From time to time though, they can be a bother...like when they decide to take over a town. Here's that story for ya.
California, Pennsylvania
In 2012, the small college town of California, Pennsylvania, was invaded from the air by thousands of crows. According to the town’s residents, the sound of the crows was unbearable. One compared their sound to raindrops while another said they were louder than an alarm clock.
Besides being a general nuisance, mass numbers of birds taking over an area can be harmful because of the illnesses they spread and their effects on infrastructure. Most bird invasions like the one in California, Pennsylvania, occur in the winter because the birds are attracted to the lights of urban areas along with the heat generated.
To try to get the crows to leave the town, authorities used grape extract smoke, which works like pepper spray for crows and is neither harmful to plants nor other species of birds. Within moments of use, the crows will leave areas where grape extract has been sprayed.
First of all, let me say that I never heard of this town before. Seems like a strange name to me, but what do I know? Secongly, I had no idea that grape extract was like pepper spray to a crow. I know that when I worked in the produce section of a grocery store (long time ago) and we had fruit flies, we would make them go away by spraying peppermint extract around. Seemed to work for us.
Coffee out on the patio this morning. Temps are going back to the 80s again.
