13 January 2022

Driving home yesterday from northern Pennsylvania I reached the edge of Downtown near the PPG Arena parking lot(*) at 5:35pm. Night was falling but the overcast sky was still lit.

As I drove up the ramp to Bigelow Boulevard three huge flocks of crows burst off the Flag Plaza hilltop (at right below) and swirled overhead to the roof of The Pennsylvanian (left), back and forth.

When I reached this part of the ramp (below) I could hear poot landing my car. The dark sky was thick with crows.

It was a scene like this screenshot from Gerry Devinney’s mid-December video, probably 3,000 to 5,000 crows near the Petersen Events Center.

I was lucky to find them in another part of town after the crows were a No Show at the Christmas Bird Count. It’s ironic that they are in the same place where the black bear was found before Christmas. Perhaps they are roosting in the Strip District.

If I visit Flag Plaza at dusk will I be able to count them? Nope. Too close. I will have to find a place with a much longer view.

UPDATE ON 22 JAN 2022: They are at the Post-Gazette.

A ‘murder’ of sorts at the newspaper offices https://t.co/E6xkty97O2

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (@PittsburghPG) January 23, 2022

p.s. (*) The PPG Paints Arena parking lot on Centre Ave at Washington Place is torn up by construction on its way to becoming something else. It is the old site of the Civic Arena.

(photos by Mary DeVaughn, Google StreetView, Gerry DeVinney (screenshot) and Kate St. John; click on the captions to see the originals)