NATURAL PERSPECTIVES -- LOU MURRAY AND VIC LEIPZIG

In a world of birdbrains, crows stand out as geniuses. They can count

to three, they show reasoning ability and they are highly adaptable.

Their intelligence is what makes them so successful as a species and what

makes them such a nuisance.

Crows form huge flocks that harass, peck and divebomb sleeping owls

and resting hawks. This characteristic is probably why a group of these

birds is called a murder of crows.

Crows will eat nearly anything, including eggs and baby birds of other

species, road kill and garbage. In our parks and at our beaches, it is

often the crows that are responsible for all that trash lying on the

ground next to the trash cans.

Well-intentioned people put their trash in the containers, but crows

settle on top of the uncovered cans and pull out paper, looking for a

stray French fry or bite of a bun.

Trash cans with securely fitting lids or a swinging side entrance

would keep birds from feeding on our waste. Crows haven’t become so smart

that they can take the lids off trash cans yet.

In our own yard, we’ve seen a crow follow a female mallard, walking

after her, looking for an egg or duckling to eat. It takes an experienced

mother duck to ward off a hungry crow and protect her brood from

predation.

But there is an even bigger problem than trash on the street and in

our parks, and the loss of ducklings and other nestlings from our yards.

For two consecutive years, the least tern colony at Bolsa Chica has had

zero breeding success, in part due to predation on the eggs and chicks by

crows. The Western snowy plover is another species that has suffered at

the beaks of crows.

As a volunteer, Peter Knapp monitors the populations of snowy plovers

and other threatened and endangered birds at the Bolsa Chica wetlands. He

says he has seen groups of up to 50 crows walk methodically through the

Bolsa Chica lowlands, gobbling up every plover, avocet and stilt egg in

sight. When predation moves beyond our backyard baby birds to include

threatened and endangered species, it is time to do something about

reducing the numbers of these predators.

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center of Orange County recently had to

make a hard decision regarding crows. The center is a wild animal rescue

facility on Pacific Coast Highway at Newland in Huntington Beach. It was

established in response to the 1980 American Trader oil spill as a joint

operation of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy and the Alliance

for Wildlife. Under the direction of veterinarian Dr. Joel Pasco, the

center is operated by a small part-time paid staff and by a large number

of volunteers. Its mission is to rehabilitate sick or injured wild

animals with the goal of releasing them to the wild. Until recently, the

wildlife center rescued crows.

The directors of the center took an important and controversial step

at their last board meeting. They reluctantly decided that the center

would no longer treat crows. Crows have adapted well to the urban

environment and their numbers have risen dramatically in Orange County in

recent years. The California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service are concerned because of the impact that the

rising crow population is having on other bird species, especially the

endangered California least tern and the threatened Western snowy plover.

When the volunteers at the center first got word of the impending

policy change, the immediate reaction for many was one of anger. When

one’s mission is to rescue wildlife, the natural tendency is to rescue

all wildlife. While it is heartbreaking to turn away a cute baby crow, it

is the right thing to do. The species will survive. The population of

crows will continue to expand. Unfortunately, it will do so to the

detriment of other species that are not so numerous, species that are

struggling for their very existence.

While it is sad to lose individual animals, it would be tragic to lose

an entire species. The right thing is not always the easy thing. The

board did the right thing by banning crows from the center.

As homeowners, we need to do our part to help keep the crow population

in check by covering our trash cans. As good citizens, we should

encourage the city to get covered cans for our parks and beaches, both to

reduce litter and to avoid inadvertent feeding of pests. * VIC LEIPZIG

and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They

can be reached at o7 [email protected] .