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Real Life Horror Movie? Thousands of Crows Invade PA Town

Feb. 15, 2012 8:15am Jonathon M. Seidl

It’s like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film. Thousands of crows have invaded a Pennsylvania town, and the people there want them gone.

“They just take off from every direction, they’re just all over the place,” local resident Dave Mason told KDKA-TV. “Their feces goes all over you, all over your vehicles and it’s been interfering with our business because people don’t want to come here for that reason.”

The town, ironically named California, just can’t seem to get the creatures to leave. When the local university used lasers to get the birds to stop roosting on campus, they just moved to the local American Legion post.

The birds seem only to show up at dusk and stay until dawn. But that’s enough to drive the residents crazy.

“It’s louder than my alarm clock, let’s just put it that way. It’s horrible, the cawing and everything all night long,” resident Jess Priest said.

The KDKA reporter described the scene: it sounded like it was raining.

It’s likely the birds have settled on the town as a wintering ground. But residents are hoping they’re just passing through.

And just in case you needed a comparison, here’s a clip from Hitchcock’s classic:

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Comments (107)

shandog
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:33am
Two word solution: Peregrine falcons

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- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:47am
  Talk about a health hazard! Where is our government? These people are suffering trully and not a peep in this story about what the government is doing about it. Guess what? When all the bird crap drys up and breaks up into fine dust particles they will be breathing it.
  
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- deeberj
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 1:54pm
  Hey, Cheif George – the gov’t doesn’t have to solve all of our problems. Let the township figure it out.
  
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- lukerw
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:13pm
  BETTER: Daisy BB Gun! And, it’s more fun… while adding to your skill!
  
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- yanki161
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:01pm
  One compound word solution: shotgun.
  
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- Airbornedevildog
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:28pm
  one word solution….. Shotgun.
  
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- 2theADDLED
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 12:22am
  Careful now Crow can be a code word.
  
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- grannyrecipe
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 8:07am
  We had the same thing happen in our town. For the first year, everything was tried except shooting them. The second year (and yes, if you don’t get rid of them you will become an annual stomping ground)
  we had a city ordinance that allowed the residents to open fire on them with shotguns in the evening hours when they came in to roost…crows no more and they haven’t been back.
  
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shandog
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:30am
Solution in two words: Peregrine Falcons

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- SoupSandwich
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 12:05pm
  Federally protected migratory game bird trumps your falcon. In fact, they/wardens will keep your falcon, your vehicle, and any thoughts you may have had about the demise of the Mexican national bird out of season. In mid March they come into season, 4 days a week, but you better drop the first one or they will scatter scat all over you and you will cull no more…thank NAFTA.
  
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kim
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:26am
the weather is messed up and they dont know what to do we have them where i live and they dont bother me but i live by a railroad track and the train dotn bother me so i guess you will get use to it

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- Itsjusttim
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:35am
  No see the problem is that you don’t speak God’s language. This town is called California, and it is in Washington County, PA. Therefore Washington county is the mother and California is the daughter. Kind of the same way The Capitol Washington is the Mother, and the State California is the daughter. Therefore God is going to scramble their language.
  
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- Itsjusttim
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:38am
  Therefore frogs will leap out of the mouths of those in Washington, and those in California.
  
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- Itsjusttim
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:42am
  Croak, croak in your throat, and rib-bit, rib-bit on your lips.
  
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- lukerw
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:18pm
  A flock is called a MURDER! It’s an OMEN!
  
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W@nd@
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:49am
a murder of crows in california …
(be glad it is not blue jays
they can be agressive..).
Though I can not imagine the noise!
With just one in my neighborhood, you hear him the second he’s up….
from where ever he’s at!

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- Ruler4You
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:14am
  Hey, these must be ‘migratory’ birds. They are protected by federal migratory bird regulation. You can’t control them with a gun. You just have to live with them. You lucky folks.
  
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EqualJustice
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:12am
Where are the “environmentalists now? It’s ALL those new clusters of WINDMILLS that are messing up the birds and their migration habits! IMO

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2theADDLED
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:07am
Can someone confirm there are very few birds that make any noise at night and a crow is not one of them. Crows are a very sporting bird to hunt with a little advertising you may attract a few sportsmen.

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- AmericanStrega
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:43am
  We have a Hoot Owl that hangs out in our Black Walnut trees at night. He hoots his hoots, but is real mellow with them. He’s actually pretty cool. As for Ravens, we have a lot of them here in NE Kansas this time of year. They hang out in the harvested corn fields. I figure they’re picking up all the corn that was spilled by the grain harvesters. As for Blue Jays, they drive us nuts with their yelling from dawn to dusk. We also have large woodpeckers who sound like a jackhammer on the tin roof. And I can’t leave out the pack fo coyote who circle our little town nightly. We hear them yipping on the southside of town and then a few minutes later they’re east, then north, then west and back to south again. Animals are animals and are just living their animanl lives. Some are a pain in the neck, but most are fun to watch. Kinda the same with humans. :)
  
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- lukerw
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 4:42pm
  Once… I watch a Cat with Kittens… suddenly Crows began to flock into the Trees… then hundreds attacked the Kittens… and ate them… then they all let out a Demonic Scream.
  
