Are the downtown crows a serious problem or beautiful creatures who should be admired and left alone?
While on a few of our late afternoon and evening hikes we have noticed the crows flocking back downtown from their activities on the outskirts of town. There are varied opinions about these creatures and they are worth an exploration.
Seeing them brings up questions like:
- How many are there?
- Where do they live?
- What do they eat?
- What is their impact on people?
WXXI recently published an article about the City of Rochester’s efforts to remove them from downtown, at a considerable expense to taxpayers. What do you think? Should we be spending money to get rid of them? What is your response to reasons people give on the other side of the argument? Is there common ground? I know how I feel, I used to live on a street downtown where crows would roost in the trees at night and every morning I would wake up with my car covered in huge piles of bird poop. It was disgusting and while crows are really cool I feel strongly that something should be done but I don’t want to see the crows harmed.
Instructions for seminar:
- Take some time to observe the crows on their morning or evening travels if you can. They are most active at sunrise (7:30 AM) and sunset (4:35). Record how many you see, what they are doing, which direction they are going, and anything else you think is interesting.
- Read / listen to this article from WXXI:
https://www.wxxinews.org/post/rochester-spends-thousands-annually-disperse-massive-murder-crows - Find at least 3 other resources about crows in cities or crows in general to learn from.
- Be prepared to discuss your answers to these questions:
- What did you learn from your research?
- What do you think?
- Should we be spending money to get rid of them?
- What is your response to reasons people give on the other side of the argument?
- Is there common ground?
- What other questions do you have about this topic?
On Wednesday 12/9 we will have a discussion about crows in the city. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.