Crows

It takes a while to get used to all of the crows. The crows in India are smaller than our American ones (which are almost as big as ravens) and much more common. They are city birds, cawing and scavenging at will. It's not unusual to see large groups of them at the roadside.

It's been a while since I've seen any number of crows back home. They used to be more common--small groups would land in my yard, and feed underneath my bird feeders, providing needed competition (and comeuppance) for the blue jays. But no more. West Nile virus seems to have struck them quite strongly, and few remain.

There is no such constraint on the population here in Vellore, and the hospital grounds appear to be a major roost. Crows are gregarious birds. At night they perch together and sleep together.

In late afternoon, as the sun is beginning to fade, they begin to congregate. One suddenly sees large flocks of them circling and cawing, and it goes on for hours. The trees on the campus are all full of crows, noisy crows, cawing into the night, until full dark. Only then is there any semblance of quiet on the campus.