Life is imitating art in a most unpleasant manner, as thousands of crows have descended on a Pennsylvania college town, holding students and residents captive with their piercing nocturnal cries.

Residents of Calfornia, Pa., are at their wits' end due the noise and the mess the birds have created.

At 7 in the morning, it's louder than my alarm, Jess Priest told WPXI Channel11.

They just take off from every direction, they're just all over the place, Dave Mason, who works at the American Legion Post, told CBS Pittsburgh. Their feces goes all over you, all over your vehicles and it's been interfering with business because people don't want to come here for that reason.

A CBS Pittsburgh reporter on the scene said it sounded like it was raining, but it wasn't raindrops we were hearing falling.

It was the thousands of birds flapping their wings.

According to experts cited by WXPI, crows will roost in cities to help stay warm in winter.

The crows have been a big problem at California University of Pennsylvania, where laser lights and fake fog have been used to discourage the crows from roosting. One student fashioned a scarecrow, hoping it would keep the birds away but it didn't work.

The scene demands a comparison to Alfred Hitchock's 1963 thriller The Birds, though fortunately for these residents, there have been no reports of crows attacking humans.

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