U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services biologists were back in town this week to take another count of Auburn's crows.

Director Richard Chipman said about 800 birds were spotted in downtown areas and 28,000 were counted city-wide.

"They're still moving around quite a bit," Chipman said.

Last week, biologists counted 26,700 crows throughout the city, the majority in residential areas. Chipman said large numbers of crows have been moving east along the Owasco Outlet and west along Clark Street, using the trees in these areas as nighttime roosting spots.

"The crows have not settled down, and they're not going to for a while," Chipman said.

Biologists will return to Auburn next week to conduct another census. After that, Chipman said he anticipates staging one last hazing mission before the roost takes flight in March. The non-lethal harassment methods (pyrotechnics, lasers and distress calls) will be employed for about two or three days, Chipman said.

He believes it's still too early to place final judgment on his crews' efforts, which began on Jan. 10. The count currently stands at close to a 58-percent reduction from the original 63,800 crows. And although this is the largest and most difficult roost the USDA has ever managed, Chipman said he'd like to get it down to 10,000, which would represent an 84-percent drop.

Chipman is also eager to see how this weekend's crow shoot affects USDA efforts. He believes if a number of birds from a flock are killed, the remaining birds would be easily spooked, and thus easier to move out of the city. Last year's crow hunt bagged over 1,000 birds.

"It's all speculative," he said. "But I don't think the hunt will hurt what we have done."

Staff writer Benning W. De La Mater can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or ben.delamater@lee.net