• Just yesterday (early February) I observed a foraging flock of at least 200 crows in a cornfield. Quite a sight!
    • Rachel
      Participant
      Chirps: 9
      We have crows foraging flocks in winter in neighborhoods near our house and in trees in a nearby cemetery.
    • sandra
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      I have seen a group of 25 plus mobbing a golden eagle near my house.  Usually have 6 in neighborhood so they called in reinforcements
    • Rikki Rachel
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I love seeing the giant crow roost gather in winter and move en masse somewhere new. So cool, blanketing the sky!
    • Elaine
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      There are flocks of about 10 white-crowned sparrows in the backyard foraging for seeds. I live in an urban area. There is a maple tree, two orange trees, and various bushes. Last week I went birding at the Kern National Wildlife Refuge. The largest flock we saw consisted of 10,000 blackbirds (species). It was a flyover and quite impressive to observe.
    • Elle
      Participant
      Chirps: 6
      I have not seen a large foraging flock of crows, however I have definitely seen other birds form large flocks, most commonly starlings or grackles.
    • Lisa
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      We have not seen foraging flocks in our immediate area but will be on the lookout for them this winter. Grackles and blackbirds form large flocks in the spring and fall in our previous Midwest neighborhood.  They never stayed for long though...
    • Daphne
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      I have occasionally seen very large flocks of crows foraging in fields. As I'm on our provincial e-list for reporting bird sightings, it's not uncommon (in our rural province) to read other reports of large gatherings. Also, in our capital city (pop. 36,000), its biggest park is famous for the annual evening mass roosting of crows.
    • Jeanne
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      Yes, I have noticed foraging flocks of crows in my area, usually in the summer months.  The crows sit in the branches of one particular huge banyan tree.  The flock numbers around 200 + crows.  In the winter time the crows relocate and sit on the heavy electrical wires close to the local Walmart Store.  I haven't seen any other birds forming large flocks in my area.
    • Annabeth
      Participant
      Chirps: 107
      I have seen a large flock of crows go over my house. It was about 60 individuals.
    • Candace
      Participant
      Chirps: 4
      After living here in Naperville, Illinois for five years, one evening near dusk a huge flock of swallows flew over and around our house and trees.  It was a beautiful sight to behold!
      • Jen
        Participant
        Chirps: 18
        Oh, I long to see that! I have only seen swallows a few at a time, hunting over fields or the surface of a lake...
    • Alanna
      Participant
      Chirps: 15
      1. Last Summer at times I would see 5 crows in my yard high up in the trees and I live near farmland and open prairies.  I know now that it is a family and one of them would keep watch at times as the other crows were forging on the ground finding food. That is also the time too that the young have left the nest and are with their parents.
    • G
      Participant
      Chirps: 6
      I've seen many flocks of pigeons in the city. In the country, I often see flocks of starlings, and every now and again I'll see a flock of goldfinches.
    • Nadine
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I have a family that visits my feeders several times per day. They don't sound an alarm when they see my cat only when the neighborhood bully cat shows up, then I come out and chase him away. We're a team. We have huge flocks here in Santa Cruz around the end of Oct - Dec. I've seen them feeding/foraging on large lawn areas in a residential area, and many of them have gathered on the telephone lines by my house and fly back and forth to some redwoods in a park 1/2 block away. There are lots of complaints online (Nextdoor) about the racket they make, but I love it. I've taken videos of them.
    • Samantha
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      A family of five live in my neighborhood and forage at our feeders. Sometimes  up to 10 or 15 crows gather in the neighborhood. In the winter, I have seen large flocks in trees around parking lots.
    • Marla
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      We are  in the middle of a family's breeding territory, so we only see that family during breeding months. They leave around Aug/September before the bad hurricanes come, but one or two will check on this territory about once a week, in general. We see the larger flocks only overhead, flying south or north. They don't land here for foraging or roosting. I guess we're a "flyover" island, ha!  We do get huge flocks of Lesser Scaups here on the Banana River, though, in the late winter/early spring. There can be many hundreds of scaups in these flocks.
