MONTREAL, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Bird watchers in Montreal say they counted a record flock of crows in the city last month, the largest since the annual winter count began in 1935.
Officials of Bird Protection Quebec say an estimated 9,100 crows were counted roosting in the city's west end, The (Montreal) Gazette reported
The previous record was 5,116 crows counted in a flock in Cote St. Luc in 2008, the newspaper said.
"If you go down around Royal West Academy around dusk and look up, you'll see thousands of them flying over," Jeff Harrison of Bird Protection Quebec, who last month coordinated the bird count, said.
Montreal has lots of crows because the birds have discovered they can make good lives for themselves in urban areas, David Bird, a professor of wildlife biology at McGill University, said.
"Crows have discovered that if they live in city limits, they won't get shot at, so they're much safer here," Bird said. "And they're omnivorous, they'll eat just about anything."
Crows are also very social and intelligent, he said, able to recognize and remember human faces and use tools like twigs to get at hidden bugs for food.
"Crows are probably at the top of the list of the most intelligent birds in the world," Bird said. "They're absolutely incredible."
