Have you seen the birds in Downtown Rochester? | News

“I think it’s kind of freaky. It’s kind of like an Alfred Hitchcock movie.” Thousands of birds take over downtown Rochester every night.

In the movie Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds, thousands of seagulls took over a small town killing people and destroying property. But this isn’t a movie – it’s downtown Rochester at dusk with thousands of birds congregating in trees and on buildings.

“The crows are attracted to an area that has large trees that they can roost in that also has some ambient lighting that lights up the sky so that they avoid predators easier.” Michael Wasilco is the regional wildlife manager for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. He says this is a winter urban crow roost. There could be as many as 30,000 crows here. They came to Rochester for warmer temperatures. “Some of the crow researchers think that is the case for these urban crow roosts, that these are actually crows that have come south from Canada, so we are south for them.”

Unlike the seagulls in the movie The Birds, these crows won't attack people but they do present a health hazard. “The biggest problem with this large roosts of birds is the mess they leave behind. Some people don't like the noise, but the health concern would be from all the feces that accumulate under the roosts.”

Crows like urban areas because they can feed off trash. Wasilco says you could scare them away but it would take about two weeks of fireworks and other loud noises for about six hours a day to get rid of them. Some people say it's no big deal.

“I saw The Birds a long time ago but I'm not too worried about it,” said Dave Ward. They managed to make it through the movie. I think we can too -- we're tough.”

Click here to see raw video of the birds in downtown Rochester