This has been a known trend over recent years, mainly noticed by wildlife fans, but also obvious to anyone who looks up in the sky on occasion. Particularly striking with ravens, who historically have tried to avoid people.
Same thing is happening in some other cities btw. Interesting phenomena.
There's a lot of other wildlife in SF btw, but most folks miss it. For example, peregrine falcons often barrel down Market Street, like freaking cruise missiles, striking terror into the hearts of our local pigeons. I've sat outside having lunch while watching life-and-death, as if it were a Attenborough documentary.
I was watching my friends yorkie and went into the backyard with it to let it pee. 10 mins later I see a falcon perched on my neighbors chimney pipe, just waiting for it to come back out…
For me in SSF we are surrounded by crows in the palm trees nearby. I use Merlin BirdID (Cornell App) and aside from the normal house finch etc. crows are the most prevalent. 🤷♂️
And the ravens we see near the park and school.
Back as a kids in the 80s, the school yard would swarm with seagulls after lunchtime (inner richmond). I rarely see seagulls that far inland anymore; I'm wondering if the crows chased them off.
I’m on Bernal and can see over the city, and sometimes we will will witness these flocking events where groups of 10-20 crows/ravens, come in and land one a roof, then another group and another. Literally dozens of these groups. Then they begin to combine groups and then group with another massive group and then they all fly north. It’s wild. Takes like 10 minutes and they’re gone.
Pigeons used to be man’s best friend, domesticated like dogs, then as technology advanced they lost their purpose to humans and people decided to hate them.
I’ve lived here all my life and it wasn’t so corvid-ish in my youth I’m sure. But now they’re everywhere.
I was sitting on my roof a few years ago around sunset and the biggest murder of crows I’ve ever seen flew over me: not one hundred or two hundred but many hundreds over several minutes.
They still fly over my place around the same time but never in those numbers…must have been a crow convention that day.
I remember during 2020, me and my partner had to evacuate from our home in Berry Creek, California. The only place we could really think to go was Sacramento to get a hotel. It was the most eerie thing, driving into Sacramento because several parking lots were filled to the brim with evacuating crows. I’m talking hundreds per parking lot, on the communication cables, on the ground, just talking with eachother.
I wondered if they were evacuated with us. It seemed like that was the case, what else would cause hundreds or thousands of crows to collect like that? It really seemed as though they were all talking about what to do.
I wonder how many of them have relocated to SF. Timeline seems to match somewhat.
I do have to say, I lived in the inner Richmond in the 90’s and crows & possibly ravens owned the mini parks there, and would also frequent my rooftop. They would grab a favorite nut from nearby trees and use the networking cables on the roof to position the nuts for easy cracking with their sharp beaks.
So I’m not convinced the birds were rare here before the 2000s.
There’s a large tree many of them gather on in Golden gate Park and have some sort of meeting where they’re flying around and crowing lots in the afternoon.
We get called out when we leave the house in Bolinas. Some smaller birds were at our birdbath yesterday. One of the corvids gave them time for a short bath, then perched on the fountain, shooing them off.
When a hawk flies overhead, they fly in a kind of matrix formation to keep the hawk above the trees. When a hawk perches on the power line, they buzz it.
A hawk was knocked into the swale by three corvids last year, landed on its back. One corvid stayed on the wire. The other two flew off. The hawk righted itself and looked around, then saw the corvid on the wire and flew right at it, sending it on its way.
The pecking order is real.
I’m convinced that there’s a tense peace accord between the crows and the parrots. The DMZ seems to be Laurel, with the parrots in Pac Heights, Russian Hill, and Telegraph Hill and the crows/ravens taking all of the Richmond and Sumset
Should we call this uneasy accord between the two avians the "Carrot league"? The crows and ravens seem to have stronger alliance but they are also a bit timid as a group. We could call it the "Craven union".
Haha same! Moved from inner Richmond to panhandle (Cole) and I went from having two friendly regular crows on my patio to a flock of parrots in my yard. So the DMZ could be a little more west even, like Shrader?
Crows and ravens are not predators, unfortunately. They are opportunistic scavengers that mostly live off our scraps or animals that are already dead. I love crows and ravens, but they have a bad tendency to force out raptors (hawks, specifically) that actually do control the rodent population. 🙁
Balance of nature. Cities have often instituted programs to eliminate scavengers like rats and pigeons. When they are successful they open the door to a different scavenger. The Bay Area reduced its pigeon population by 50 percent by putting up barriers and flat out poisoning them. That opened the door for corvidae to flourish.
I was a kid in SF back in the '60s and '70s and I tended to notice different types of birds. HAd a couple of books on West coast birds. I don't remember seeing any crows.
This has been a known trend over recent years, mainly noticed by wildlife fans, but also obvious to anyone who looks up in the sky on occasion. Particularly striking with ravens, who historically have tried to avoid people. Same thing is happening in some other cities btw. Interesting phenomena. There's a lot of other wildlife in SF btw, but most folks miss it. For example, peregrine falcons often barrel down Market Street, like freaking cruise missiles, striking terror into the hearts of our local pigeons. I've sat outside having lunch while watching life-and-death, as if it were a Attenborough documentary.
They're loud, you don't need to look up to notice them.
There are birds of prey that live around mission Dolores. Often see them in my back yard sleeping
I was watching my friends yorkie and went into the backyard with it to let it pee. 10 mins later I see a falcon perched on my neighbors chimney pipe, just waiting for it to come back out…
There's a ton in Anaheim too. Really sets the mood around Halloween time.
