Crows attack Berlin residents

Berliners have been warned to beware of attacking crows after cyclists, pedestrians, market stalls and even babies in prams have all fallen victim to the marauding birds.

By Allan Hall in Berlin
Published: 1:29PM BST 28 May 2010

Scenes reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" have prompted police to post warning notices around the city at blackspots.

"Attacks happen during breeding season, and crows have a natural instinct to protect their nests and young and to keep people at distance," Anja Sorges, the head of the Berlin office of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union told Germany's Spiegel magazine.

Sometimes the crows have drawn blood. On Wednesday a cyclist pedalling past the archives of the old Stasi secret police in East Berlin was dislodged from the saddle by the feathered attackers, which then continued to peck at him ferociously on the ground.

He needed medical attention. "Their beaks aren't so small," he said.

Near the city's Reichstag parliament building, a crow pecked at the back of man's head as he walked along a pathway.

But there is an end in sight: experts say the attacks will peter out and then finish altogether in a matter of weeks when the crow chicks are ready to flee the nest.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/7777096/Crows-attack-Berlin-residents.html