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Rather, the crows are back in town and it will be volunteers from the Lancaster Crow Coalition shooing them away with bangers and screamers.
As in last fall's successful campaign, coalition members will be unleashing their pyrotechnics and unrolling the unwelcome mat from atop the city's Prince Street Garage and Lancaster Newspapers' Central Parking Garage.
"We'll be starting to make some noise in the city," said Laurie Ulrich Fuller, who founded the coalition in 2006 as a nonlethal way to keep crows from becoming a nuisance in the city and suburbs.
The idea — and it's worked beautifully the last couple years — is to drive away crows as they migrate into the city and suburbs from Canada and New England for winter roosts.
Migrating crows are just beginning to show up and scout for roosts, Fuller said. Most years, 20,000 to 30,000 crows arrive here, though last year's visitors numbered only about 12,000.
High numbers are here by Thanksgiving. The migration population peaks around New Year's, then starts to dissipate and usually is gone by March.
Last year, the noise-making from atop parking garages broke large flocks of crows into smaller groups that dispersed north of the city and did not cause major complaints from the suburbs, Fuller said.
A few groups set up temporarily in parts of Manheim Township, but officials there harassed them for a couple weeks and they departed, she said.
"I think we've got a system in place that works, and I think it's kind of become a non-issue," Fuller said. "It's been economical, effective and humane. It's a win, win, win."
Coalition volunteers act as eyes for the campaign, looking for flocks. The public is urged to report large flocks of crows settling in a particular spot by calling the Crow Coalition hotline at 413-2545.
"When you see tiny groups of crows in your trees, those are the non-migratory crows and have been here all along," said Fuller, who lives on North Shippen Street. "If you have hundreds of crows, give us a call."
For more information about the campaign, and research on crows in Lancaster County and elsewhere, go online to www.lancastercrows.org.
Last year, in addition to noisemakers, the coalition hung fake dead crows, called effigies, in some neighborhoods to scare away flocks. The cemetery at St. James Episcopal Church at East Orange and North Duke streets was one location.
"We don't want anyone to put up effigies on their own," Fuller said. "If there are too many effigies, the crows will eventually figure it out."
The current noisemaking about to start in the city should be brief, Fuller said. "We will do noisemaking until we don't see them coming into the city at dusk anymore. Last year, it only took a couple weeks. We're looking for it to be quickly effective."
City police and the James Street Improvement District have been notified of the twilight disturbance.
The coalition was formed after a campaign in 2005 in which a federal agency used dog kibble laced with poison to kill crows.
The city, East Hempfield Township, East Petersburg Borough and Manheim Township officials signed on and provided funding for equipment for the new grassroots coalition. The League of Humane Voters also is involved in the coalition.
The coalition still uses equipment purchased then and the campaign does not cost any of the municipalities money, Fuller said.
