The birds.
Had he lived long enough, Alfred Hitchcock would have seen the world he prophesied on film -- an avian-ridden Bay Area, covered in birds -- coming to life, as a surge in the crow population sweeps through the region, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Crows are colonizing cities and suburbs in ever-increasing numbers, drawn by the preponderance of trash and other ways in which humans subsidize the ink-black, cawing creatures, the newspaper reported.
At a recent count this Christmas, bird-watchers tallied 1,662 crows -- up from 136 in 1981.
The Bay Area is good for crows because of a lack of natural predators, a mild climate, and abundant food and nesting sites provided by human homes, shops, and creations ranging from barns to freeway underpasses.
Here in the Bay Area, marshland and scrub tree areas -- not good for crows -- have given way to suburban sprawl and trees -- good for crows.
Crows are omnivores, feasting on nuts and berries as well as roadkill, insects and discarded people food.
They can live up to 24 years in the wild.
