Crows roost communally at night in the dark months, for safety in numbers, and because they are social creatures.
Young crows don't have a guidebook for how to navigate a human's balcony, let alone the same kind of concern for your furnishings or ornaments that you might have. Add that to a disorienting and probably painful landing when learning how to fly and you get frantic and confused behavior.
Crows are not as loud as humans with their cars, motorcycles, leaf blowers, lawn mowers, sirens, horns, jackhammers, loudspeakers, etc, etc, etc, but they and many other animals do have to be much louder to communicate over the din we create.
Pretty shot. I love their murmurations when they come in to roost.
Their behavior does seem to change throughout the season, and I like to see these changing patterns. A young one will not have the same navigation abilities as a fully mature individual. It has to learn. The one on the balcony hopped from spot to spot (knocking everything in the way) until finally it reached the railing and spreading its wings, it dove skillfully towards the bushes, where it began to call out again. I live in the middle of the city with a lot noise, and its cawing was right up there in terms of loudness when it was on the balcony. This is probably useful in a noisy environment like downtown where they need to be heard distinctly across distances. Fascinating birds!
Aren't they?
What part of the PNW are you in? I feel I may have asked you before, forgive me if I'm repetitive. I'm in Portland.
Portland, our sister city and infamous soccer rivals. I have my UFO parked up north in Vancouver. :)