”In the best times, almost 300,000 rooks flew to Wroclaw for wintertime. Now this number is, unfortunately, on the decrease - maximum 80,000," says Professor Zbigniew Jakubiec, an ornithologist from Wroclaw.
They're already croaking
The first rooks appear in Wroclaw as early as the beginning of September. They fly here from the north-east, approximately from the Moscow region, and will be followed by others. In October, their atmospheric croaking sends shivers down the spine of many persons in parks, squares and big cemeteries. The fear and lack of sympathy for these winged "wise guys” may be caused primarily by superstition. In old folk legends, a rook or a raven were perceived as ominous animals. They fed on carrion, so they were treated like Satan's servants. Today nobody believes in the hellish powers of these animals any longer, but the lack of sympathy remained. “What are the other reasons why we don’t like them? Well, they make much noise. But they aren't louder than cars, TVs and all that modern noise,” says Professor Jakubiec. “I would advise everybody to develop at least a bit of sympathy for rooks. We owe them a lot.”
Natural cleaners
Like all other birds from the crow family, rooks seek food mainly on rubbish dumps, including wild and illegal dumps. The birds that do not fly to fields in the area of Wroclaw during the day explore dumping grounds and waste bins, from which they eat remnants of food. This results not only in the cleaner environment, but also in the decreasing number of rats, which have often visited these places before. “We must consider whether we prefer the company of clean and nice rooks, or the company of rats, which cause much damage,” adds Professor Jakubiec. “The answer seems simple. Rooks play also a fundamental role in maintaining the balance of other species of birds. Not only rooks, but also crows, magpies or jackdaws do not allow species of pigeons or sparrows to grow excessively.
The number of feeding grounds is decreasing
Thus, as a result of the decrease in the population of rooks, there may be more rats and pigeons in cities, including Wroclaw. This also means that cities will be much dirtier. The main reason for the decreasing number of birds from the crow family is the change of farming methods. The number of meadows, which are natural feeding grounds for these birds, decreases, as farmers turn them into farmland, and cattle is kept and bred in closed stables. Deprived of their natural feeding grounds, rooks leave our land for ever.
Crows and nuts
Still, according to ornithologists, there are many things that we could learn from birds from the crow family. One of them is fidelity - these birds form pairs for a lifetime. Apart from that, they often give us a good lesson of shrewdness and resourcefulness. If they find delicacies that they cannot get to, such as nuts or mussels, they quickly find a solution. For example, they will throw them from a height onto a pavement or under the wheels of moving cars. They also learned to make use of tramway tracks. They put nuts on rails and wait until an arriving tram crushes them so that they could easily peck up their favourite food.
Professor Jakubiec encourages inhabitants of Wroclaw to take a liking to rooks. "They may croak and make much noise, but it's worth observing them. That can be more interesting than many films,” says the professor.
Beata Jackowska, photo: Wikipedia
