Crows staging at Schenley Park golf course, 20 Nov 2024 (photo by Betty Rowland)

2 December 2025

This year’s official Crow Count will be on Saturday 27 December during Pittsburgh’s Christmas Bird Count. We know that our winter flock is 10,000 to 20,000 strong but crows are elusive. They were so sneaky in 2021 that I found only 1140. Right now we have just 25 days to crowd source their location. December is the month for crows!

Crows like to roost at the tops of mature trees and they want to sleep with the lights on so this tree near Thackeray Hall was perfect in November 2011.

Crows roosting near Thackeray Hall, November 2011 (photo by Peter Bell)

In late October this year they roosted at Pitt’s campus and somewhere in/near The Hill. On 29 October they staged outside my window before flying to the roost. Cool!

But by mid-November they changed the roost and did not stage here anymore.

Pittsburgh’s winter crows are likely to change the roost tonight because it’s been snowing and they’ll want to sleep somewhere warm.

Snow at the Pitt peregrine nest, 2 Dec 2025, 8:45am (photo by Kate St. John)

Keep your eyes on the sky. Have you seen crows staging or roosting? Where and when? Did they leave? Which direction did they go?

December is the month for crows!