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jb.kibs
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:07am
God is real. God is pissed.
* do not mess with nature or it WILL mess with you. *

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- jungle J
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:12am
  if you are so knowledgeable about Gods actions them why California?
  
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- The Jewish Avenger
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:40am
  Why California? You have to put the trash somewhere.
  
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istasko
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:47am
I feel for these guys. The first year we lived in this house, surrounded by woods, we had an autumn migration of about 1000 turkey vultures roosting in our trees. Happened right before Halloweeen. We were kind of freaked out, if you came outside early in the morning, before sunup, you would be welcomed by a HUGE flock of vultures being woken up. We thought that we had made a mistake buying this house. It doesn’t seem to be as bad, now, but I certainly do feel for them. I sincerely wanted to shoot some of them, but it being a pretty populated area, I didn’t want to risk hitting something of value, or God forbid, someone! Good luck, and maybe you can do the fireworks thing, like they did in Steel Magnolias.

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- AmericanStrega
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:48am
  Turkey Vultures, or Turkey Buzzards (as we call them) are God’s garbagemen. They clean up the roadkill. Thank God for the Turkey Buzzards! :)
  
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- MEANS2RESIST
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 2:42pm
  Thats right, get some bottle rockets. Here in the south we use them to shoo the birds out of our crops…..
  
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SREGN
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:38am
Solution: Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.

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- Lotus503
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:37am
  I was thinking the same thing! I wonder what it’s like to “eat crow”…LOL!!!
  
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pwatkins
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:24am
The windfarms may be sending them all to one area in PA so they can survive.

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ScreaminEagle
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:21am
Large flocks of Crows have been circling my town in the spring and fall for years. We just shoot them.
Protected species? Really? Since when?

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- SoupSandwich
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:55am
  Read up on NAFTA esse.
  
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Jezreel
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:10am
Must be a lot of liberals in that town for all those crows to find it so attractive to them.

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- Itsjusttim
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:14am
  Nevermore, nevermore.
  
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cemerius
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:10am
Must have been confused as to the State of California……oops should have taken that left at Tuscon :)

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SoupSandwich
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:05am
You can’t shoot the Mexican National Bird out of season under NAFTA. Protected nuisance, just like OWSers. Que?

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- Stoic one
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:28am
  What?
  Are you serious?
  
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- AmericanStrega
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:50am
  Si
  
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- deeberj
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 1:53pm
  Are you saying you think people should be able to shoot a caracara at will? No hunting season, or no ban? Why does that bother you?
  
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- SoupSandwich
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:04pm
  Freedom would dictate I used my own free will to decide when that nuisance became too much. Are you implying you would like more fed in your life and, baaaah, want to make no real decisions other than govt swiss or govt gouda? Que? North American Free Trade Agreement. Crows. Holy Cow. I see your point now. Baaaah/caw. You should see a crow versus high brass #4 or 6. Beeeyoutiful. It is akin to a negative of a pillow exploding. Sabe?
  
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- the68
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 6:52pm
  @soupsandwich; we were absolutely crowded with crows two days ago. They’re terribly loud/annoying and they chase away all the songbirds that my family spends a significant amount of time trying to draw in. I drew a bead on the one closest to the center of the swarm with a 20ga loaded with #4 and dropped him. I shot another in flight with #7 low brass. It blew the feathers off him but he got away. I left the body of the one that dropped and haven’t seen any since. Crows are actually quite intelligent. It is very, very difficult to catch them off-guard, and you can’t just use measly squirrel or rabbit loads on them.
  
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- SoupSandwich
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:52pm
  Very amazing critters. Mate for life, and yeh, if you don’t drop the first one, they are gone. Farmers used to deal with just the problem ones and things were fine population wise. Now, well, you can’t shoot them with lead on Tuesday, but you can with Bismuth on Wednesday, or Steel on Saturday, and maybe Hevi-Shot on Friday if you can remember what day it is while standing on one foot and crossing your eyes in a shotgun only county… we clearly need more rules and regs. Need more more more govt because we can’t figure out how to deal with nuisance OWSers let alone a Mehican song bird. Fun times.
  
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THXll38
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:57am
Sounds like the infestation of worthless people living throughout the US. Birds on the other hand just crap and crow, a lot of people rape, murder, steal, destroy, etc. I am pretty sure people caused more plagues than animals, but then again, we are animals with a bigger brain, and have the ability to reason — usually the wrong way. Cynical? Well yes I am.

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- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:50am
  We are not animals sir.
  
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- SoupSandwich
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:08pm
  The whole rat, fleas and plague thing didn’t register? West nile comes in 20 oz coffee cups right? Lime disease also comes in a bag and you serve it with water crackers.
  
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- THXll38
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:19pm
  Chief -
  
  Yes, humans are animals. The human’s phylum is Chordata (vertebrate). The human’s class is mammalia. It’s order is primate (the same as apes). It’s family is Hominidae (apes that have no tail and can gather food with their hands.) The Human’s sub-family is Homininae. It’s tribe is Hominini. It’s genus is **** and it’s specie is scientifically named **** Sapiens.
  
