

There are so many reasons that crows are worthwhile to watch and learn about, but probably most notable is how smart crows are. When I meet people on both sides of the “love them or hate them” crow divide, nearly everyone will remark on crow smarts.

Crows are incredibly intelligent animals. In fact, a crow’s intelligence rivals that of chimpanzees and the great apes.

They are capable of memorizing faces and passing down knowledge such as where to eat and which humans have “wronged” them to the next generations of crows. University of Washington Professor Emeritus, John Marzluff led a ground-breaking study about crows and facial recognition that PBS Nature made a documentary about.

One of the most often cited reasons why those who sit squarely in the “hate crows camp” is that crows are noisy. However, this noise is a demonstration of their notable vocalization talents.

Crows on a boardwalk in the woods.  photo by Gunnison Langley

More crows at the beach. photo by Gunnison Langley

Causes and consequences of expanding American Crow populations, John M. Marzluff, Kevin J. McGowan, Roarke Donnelly, and Richard L. Knight, 2001

Conservation of Forest Songbirds in the Puget Sound Area, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington

Nature | A Murder of Crows: As the Crow Flies, Nature, Think Wednesday for Science Teachers

American Crow Sounds, Cornell Lab, All About Birds

Neighborhood Bird Project: Data Suggest More than Half of Local Bird Species Could Be Declining, Joshua Morris, Birds Connect Seattle

American Crow, Birds Connect Seattle

Something to Crow About: The Amazing Diet and Eating Habits of American Crows, American Bird Conservancy

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