Black bird swarm

[bagwell1987]

I have a HUGE question. Went outside at 8:30 this morning after I got home from work. There was an unafraid raven/crow sitting on the roof of my shed, crowing at me in an unusual way. I mean he wasn't scared, kept looking at me and crowing loud. 20 minutes later I took the dogs out to potty and now I have about 50, probably more, in my trees screaming at me. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen, I've lived here all my life and have never seen them do this. And no we didn't have food out, it's illegal here because of the bear population.

It's creeped me out so bad I called MH who is a logger, he knows bird things, he said he's never seen them do this either.

I know that animals can get agitated when they sense earthquake and other anomalies so I got my "go" bags in the truck and water and blankets. This and the siren going off couple weeks ago have left me wondering if someone's trying to tell me something!!

 

So has anybody seen this or heard of this happening??

 

Sorry for the nice video of Molly taking her morning potty in front of you all, I didn't notice when I recorded! 

[normadenardo]

Oh my... that has happened in my next door neighbors yard several times over the last several weeks... it always freaks me out. Never thought to record it. 

[bagwell1987]

Got a FB link from a brother and this is amazing, I never knew. Fascinating!

http://www.gardensandwildlife.com/2012/06/29/78/

[Tortuga]

I have a HUGE question. Went outside at 8:30 this morning after I got home from work. There was an unafraid raven/crow sitting on the roof of my shed, crowing at me in an unusual way. I mean he wasn't scared, kept looking at me and crowing loud. 20 minutes later I took the dogs out to potty and now I have about 50, probably more, in my trees screaming at me. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen, I've lived here all my life and have never seen them do this. And no we didn't have food out, it's illegal here because of the bear population.

 

You might want to watch the reruns of Zoo on TV....

 

[Stormswift]

Very interesting we dont get crows in New Zealand but we do have Magpies and they dive bomb you at certain times of the year. Never seen flocks though.

[Tortuga]

We get a lot of seagulls, some of them are pretty laid back and steal your food when you aren't looking, the other ones march up to you and threaten you, I think one of them tried to pull a knife on me once... 

[Friends just call me Ross]

Here, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, we experience a similar thing

when the Sandhill Cranes are preparing to migrate south for the winter.  

 

They keep gathering together, in bigger and bigger flocks, which is called 'staging'.

 

When enough of them get together, (flocks ranging from 500 to a thousand+cranes)

they soar up into the sky, fly in a few large circles

and then head for a warmer place to spend the winter months.

 

We used to farm the local bird refuge and the DNR was attempting

to band the hundreds of cranes that were gleaning the leftover grain

from one of our barley fields.  

 

The wildlife biologists spent an entire week bating the cranes with

corn, in an attempt to lure them over to where their rocket-launched nets were set up.

 

The morning before the DNR guys were to launch their nets, the cranes

launched their own staging maneuver and headed south, grateful for all

the free corn meals.  

 

 

Now, every time I see the cranes staging overhead, I think of those unlaunched nets

and grin.  

[bagwell1987]

That's interesting Ross. We have cranes here too and they can get together in groups. Just never seen them like that around me. 

Mandi, I guess Magpie's are in the family of crows. They are similar.

Richard, you have some birds with skills man. Just keep them down there in your state ok?

[Tortuga]

That's interesting Ross. We have cranes here too and they can get together in groups. Just never seen them like that around me. 

Mandi, I guess Magpie's are in the family of crows. They are similar.

Richard, you have some birds with skills man. Just keep them down there in your state ok?

 

I swear that one big seagull looked like he was wearing a leather jacket and had a tattoo...

[Toy Poodles]

 

Learn something new every day. 

 

 Why Do Blackbirds Form Large Flocks

Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2012 by eNature

Common Grackles

Red-winged Blackbird

The old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together,” is particularly true among blackbirds in winter.

Though many birds band together during winter, none are as notorious for their flocking behavior as blackbirds…red-winged blackbirds, European starlings, common grackles and brown-headed cowbirds.

This group of a feather often flock together in the many thousands, sometimes the millions. One winter roost in the Great Dismal Swamp on the Virginia-North Carolina border held an estimated 15 million birds. Flocks in the thousands often roost in urban and suburban areas, where their numbers and their noise make them unpopular among the people living nearby.

 

http://wild.enature.com/blog/why-do-blackbirds-form-large-flocks

[pnutts]

I saw something similar recently in a movie called "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock, 1963. Had never seen the movie before.

 

Maybe they're practicing for the evening meal on the Great Day of Jehovah.

[Toy Poodles]

I saw something similar recently in a movie called "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock, 1963. Had never seen the movie before.

 

Maybe they're practicing for the evening meal on the Great Day of Jehovah.

 

I watched "The Birds" in the 60's when I was young and that movie still scares me. lol

[DLM]

Here in Fairbanks, we have hundreds of ravens and during the summer hundreds of sandhill cranes as well as all manner of ducks and geese. All the birds except for ravens leave for warmer climes in the fall and they do a lot of staging. The strangest thing that has happened here was that one of the ravens was electrocuted on top of a power pole right here in the middle of town. In just a very short time hundreds of ravens started gathering and they flew around the dead bird for a long time and very noisily expressed their loss. Then after awhile, they all flew away. All of the bird experts said they had never ever seen that kind of display before. I learned something today that I was not aware of-how to tell a crow from a raven. First off the raven is a bigger bird but in flight a raven's tail comes to a "V" at the back. We are pretty entertained by all the ravens that live around here. In the morning there will just flocks of them headed into town, just like commuters, then just before dark they all head back to the woods around town. Time to go home!! That experience Cheryl had was really unusual. Kinda scary.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Agent MOM

[bagwell1987]

Thanks Dorothy, I didn't know the difference. I can imagine they did gather around and mourn. I understand that the birds mate for life, so that makes for a connected community. 

And the pic of the Red-Winged Blackbird? Well we have lots here! They're quite aggressive, I've seen them attack another bird in mid-flight. 

Edited October 28, 2015 by bagwell1987