Crows roosting on Pitt’s campus on the night of the supermoon, 1 Dec 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

30 October 2026

Monday’s Hunter’s Moon was spectacular as seen in photos around the world. I didn’t take a picture this week but I did capture the supermoon(*) on 1 December 2017 with crows roosting near Heinz Chapel, lit by the full Cold Moon. A video of them flying across the moon would have been even better.

Brett Banditelli wanted to capture that video and achieved his goal last June.

(*) A supermoon is a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is at its closest approach to Earth, perigee.

Crow Count, 29 October 2026:

My photo at top shows how I count crows by counting their roosting trees. In winter there are an average of 250 crows per large tree so I count the trees and multiply. Yesterday, 29 October 2026 I counted 46 roosting trees at Pitt * 250 crows/ tree = 11,500 crows.

Is this count too high?

This month I’ve counted crows that pass by my window, reaching 6,000 on 23 October. My window only sees crows from the north & east, not the south & west contingent nor the newcomers during 24-28 October.

So 11,500 is possible. Even if I round-down I’d place it at 10,000.