Auburn plans to roust crows
The Associated Press
Auburn — After years of grousing about the hugh number of crows that roost all winter long in this upstate city, some local residents have decided to take matters into their own hands.
A crow-shooting tournament will be held Feb. 1-2 to rid the skies of some of the big black birds. The four-member team with the most dead crows wins.
"Everybody's sick of them," Tom Lennox, an organizer, told The Post-Standard of Syracuse. "We're going to make a negative into a positive. It'll be fantastic."
It is not a new idea. A countywide tournament has been run, somewhat quitely, the past three years out of an Auburn bar. Last year, 160 people entered, and organizers realized they were onto something. This year they are advertising the tournament and are working to form a limited liability company called Crows Unlimited.
"Auburn is renowned for its crows," said Jon Van Nest, owner of Windy Hill Shooting Supplies and Windy Hill Taxidermy in Moravia. "There's no reason we can't get some big names in there and turn this into a celebrity shoot. Put Auburn on the map."
This isn't the first time Auburnians have tried to put the city and its crows on the map. Starting about 15 years ago, Auburn has been home to as many as 50,000 crows each winter. The roost has declined to about 25,000 recently, likely from the effects of West Nile virus, which is fatal to crows, said Kevin McGowan, an ornithologist at Cornell Ornithology Lab.
Near dusk, the crows fly in from surrounding farmland to roost in old trees near the Owasco Outlet and Auburn Correctional Facility. They are drawn, researchers speculate, by warm drinking water, warmth and the prison lights — which helps them see predatory owls.
The birds have been a nuisance to many residents, with their heavy droppings soiling cars and sidewalks. Auburn police are even involved in keeping the skies as clear of crows as possible.Each night, the police station plays a recording of distressed crow sounds in an attempt to drive them away.
The roost has been studied by Cornell researchers, documented by a film crew for National Geographic and celebrated on a Save the Crows Web Site.
Some suggested that Auburn host a crow festival, with music and a celebration of all things crow, but the idea never got off the ground.
The crow shoot — organizers plan to toss the birds killed into dumpsters — flies in the face of those efforts, and not everyone is happy.
"These sort of things leave me pretty cold," McGowan said. "I don't mind hunting, if you kill something to eat it. But these guys aren't going to eat these crows, although they could — they taste like wild duck. It's almost akin to vandalism."