History of the Portland Roost

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Early Sightings

Authorities at The Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Audubon Society of Portland) have stated that they have had reports of crows for the past decade.  The earliest media stories about the roost found are from January 2013. Those reports noted “hundreds of crows have taken up residence” near SW 5th and Salmon and quoted observers saying that they had “never seen anything like it.” Since that time there has been much local media coverage documenting the winter roosting crows.

Today’s Roost

Our observations since winter 2017 have documented as many as 22,370 roosting crows at peak. Between October and February, typical counts documented well over 10,000, with roosting crows distributed on up to 70 blocks in an area encompassing over 400 square blocks of downtown Portland, Oregon.

Roost Patterns

The crows begin to arrive in the city before sunset and fly in from all directions in groups ranging from a handful to flights of many dozen birds. Pre-roosting is a raucous time when crows gather, vocalize, allopreen, and engage in impressive flight displays. However, by the time darkness overtakes the city, the crows have settled into hundreds of trees, become silent and rest until just before dawn. Before sunrise, the roost wakes, crows call to one another across the city and then they depart for the day to forage. Crows may travel many miles daily to find food before returning to the roost for another night. This daily migration continues from October through March until the crows return to their breeding territories for the summer.

The Hazing of the Roost

Although the roost becomes silent and stationary after dark, some businesses, residents, and visitors to the city are put off by the presence of the birds. The perceived “problem” boils down to this: poop. Up until 2016, the city’s approach was to clean the sidewalks and other areas as needed to remove the droppings that were not naturally washed away by the Pacific Northwest’s persistent precipitation. However, in 2017 Clean & Safe contracted with Integrated Avian Solutions and hired falconers to haze the crows with hawks in an effort to relocate crows from the most impactful locations.

As Cool As Swifts

For years the citizens of Portland have taken steps to protect and study what the Bird Alliance of Oregon calls “the largest known roost of migrating Vaux’s Swifts in the world!” Our vision is to foster an environment of co-existence and wonder in our city, to protect and treat the natural phenomenon of our urban crow roost with the same sense of respect, curiosity and awe as our swifts. Portland has become known around the world as the quirky place of microbrews, bicyclists and a place where people love their birds.  We invite you to live the "Put A Bird On It" ethos and support your local corvids.