Crows staging at Schenley Plaza and Frick Fine Arts, 9 Dec 2025, 5:14pm (photo by Kate St. John)

10 December 2025

Pittsburgh’s Christmas Bird Count is coming up on Saturday 27 December and I’ve volunteered to count crows. I know from years past that there are 10,000 to 20,000 of them but counting is a challenge.

Yesterday evening Charity Kheshgi and I tried to count crows as they came into the trees near the Frick Fine Arts building in Oakland. We’d tallied 3,000 – 4,000 crows before sunset (4:53pm) but after that huge flocks arrived from all directions. And then they started swirling.

Counting was impossible so I took photos and videos with my cellphone and kept the original audio.

So many crows!