Your Questions

Maxine and Phil Schoggen, Nashville TN, write:  At least two Downy Woodpeckers have taken to using the hummingbird liquid feeders. They are quite insistent. The hummingbirds make a dive or two at them but to no avail. Is this part of their repertoire or do we have some sugar-hungry Downy characters? There is a bird bath and occasional sprinklers available, but that does not seem to fill the bill. Is this common? We have lived in this location for 15 years and this is the first year we have seen this behavior. Clues?

Downy Woodpeckers will drink sugar water from humming bird feeders. It isn't very common to catch them doing it, but it does happen!

Mary McMahon, St. Louis, Missouri, writes: We are very concerned about the crows here in St. Louis, Missouri. Will they recover and become immune to West Nile virus?

West Nile virus is transmitted by mosquitoes. Infected mosquitoes carry the virus from one bird to another and, less commonly, from a bird to a human. Crows and other members of the Family Corvidae (ravens, jays, and magpies) are particularly susceptible to West Nile virus and they test positive for the virus more frequently than other birds. Forty-four percent of dead crows collected in New York have tested positive for the virus (although they often die from the virus, the cause of death was not determined). A small percentage of live crows have tested positive for West Nile virus. It is possible that these birds got sick and recovered.
Data from the Lab's Project FeederWatch suggest declines of some species, including American Crows, in the Midwest where the virus hit particularly hard in summer 2002. In some areas, the midwestern crow counts decreased by about 70 percent from 2002 to 2003. But in other parts of the country, American Crow counts increased by 6 percent. Additional citizen-science projects, such as Christmas Bird Count and the Chicago-area Bird Conservation Network, have documented dramatic declines for corvids in Illinois.
Should we worry about our crows? I don't think so. Although their numbers might be devastated by the virus, crows in North America have very large, widespread populations, making them fairly resilient to local extinctions. In addition, the increase in numbers outside of the Midwest (including areas where previous West Nile virus outbreaks have occurred) demonstrate their potential for recovery.
Everyone can help us better understand the changes in crow numbers by participating in Crows Count . Help us keep track of all of our crows and their relatives! Anyone can participate-it's fun and easy.

Elena Bardot in Misión Viejo CA writes:
I have been watching crows for a long time near my home in California (I am from Argentina where there are no American Crows) and every evening I have observed enormous groups of crows fly in the same direction, at the same time of day. Where are they going?

If you observe large groups of crows flying in the same direction in the evening, you are watching crows headed towards a roost. You also may see large numbers of crows leaving their roost as it gets light in the morning. Roosting occurs when groups of birds gather together for the night. Crows congregate in large roosts in fall and winter. They may gather in groups that range from under one hundred crows to enormous roosts of hundreds of thousands, or even more than a million crows.
We're not sure why crows roost in such large groups. Perhaps they are congregating in preferred areas. Alternatively, their large numbers may protect them from predators. It is possible that roosts serve as information centers where crows watch one another to learn where they are finding food or shelter. One of the goals of Crows Count is to better understand urban roosts and how they change through the seasons.

I also would like to know how to count such large numbers of crows and how to identify the sentinels.
Counting a large group of birds can be challenging. Make sure that you have established your Study Site first and only count the crows in your Study Site. Begin by counting a smaller group of crows (10 birds or so) within the large group and then count the number of groups that look to have about the same number of birds. Multiply the number of groups by the estimated number of crows in each group. Use your highest estimate as the final count. Don't be afraid to estimate!
A sentinel is 'one who watches or guards'. If you see one or more crows looking around as they sit upright on a high perch above or near other crows, they are most likely sentinels. Sentinels will not be eating or preening. They will be alert and observant, seemingly watching for trouble. You won't always see sentinels in a group.

Eileen Lynch, writes:
We have a pigeon on our fire escape, who we assumed was a female protecting two white eggs. She is mostly white. We tried to put some fabric down for her, but she rejected it. Should we put out water and food?

The best thing you can do for your nesting pigeons is to simply watch from a distance. Placing food or water near them will only attract predators--putting the eggs or nestlings in danger. Pigeons often use balconies, fire escapes, hanging baskets etc.. to nest. Many times they don't add much (or any) nesting material to their nest and simply lay their eggs (sometimes on the bare ground).

They are a wonderful species to observe nesting. They often nest near humans and simply go about their business without much fuss.  It is extremely important that family pets cannot reach the nest.

Pigeons (they mate for life) will share equally in the incubation of 2 white eggs (on average) for 18 days. The male usually incubates from about 10 am to 5 pm and the female incubates the rest of the time (this varies from pair to pair). After hatching, both parents feed their hatchlings pigeon  or crop milk (milk produced in their crop which they regurgitate and feed to their young). The young will be ready to leave their nest approximately 30 days after hatching (but will continue to use the nest for about a week more). 

The days right before fledging are sensitive ones because the young will sometimes leave the nest before they are ready to fly (especially if they are frightened).  If they do so, as long as there is no immediate danger (pets or predators), simply allow the parents to continue raising their young at ground level.

Jim Shows writes:
I have a lot of grackles that visit my bird bath daily and I have noticed that several of them steal dog food from the neighbor's yard and bring it to my bird bath to wash and soften it so they can eat it. I have to clean the bird bath out every day because the water gets so soupie from so much dog food. I even saw one yesterday bring a green grasshopper and wash it before eating it. I have not noticed the male doing this. I just wondered if that was unusual behavior for that bird.

Grackles are very resourceful at finding food on the ground, in trees, and in water. They have been known to take hardened pieces of bread, place them in water, and then consume them after they have softened. They take advantage of whatever food sources they can find. Grackles will also find food by following plows for invertebrates and mice, wading into water to catch small fish, capturing flying insects in the air, following American Robins in order to steal worms, and picking through garbage.