Nothing to crow about

Alex Coolman

The team that took the field at Eastbluff Park was wearing black.

The players -- about a dozen of them -- spread out across the baseball

diamond as if getting ready to take infield practice.

But these weren’t athletes.

They were crows.

They were big, black birds that didn’t seem to have much to do besides

peck around in the grass, take an occasional trip up into the trees and

emit their characteristic cawing. They could be heard for blocks.

Some residents say that in recent months, the crow population seems to

have increased. And they worry about the effects the creatures are having

on the area -- from the rising volume on the soundtrack of background

cawing to the way the black birds rummage through the garbage cans on

trash day.

“We’re dealing with a very intelligent animal,” said Newport Beach

animal control officer Jamye Rogers, who said she had noticed an

“explosion” in the visibility of the birds. “It’s on the level of a

dolphin and a monkey in intelligence.”

Crows have an easy time of it in this area. They have no natural

predators, Rogers said, and as omnivores they have tremendous supplies of

food in local garbage bins.

Philip Glaser, conservation chairman of the Laguna Hills Audubon

Society, said he had seen an increase in crow activity throughout the

county.

Glaser attributed the proliferation of the noisy birds, at least in

part, to a gradual increase in the availability of junk food waste and

road kill.

“They thrive on what’s happening to Orange County,” he said.

In Eastbluff Village Center on Monday, the opinions of shoppers seemed

split on whether the crow situation was improving or whether the

“ungainly fowl” was getting the upper hand on the community.

One Costa Mesa resident said she started having her newspaper

delivered in plastic bags because crows ate the first four pages every

morning.

But Joy St. Dennis, of Newport Beach, said she had seen fewer black

wings flapping through the air of late. And that was OK with her.

“I hate crows,” she noted.