A video on social media shows a murder of crows flying over a Metro Vancouver street on a winter morning.
The haunting footage shows dozens of the corvids flapping their dark wings as they circle overhead. At first glance, the aerial creatures resemble bats, in part because the video is featured in black-and-white.
Reddit user miketgeman101 shared the ominous video on Friday morning, calling it a "morning murder on Still Creek Ave, Burnaby."
At the time of this writing, the video has been up-voted 103 times. Several people have also commented that the murder of crows that roosts in Burnaby is one of the largest in the world.
Morning Murder on Still Creek Ave Burnaby from r/vancouver
B.C. is home to the northwestern crow
The northwestern crow (Corvus caurinus) is predominantly found in British Columbia, but the corvids range from northern Washington all the way to southern Alaska, according to the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of British Columbia. While they inhabit urban settings, they may also be spotted on remote islands and coastal beaches. They enjoy a diet that includes everything from garbage to fruit to insects and much more.
The Canadian Encyclopedia notes that both northwestern and American crows tend to forage in open areas but prefer wooded habitats for nesting and roosting.
Currently, the northwestern crow is of no conservation concern, in large part due to its highly adaptive nature.
