[Gym Whourlfeld]

Yesterday.They were walking around in the parking lot next to a gas station at the edge of town here. There were four of them, walking in circles snapping up bits of something they imagined to be actual "Food"?
They were four huge, black Crows! I have never seen any larger than these Crows are!
OR might they be "Ravens!?"
Ravens Grin Inn- my Haunt.

 

[nosefuratyou]

Gym
I love crows and were it legal I would have one for a pet. Hundreds and hundreds fly over my house in the late fall and winter evenings to their roost in the city cemetery. Ravens are found north of me in the Adirondacks but not locally. But there must be a couple strains of crow as there are some really big ones that hang in the backyard sometimes. Half again as big as the norm.
I know what you mean about picking at invisible stuff. They are wicked smart and funny critters.

 

[spookydave]

They get pretty big here in Colorado also, once saw 2 of them take on my neighbors dog(retriever) and the dog lost, mean suckers when
they want to be!

 

[Miss Hallows Eve]

I have a pair of ravens that call my property home and feel very blessed with their presence. They are HUGE too. I love hearing them gronk at each other and doing other callings to communicate. I do leave them peanuts and other food offerings during the fall and winter months on a big tree stump I have on the property and enjoy watching them swoop down gracefully to see what is there. They are amazing birds and will stash treasures in different places for later needs. I could watch them for hours.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

A few years ago on a sunny day i was driving just 6 miles south of town here and saw a very large black bird come up from a ditch next to Rt. 78 , fly over the top of a 1993 Buick LeSabre and it's wing span went passed both sides of the car by maybe 6 inches.
I told a man who was living here then about this because he considered himself an expert on all things in "Nature". He scoffed and said there is no bird that large in the USA.
That's nice to know since I saw it on a beautiful, clear Summer afternoon and the car it flew over was only maybe 30 feet in front of me as I sat at the Stop sign as the Buick pulled out ahead of me.
I guess I was just hallucinating or lying, sorry.-------NOT!
The huge bird flew above the Buick for maybe 30 feet before it changed course and flew away.

 

[nosefuratyou]

A few years ago on a sunny day i was driving just 6 miles south of town here and saw a very large black bird come up from a ditch next to Rt. 78 , fly over the top of a 1993 Buick LeSabre and it's wing span went passed both sides of the car by maybe 6 inches.
I told a man who was living here then about this because he considered himself an expert on all things in "Nature". He scoffed and said there is no bird that large in the USA.
That's nice to know since I saw it on a beautiful, clear Summer afternoon and the car it flew over was only maybe 30 feet in front of me as I sat at the Stop sign as the Buick pulled out ahead of me.
I guess I was just hallucinating or lying, sorry.-------NOT!
The huge bird flew above the Buick for maybe 30 feet before it changed course and flew away.

Don't know about Illinois but there are some big vultures that fly around here. Don't know how wide a 93 Buick is but that's a possibility, Only other I can think of is an eagle but you would see the white head plainly at that distance.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

I live only ten miles from the Mississippi River and only 18 miles from the widest part of that river (3 miles wide) Tall cliffs of the Palisades State park are only 10 miles away from me where Turkey Vultures live. Lock & Dam 13 is a winter gathering place for 100's of Eagles especially when the rest of the river freezes over but the dam keeps that from happening right there.
Yes, all birds have this part of the world as a destination.
28 years ago after I made the Pterodactyl (Life-sized) skeleton and hung it on the outside of my house, large birds seemed to circle often, maybe checking it out?A 23 foot wingspan, 9 feet tall probably got their "Attention"?

 

[AtmosFX_Jen]

Crows are awesome. Beautiful and so smart! I have a ton where I am and I always feel like they're observing or studying me. It's weird, but cool. I've seen some big ones, but it sounds like you may have seen ravens! Those suckers are huge!

 

[ooojen]

I live only ten miles from the Mississippi River and only 18 miles from the widest part of that river (3 miles wide) Tall cliffs of the Palisades State park are only 10 miles away from me...

For a while when I was very little, my Grandparents ran a snack and souvenir stand at the Palisades Park. (They lived in Savanna.) I stepped out of the stand once when I was visiting, and my Grandpa, who was right there, yanked me back in and shut the door. There was a snake reared up on the step landing. As a northern MN kid, I was quite familiar with snakes (no fear) but the idea of there being rattlesnakes didn't even occur to me. Luckily Grandpa knew one when he saw one!
(They had broad-leaf nettles there, too-- another thing we didn't have in the woods at home--- but also Dutchman's Breeches and lots of cool fossils.)

Crows here are quite wary-- probably because they used to be persecuted by farmers. I do believe they have some way to pass along collective memory. They're not shot at any more, but they're still much more skittish here than they are up north where there's less ag land.