Chicago Tribune | By Joan Cary, Special to the Tribune | January 26, 2013

In this Vermilion County town known for having what just might be North America’s largest winter crow roost, there are half the number of black birds there were a year ago.

That said, when the tallying was done at the annual Middlefork River Valley Christmas Bird Count on Jan. 1, the crows still outnumbered the humans nearly 4-to-1.

This season, more than 100,000 crows have roosted here at night, in the trees and on the rooftops, eaves, awnings, fence posts, parking garage, traffic lights and telephone wires. And folks in this town 35 miles east of Champaign don’t like to — what’s the word? — crow about it.

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