I was just sitting down to this highly recommended yam sandwich, when I overheard someone at the next table, a little angry, a little sad:
You know what I’ve noticed? There are a lot of crows in the Mission District lately. It didn’t used to be that way.
Didn’t it? ‘Sup with all these crows? Global warming again?
I heard from a birder not too long ago that all over the city every year there are more and more crows and ravens. He said it was because of all the easily available food. I don’t know how he feels about it, but I really like those birds. They’re big and loud and smart and fun to watch.
It’s gentrification, man. Pretty soon all the pigeons and sparrows and starlings are gonna’ be, like, priced out of the Mission, and then there’s, like, gonna’ be no diversity and just one type of bird shit on all the sidewalks, and then the gulls will move in and start laying eggs and we’ll all have to migrate north to Portland.
San Francisco has it easy! Other than pigeons and some gulls, SF really doesn’t have a lot of the big bird flocks that can can cause “problems” (people whining about bird shit on their cars) in some major cities. Complaining about too many crows in the Mission is like complaining that there are too many burrito joints there…..you just cant be serious.
An ornithologist friend claims that ravens own most of the city, with a minor smattering of crows patrolling the fringes.
we need more eagles. or anything that hunts pigeons so we can watch for amusement.
i once saw a hawk ripping a pigeon apart in a tree in my backyard. it wasn’t amusing.
I once saw a hawk ripping a pigeon apart in some dude’s back yard. It was really amusing.
stiiv: +1
http://bernalwood.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/inconsiderate-hawk-makes-bloody-mess-while-devouring-pigeon-in-bernalwood-back-yard/
I watched a hawk up in Humboldt destroy a pigeon while I was on acid, fucking rad.
Long live these majestic birds! They are my spirit animal.
crows/ravens take over an area and run out the other birds. they’ll smash eggs in songbirds nests, kill the newly hatched, things like that. four of them surrounded a redtail hunting in a lazy circle over juri commons once, cawing loudly so as to alert any prey down below thus sending the hawk off.
used to be could tell how bad of a storm was out over the pacific by the number of seagulls that came inland as far as mission st. don’t see them as much either.
one of these magnificent birds recently dropped a pinecone on my head in protest of my smoking while waiting for street cleaning to be over on shotwell street. i shit you not.
i was like, what the fuck was that, looked up at the power line and it was looking down at me with a perfect “what you gonna do about it bitch?” look.