By Kennedy Zittel, naturalist
Many people look forward to what bird will be the first bird they see in the new year. I eagerly anticipate seeing what bird will begin my new yearly bird list, giggling at how it usually is a junco or chickadee. There isn’t anything wrong with a sweet junco or feisty chickadee (they are my favorite songbird), but I always hope that one year it will be something different.
This year, I was busy on New Year’s Day, spending most of it helping to bring home an old, barely-working bus (long story) for my project-inclined boyfriend. It wasn’t until halfway through the day, as we were driving back, that I glanced out the window and saw 12 crows in a farm field. My exclamation of “My first birds of the year!” was met with a jump and a confused gaze until I explained how people try to note what bird they saw first each year. I was lucky enough to start 2025 with a large group of crows… a murder! That certainly is something different!
American Crows can be found in many different places – forests, fields, and along roadsides to name a few. They are opportunistic feeders… they will eat almost anything! They will eat things like seeds, fruit, insects, earthworms, small animals, and carrion (dead animals).
Crows are very social birds. During the warmer months, crows will stick together with their family; a family unit can be made of up to 5 generations. Last year’s nestlings will stick around and help their parents raise the new chicks, tend to the nest, and even bring their mother food while she sits there. During winter, crows will gather in large numbers to sleep in communal roosts.
They are considered one of the most intelligent non-primate species on Earth, some scientists compare their intelligence to that of a 7-year-old human. Crows can solve puzzles, use tools, and even remember faces.
I am very excited to have the crow as my first bird of the year, maybe it is a sign of the year to come… traveling to see more places, spending time with family, maybe even remembering faces better – certainly not changing my diet to eat what they do -ha!
What was the first bird you saw this year?
