Unusual Sightings in Warsaw - millions of black crows...

Okay, just wanted to share something which is silly yet bizzare. Still, it just amazes me, maybe, because I havent come across such a sight before.

Lately, I have been noticing here in Warsaw, at sunrise and sunset (on the dot!) hordes (millions/trillions) of black crows gathering on tree tops and filling up the sky so that it looks like a black sheath of paper. And the amount of noise is intensely high.Just wondering-

Is this a seasonal thing? And where do so many of them disappear between these times? What's the reason for this patterned behavior? How looney do I sound! :P

You only notice it because of the time of year.

In summer, at sunrise, you are still in bed

This time of year, crows and ravens appear aplenty, even during the day. Always a lovely sight.

the germans are coming, the germans are coming!!! :D

Yes,Angela Merckel is flying over Warsaw between black crows.

Run for yer lives!!!.... :P

And they all line up on the guttering above my bedroom window and make a din.

I believe it's called a parliament of crows, or is that only ravens

You should be happy these crows are black, not e.g. pink or blue. THAT would be weird.

BTW, they can't be ravens, ravens are very rare in Poland.

In the UK it ends to be starlings that bomb around in great numbers. There is one well known site where they swarm around at dusk. I feeel sorry for the people with cars parked nearby. messy

Black crowes are cool they hang out with Jimmy Page

This crows (nort ravens - ravens are not very rare but you won't find them in city centre and not in big groups) are only seasonal thing.

They come to overwinter in Warsaw from East and North (mainly fron northern part of European Russia).
They are overnightng in poplar forests at the Wistula rivr banks, in Koło forest or so on and at sunrise they fly to the dumping grounds that are lokated in the outskirts to feed and at the sunset they are back...

It is really unusulal viev becouse there are milions of them bu it is not a pleasant viev becouse their voices alvays remind me of dark, grey wintertime...

Lukasz

Actually, it's a murder of crows. Cool, huh?

its normal and they are just finding a place to sleep for the night it happens in summer but not to the same extent

I think the Warsaw ones are ravens (kruki) - quite different to crows of which there are plenty too.

You should have counted them all, i know 2 is good luck!....

Counting Crows - I sense a thread link coming on

i didn't like it specially in the morning when was still dark outside, cold.... and the crows' noice... i didn't want to gt out of my bed... nice and cozy....

:)

No. Switezianka is correct. They couldn`t be ravens. Neither were they crows. So what?
They were rooks.

Nesting

[i]Nesting is always colonial, usually in the very tops of the trees. Branches and twigs are broken off trees (very rarely picked up off the ground), though as many are likely to be stolen from nearby nests as are collected from trees. Eggs are usually 3-5 in number, can appear by the end of February or early March and are incubated for 16-18 days. Both adults feed the young, which are fledged by the 32nd or 33rd day.

In autumn, the young birds of the summer collect into large flocks together with unpaired birds of previous seasons, often in company with Jackdaws. It is during the autumn that spectacular aerial displays can be seen by adult birds that seem to delight in the autumn gales.

What are the bigger black ones with the orange or yellow piece around the neck?

They seem to be quite aggressive for a bird. I guess I am use to pidgeons and their indifference. They just walk between your feet and don't seem to be the least bit bothered by people.

I saw rooks as well - beautiful birds, but the ones near my home are definitely ravens pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Rooks (and there are plenty round Warsaw) have a very distinctive sound, and also appear this time of year. The part of Warsaw I live in is very green, a lot of wild birds, hedgehogs etc. Not long ago, I saw some sort of mammal at night. Definitely larger than a rat, but nothing I recognised. It could have been a polecat or weasel but was moving too fast (my dog was chasing it) for me to get a good look. Amazing to see something like that so close to the city centre. And counting birds is a fun superstition - One for sorrow, two for joy etc...

I've seen the crows too! Watching them it is easy to understand the role they play in the European Fairy Tales I've heard, they just have so much more character than the crows I've seen in the middle of America.

I've seen the "crows" you call rooks, but also smaller "crows" with very light blue eyes- what are they? Is it them or the rooks that are flying in these massive formations?

Jackdaw

They can be quite friendly.