Crow group settling into the roost on lower branches!
Conditions: mostly cloudy, wind S at 8MPH, temp 35F; sunset time 4:20PM
Out on Crow Patrol with Will and with many locals stopping by during our outing. Initial stop along South Canal Street. Most of the staging activity was to our WSW with Crows staging on rooftops, utility wires and poles, and on the ground around the west side of Parker Street. This image below, looking south, taken at sunset time.
We observed lots of Crows streaming into the final staging area, with many repeated buildups and flight liftoffs from the rooftops of the B&D complex. This image below, is looking west at the glorious sunset sky colors, captured at sunset time.
At 35 minutes after sunset time, we shifted our vantage point over the the Duck Bridge. The Crows landed and departed many times from the extended B&D rooftop area. They remained on and around the B&D roof area much longer than normal before starting to drift off in flight to the overnight roost area. Just before heading over to the Duck Bridge, caught a nice look at a number of Crows lined up on the east edge of the B&D roof. The image below was captured about 32 minutes after sunset time.
We observed large numbers of Crows converging into the roost from the west and also streaming in from the east and down river. Again, the vocalizations were loud and intense and then subsided about one hour after sunset time. This image below, from the Duck Bridge, looking down the line of trees that make up the overnight roost, shows the Crows well settled in about 60 minutes after sunset time. Again, a remarkable spectacle of a nature!
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Photo gear used for this outing:
Canon EOS 80D with Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon EOS 80D with Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (Infrared)
Canon 1DX MK II with Canon EF Telephoto Zoom 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
ATN BinoX 4K 4-16x Day and Night Smart HD Binoculars with photo/video
SiOnyx Aurora Pro Digital Color Night Vision Optics
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Blog post and photos by Craig Gibson, 2020 Crow Patrol, Lawrence, MA
Love this stuff. I am going to the roost tomorrow and am excited to see the spectacle. I’m going to make an effort to count the roost. Is there any one viewing spot that is most conducive to administering a point count from? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Miles,
Sorry to have missed your email! How did you make out and what type of numbers did you come up with?
best and thanks,
Craig