Parks and Recreation Department, City of Charlottetown
Crow Citizen Science Project

We are collecting data on the crows in and around Victoria Park. Information about the behavior and movements of the crows will help us better understand this urban phenomenon. How to participate?

• Choose a well defined area (i.e. your backyard, an area in the Park, part of the waterfront).
• Collect your data from within your predefined area.
• Collect as much data, as often, as you can.
• At anytime you can record crow behavior that seems out of the ordinary. This may help us to understand their behavior better.
• Refer to the back of the form for information about crow behavior.

Date: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Temperature:
Weather conditions:
Your location: (street address, physical description)
How large is the area you are monitoring (square feet or meters)?
What time do the crows start to arrive in your area in the evening?
Time the crows are the noisiest:
Rate the noise*: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
*Noise rating: 1 = quiet, 10 = very noisy
Where are the crows? (in the tree tops, on the buildings, on the ground etc.)
How many crows are in your predefined area?
What time do the crows become quiet?
Do the crows roost in your location overnight? Yes/No Yes No
What time do the crows leave your area?

In general: (this section only needs to be completed once)
In the past, have you noticed any unusual behavior i.e. during storms, at certain times of the year?


When do you notice the crows first starting to gather in the fall?


When do you notice that the crows stop gathering in your area in the spring?

Thank you for collecting this data. If you have any questions, call the crow hotline at 629-4096… leave you name and number and someone will POST back to you as soon as possible.

Did you know?

… Crows that are diving at a bird in flight or diving into the treetops and cawing loudly are probably “mobbing” an owl or a hawk. This mobbing behavior is their way of protecting each other. The alarm calls attract other crows to the “scene of the crime” and diving at the predator helps to drive it away.

… Crows collect in a staging area before they go to their roost for the night. Like us, they stop to chat and catch up on news after a long day of work (foraging for food) and before going to bed. This is the time that they are the noisiest.

… Crows usually move to a new area, other than their staging area, to roost. As they move off to “bed” they are quiet so they don’t attract night time predators like owls and humans. They stay very quiet once they are in their roost site for the same reasons.

…Crows display communal roosting behaviors in the late fall, winter and early spring. At this time of year, their parental duties are done… the “kids” are grown up and have “flown the coop” so they are free to join a large group, like the roost that gathers in the Victoria Park area.

They like to gather in large groups in the City because:

• large groups lets them chat and socialize
• the city lights help to protect them from predators
• generally, there are fewer predators in cities
• the city is several degrees warmer than rural areas
• they can find lots of food from litter, in garbage’s and composting areas

… In the spring, these social groups/roosts disband and most of the crows move into the rural areas to breed. They stay in the rural areas all summer to take care of their families.

Tuesday, Feb 7, 2012

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