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After being away for about five years, I recently moved back to Wallingford—Tangletown, this time, instead of lower Wallingford. Almost immediately, I noticed something peculiar on my walks with our dog: everywhere I looked, lawns were torn up. I’m sure you’ve seen it, too. Tufts of grass uprooted and tossed aside, exposing the dirt underneath. On one neighbor’s lawn, it was pulled up in long mats, as if someone had rolled up turf.

After just a week, I spotted crows at work, hopping and digging in a threesome, so I had the culprit, but I was still puzzled: how come I’ve never seen this before? Is it a behavior unique to Tangletown crows, or is it a new phenomenon, spreading across crows everywhere?

Thanks to Gary Shigenaka for pointing me towards the answer, helpfully provided by KING 5 News: Here’s The Reason Crows Are Tearing Up Washington Lawns.

Saving you the trouble of watching the story, I’ll tell you what I learned: the crows are digging up the grubs of European chafer beetles, an invasive species that arrived on the East Coast in the 1940s, but only started making it to Western Washington and Seattle within the past ten years.

As for the big mats of lawn rolled up (that seemed like it would take a bit more brawn than even a murder of crows could bring to bear), it was likely the work of raccoons, who, along with skunks, also enjoy the taste of grub.

Although it seems lousy for the lawn, it’s actually good for the Wallingford ecosystem in the long term, since the crows are getting rid of this beetle that, if left to its own devices, would end up munching on our grass and trees.

The KING 5 story quotes gardening expert Ciscoe Morris on what to do if your lawn has been turned over: aerate the grass and then rake grass seeds into the holes, ideally a 50/50 mix of fescue and perennial rye. Then, in July, “buy a container of nematodes. These beneficial worms will kill the invasive beetles in time for the fall.”

Mystery solved.