AUBURN - Cindy Ryan's grandchildren were so upset knowing that birds were going to die during this weekend's controversial crow hunt they cried.

Her grandson Joey, 11, didn't understand why hunters would want to kill crows just because leave their droppings all over the city and are noisy.

She used her grandson's concerns to produce her sign which she carried during a protest against the crow hunt to Memorial City Hall Sunday.

The sign, in black and orange magic marker, read, "I'm annoying and messy Please Don't Shoot Me."

She and her five grandchildren were among 60 people who want the shooting of Auburn's crows to stop.

They marched and carried signs from a Genesee Street church to City Hall, where many of them stood on the steps of the South Street landmark.

"We don't appreciate the killing for no reason," Ryan said.

It was the second consecutive year that crow supporter Rita Sarnicola has organized a march for crows.

In the past year, pro-crow supporters have accumulated more than 600 names on a petition that calls for a state law banning such hunting contests.

They may get their way if a bill being reintroduced Tuesday by assemblywoman, Deborah J. Glick, D-Greenwich Village is passed.

"We're going to keep doing what we're doing," Sarnicola said about the crow supporters' efforts.

The same group also hopes to organize a crow festival this summer that would embrace the crow population..

Before the march, they met at the SS. Peter and Paul Church on Genesee Street to set up a strategy to their demonstration.

They sold bags of bird seed for $2 and asked for donations for crow magnets.

Once they got to City Hall, they stood quietly on the steps as some motorists beeped their horns in support.

One man in a white pickup truck rolled down his window and yelled, "Kill them all."

A demonstrator remarked she hoped the man meant the crows, not the protesters.

The other homemade signs included such humorous slogans as "A murder of crow," "Only Bird-brains Shoot Crows" and "Auburn Home of Real Crow Magnum Men." They also chanted the slogan, "Big crow, little crow. Tell those hunters where they can go."

Every so often, a city police car drove by to make sure the protest remained peaceful. Police didn't want to see a repeat of Saturday when someone spray-painted the word, "killers" on the front wall of City Hall.

It was gone by Sunday's demonstration.

The hour-long demonstration ended without incident. But a group from the Syracuse Animal Rights Organization from Syracuse University marched to Spinouts Tavern, the Orchard Street headquarters of the crow hunt, where they stood outside.

"It's unnecessary," said Syracuse University student Justin Pellingra about killing an animal and not using it for food. "It's just a way to get their aggressions out."