MANSFIELD — Crows clearly didn’t like the sounds of a great horned owl in Central Park on Tuesday evening.
But not enough to leave the downtown they annually call home during the frosty winter nights, an evening ritual that leaves the sidewalks, monuments (and most everything else) spattered in crow poop.
The ongoing effort to dislodge the large murder of crows went vocal at dusk.
Mark Abrams, the city’s parks and recreation superintendent, walked around the square park, armed with a Bluetooth speaker and playing a YouTube recording of the the owl’s hoots and screeches.
He was joined by Cheryl Meier, 2nd Ward City Council representative, and chair of the parks committee.
Crows and owls are not mortal enemies, according to a posting at Carelton.edu. But the crows enjoy harassing owls during the day when they are perched and sleeping. Owls relish the chance to return the trick at night.
The larger great horned owls will hunt young crows if they get the chance, according to the posting. Crows, however, seem to take that personally.
“Numerous studies have shown that crows are able to identify things that have attempted to harm them and have the ability to share that knowledge with the rest of the flock. Thus, if an owl has taken a pass at, or successfully killed a crow, the rest of the flock will likely learn about it and take the next opportunity to exact revenge, even if the attack did not happen recently,” according to the post.
As the crows arrived at dusk on Tuesday, Abrams began the recording as he and Meier began their hour-long walk in the chilly air. The sounds, especially the higher-pitched screeches, appeared to disturb the crows.
Abrams, who began the effort on Monday evening, said the work to try to dislodge the crows will be ongoing, including the usage of a green laser light and dead crow effigies expected to be delivered to the city later this week.
“We had someone, an avid bird watcher, who called the office and suggested (the great horned owl sounds). So we thought we would try it,” he said.
The idea, Abrams said, was to try to disturb the crows enough as they began to roost that perhaps they would fly elsewhere.
Meier said she came out Tuesday because she was curious to see if the sounds would work.
“Of course, we’re getting a lot of people concerned about (the crows) and we’re trying to explore different avenues,” she said.
However, temporarily dislodged, noisy (and pooping) crows simply flew across Park Avenue and found new roosts in the trees on the other side. It was a pattern that repeated itself as the duo walked.
It wasn’t far, as the crow flies.
By 8 p.m., the owl sounds were gone and the crows were noisily back comfortably at home in the trees, a place they enjoy due to the heat radiating from the buildings and the lights that allow them to more easily spot potential predators.
Abrams admitted the owlish sound assault would only be a temporary fix, even if it worked.
“We will try it one more night (with perhaps a louder speaker) and then give it a break. Hopefully, we can start the laser and the effigies Thursday and Friday if they come in.
“The thought with the sounds is if you do it often, the crows will just get used to it. They are intelligent and they will realize there is no owl around here,” he said.