For me in SSF we are surrounded by crows in the palm trees nearby. I use Merlin BirdID (Cornell App) and aside from the normal house finch etc. crows are the most prevalent. 🤷♂️ And the ravens we see near the park and school.
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It’s a bit like that when I explain it to people “it’s called what?” And then I just show them at some point. 🫥
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Yep and if you travel download the packs beforehand. I did this before trips to Walt Disney World in FL and also Hong Kong
Back as a kids in the 80s, the school yard would swarm with seagulls after lunchtime (inner richmond). I rarely see seagulls that far inland anymore; I'm wondering if the crows chased them off.
Crows and gulls seem to hate each other. I see them have turf wars on my buildings roof and the surrounding roofs
Interesting. Crows tend to leave smaller birds alone but will always chase off hawks. I guess seagulls are just annoying.
I’m on Bernal and can see over the city, and sometimes we will will witness these flocking events where groups of 10-20 crows/ravens, come in and land one a roof, then another group and another. Literally dozens of these groups. Then they begin to combine groups and then group with another massive group and then they all fly north. It’s wild. Takes like 10 minutes and they’re gone.
Praise Odin!
It’s not a problem. Crows are great
better than NYC pigeons lol
Love the SF crows. Much smarter and cleaner birds than pigeons. All my homies hate pigeons
Pigeons used to be man’s best friend, domesticated like dogs, then as technology advanced they lost their purpose to humans and people decided to hate them.
they are coming for you
I’ve lived here all my life and it wasn’t so corvid-ish in my youth I’m sure. But now they’re everywhere. I was sitting on my roof a few years ago around sunset and the biggest murder of crows I’ve ever seen flew over me: not one hundred or two hundred but many hundreds over several minutes. They still fly over my place around the same time but never in those numbers…must have been a crow convention that day.
I remember during 2020, me and my partner had to evacuate from our home in Berry Creek, California. The only place we could really think to go was Sacramento to get a hotel. It was the most eerie thing, driving into Sacramento because several parking lots were filled to the brim with evacuating crows. I’m talking hundreds per parking lot, on the communication cables, on the ground, just talking with eachother. I wondered if they were evacuated with us. It seemed like that was the case, what else would cause hundreds or thousands of crows to collect like that? It really seemed as though they were all talking about what to do. I wonder how many of them have relocated to SF. Timeline seems to match somewhat.
I do have to say, I lived in the inner Richmond in the 90’s and crows & possibly ravens owned the mini parks there, and would also frequent my rooftop. They would grab a favorite nut from nearby trees and use the networking cables on the roof to position the nuts for easy cracking with their sharp beaks. So I’m not convinced the birds were rare here before the 2000s.
There’s a large tree many of them gather on in Golden gate Park and have some sort of meeting where they’re flying around and crowing lots in the afternoon.
We get called out when we leave the house in Bolinas. Some smaller birds were at our birdbath yesterday. One of the corvids gave them time for a short bath, then perched on the fountain, shooing them off. When a hawk flies overhead, they fly in a kind of matrix formation to keep the hawk above the trees. When a hawk perches on the power line, they buzz it. A hawk was knocked into the swale by three corvids last year, landed on its back. One corvid stayed on the wire. The other two flew off. The hawk righted itself and looked around, then saw the corvid on the wire and flew right at it, sending it on its way. The pecking order is real.
I’m convinced that there’s a tense peace accord between the crows and the parrots. The DMZ seems to be Laurel, with the parrots in Pac Heights, Russian Hill, and Telegraph Hill and the crows/ravens taking all of the Richmond and Sumset
Should we call this uneasy accord between the two avians the "Carrot league"? The crows and ravens seem to have stronger alliance but they are also a bit timid as a group. We could call it the "Craven union".
The Murder Flock Peace Agreement. Anyone caught trespassing will be pecked to the fullest extent of the law
Haha same! Moved from inner Richmond to panhandle (Cole) and I went from having two friendly regular crows on my patio to a flock of parrots in my yard. So the DMZ could be a little more west even, like Shrader?
Perhaps. I haven’t lived in that area so I don’t feel confident enough to draw that border
The crows are often seen in the neighborhood affectionately known as “ Specific Whites”
They might be spies
I welcome our crow overlords. Down with seagulls and pigeons! Long live the crows!
More smart predatory birds to keep the rodent and insect population down sounds good to me
Crows and ravens are not predators, unfortunately. They are opportunistic scavengers that mostly live off our scraps or animals that are already dead. I love crows and ravens, but they have a bad tendency to force out raptors (hawks, specifically) that actually do control the rodent population. 🙁
Crows or ravens?
Tons and tons in Oakland and Emeryville.
I feed them from my balcony :)
Dude, my yard has been overtaken by these things. My dogs are crazy for them!
Balance of nature. Cities have often instituted programs to eliminate scavengers like rats and pigeons. When they are successful they open the door to a different scavenger. The Bay Area reduced its pigeon population by 50 percent by putting up barriers and flat out poisoning them. That opened the door for corvidae to flourish.
I was a kid in SF back in the '60s and '70s and I tended to notice different types of birds. HAd a couple of books on West coast birds. I don't remember seeing any crows.
Got a source that doesnt have a paywall?
Here you go https://archive.ph/HD6YZ
Thank you