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- THXll38
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:23pm
  Soup -
  
  Correct. By throwing our fecal matter out in the street and not having proper hygiene, rats became a huge problem. So I will have to say that humans caused the plague due to our disgusting filth.
  
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Susie
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:55am
Okay, lets not go overboard. The decline of man ? They’re just a bunch of rowdy crows. Crows are well known for the mischief they can get into. They are uniquely intelligent in the world of bird-brains and the man, or woman, who deals with them, better not be in decline.

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- CLS
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:28am
  Indeed! That high-gloss sheen on those black feathers comes from a diet rich in … meat.
  
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yougottabekidding
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:49am
Some of the reason is the federal gov.
Look at the millions of “Canadian Geese” that are protected by laws protecting miratory birds. They no longer migrate, they sit and s—, and fly into airplanes. The numbers of these birds would go a longe way in feeding the homeless! But the birds are more important and more protected then people!

The trouble with regulators is they have nothing to do to justify their existance except to write stupid regulations

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- oldguy49
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:52am
  could have been ows
  
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- Wyratt
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:17am
  Canadian geese aren’t protected. Come to the mid-west and you can shoot the hell out of em..
  
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- yougottabekidding
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:48am
  Wyratt
  Do not understand how you do it here is the list, and goose is clearly on it!
  
  http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/RegulationsPolicies/mbta/mbtandx.html#g
  
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- Wyratt
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:45am
  http://ksoutdoors.com/news/Hunting/Migratory-Birds/Geese/HARVEST
  No B.S..Ask me how I know.
  
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- deeberj
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 1:49pm
  YOUGOTTABEKIDDING
  
  If you had looked around that web site a bit, you would have seen that some can be “harvested”, so they are allowed to be hunted but under certain conditions.
  
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- the68
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:04pm
  Yeah, you’re allowed to hunt Canadian geese; sometimes. What happens here in the NE is they LEAVE as soon as the season comes in! I’m not kidding. It’s nearly impossible to shoot them wherever they’re causing trouble when they’re in season because they disappear. The reason I know this is because my late grandfather and grandmother (still living) dealt with them for years. They would gather around their fishing pond by the hundreds. My grandfather was a WWII vet and didn’t give a darn about regs, so he’d just shoot them. But he eventually got too old to shoot and resorted to chasing them off. That all ended when one gave him a good whack on the ankle. The two worst things about Canadian geese is that there are no regs against feeding them and they crap so much that you can’t even walk in your yard. So your neighbor can draw them in by feeding them with no fear of repercussion and you have to deal with the crap. That’s what happened to my grandparents. My clever grandmother finally did find something that seems to be working; a coyote decoy. I didn’t realize that she’d purchased it until one day I was walking back to the pond and there it was. Scared the daylights out of me. She moves the decoy around from time to time and to my surprise, it’s the only thing that’s worked since Pap stopped shooting them.
  
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donh2
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:43am
California PA is 40 miles DUE SOUTH of Butler PA, Rick Santorum’s home town. This is an Omen Rick will win California primary from Rmoney.

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tamalezebra
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:41am
California must mean toilet in bird language.

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Ron Staiger
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:40am
Shoot them, stupid!

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Rampancy
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:38am
A shotgunner’s dream…..

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SoupSandwich
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:34am
In VA we used to hunt crows that were a problem-now your FED GOVT lists them as migratory game birds or some such happy crap. Under NAFTA, the Mexican national bird now has a hunting season in the spring, and only can hunt them on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat, so if they were causing problems on a Tues or Thurs or Sun, you coulldn’t shoot the Mexican National bird. Yay Nafta and political morons that have no clue. NAFTA and the Mexican national bird need to be protected and allowed to cause damage and loss of sleep. Thank any long time politician. Viva NAFTA.

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DD313
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:33am
“America’s chickens are coming home to roost!” — reverend Jeremiah Wright

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- rangerp
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:36am
  have a crow shoot. You will kill two birds with one stone (pun intended). You will get rid of the crows, and miff the animal activist crowd at the same time.
  
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- KAdams
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:59am
  Or sling crow carcasses at them. Break out the 2-man sling shot.
  
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Jenny Lind
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:27am
Yucky, feel sorry for them, nothing worse than bird poop. My husband used to say all he had to do was put on a clean hat and walk from the ship, down the pier to his car and Seagulls would come after his hat. Always had to use a piece of newspaper to cover his hat! (cover)

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LOJ
Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:21am
Very similar to Alfred Hitchcock’s the birds, species are getting out of control, look at the huge Python explosion that is destroying the Florida chain of balance by eating alligators and other large wildlife…Something is going wrong with our eco system, bees are dying as well as bats. Animals and wildlife sense changes coming, one can see that we are nearing the End of the Age and the decline of man as well!

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- paleoman
  Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:31am
  The decline of man, look no farther than the White House.
  
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