    • Autumn
      Participant
      Chirps: 4
      1. Many. In fall, they'll congregate in the large courtyard of the college. The courtyard is empty of all trees, except one black cottonwood near the center, next to a couple playground area. Before the kids arrive, they'll cover the playground. 15 of them. Then a few scattered across the green field in small groups of 2-4. I'll see maybe 20 birds easily in those small groups along the grounds that aren't in trees. The area is lined with various other trees and plants (cottonwood, spruce, vegetation breaking down from the summer), that are not being taken into account. During the winter, though.. I lived in a house where the property was lined with spruce trees. A commercial dumpster (for the church next door) was right next to the property... Sometimes people forgot to close the lid..... and, my roommate would feed left over vegetable scraps to the local rabbits outside.. anyways.. There would be 30-50 crows, on the rail of the stairs, covering the steps, covering the snow cover ground (pecking away near the spruce roots), all the way to the dumpster... and finding all sorts of trouble in there. 2. Yes. Black capped chickadees were fond of those trees. I'd see easily 12 of them torpedoing through the sky. Not 50.. Maybe 20.. Tree swallows, too, I've seen those in pretty large flocks. They *cover* Valdez in the early summer. I've seen plenty of flocks of ducks and geese, most recently (two weeks ago) I counted a flock of 70 mallards in the Port of Valdez.. not sure if this is asking for consideration to water fowl... but it was real neat..
    • Rayann
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      I have a family that resides with us here on our farm in a deep hollow.  In the last fall or early winter, I sometimes see as many as a dozen birds, but generally no more than that in my location. We generally do not see starlings here in the very rural area where we are (Northern Middle Tennessee), but early this fall, a flock of literally hundreds flew in, apparently intending to stay the night.  They drank from the creek, foraged for a short time on the ground, and then flew across a narrow pasture to roost in the woods on the other side while my husband and I watched from our porch, mesmerized.  We saw and heard just two of our resident crows a little higher up on the wooded hillside, clearly speaking to one another from their various positions.  It did not sound like warning or alarm calls, but we got the impression that they were unhappy about the starling invasion.  Within about 10 minutes, those TWO crows began flying into the trees where the multitudes of crows were roosting, and had them completely cleared out in no time, HUNDREDS of them!  The starlings just began to calmly fly up and away until there were literally none left in our small hollow.  It was truly fascinating to watch.
    • BETTE
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I have seen flocks of crows but not recently.  In fact, we have seen less crows last year and this year. I miss seeing them.  I think they are very entertaining and beautiful in their own special way.  They definitely have personality.
    • Ellen
      Participant
      Chirps: 10
      1. No, not in my local area. 2. Yes, ducks(Redheads, Northern Pintail), Snow Geese, Tundra Swans, grackles, blackbirds. This has largely been at the coast (the North Carolina Outer Banks) in the winter.
    • I have seen crow families in groups of up to about 15 individuals, but I can't recall a specific instance where I've seen more (at least not on a birding trip, but I'll bet at some point I have whether I realized it or not). Other birds I've seen form large flocks include Canada Geese, Common Grackle, Brown-Headed Cowbirds, and several duck species such as Mallards, American Black Ducks, and in a few instances by the seacoast, Harlequin Ducks and Long-Tailed Ducks. As far as "neighborhood birds" I've seen American Robins and Dark-Eyed Juncos forage in large groups as well.
    • Amy
      Participant
      Chirps: 7
      In the summer, we have a flock of 6 or 7 crows that hops up and down our street to forage for bugs. We live in the woods near the seacoast of NH, and we have grackles, cardinals, juncos, blackbirds, and turkeys that will often flock in our yard and street.
    • Danford
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      We live in NE Wisconsin near the Bay of Green Bay and just below the Niagara escarpment. While I haven’t seen flocks near us I do see 1 to 4 crows soaring high above the escarpment on what I assume is an updraft. It looks pleasantly lazy as they float back and forth, seemingly, without effort. They have come near to our back yard on occasion but stay in the wooded area away from the yard. Crows are three season visitors for us; none in winter.
    • nina
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      I see and hear flocks of crows in our North Berkeley Hills neighborhoods, quite active in early morning and later in the day.  Seems like a fairly recent phenomenon, as in last 10 years developing.  I notice fewer Stellar Jays, Scrub Jays coming 'round in  our redwood tree areas.  Lots of Juncos and the California Towhees, a few Oak Titmouse. This is mid-hills area, residential with lots of redwoods and oaks.  Just up the hill near Tilden Regional Park are a much more diverse population of birds, including more of the migratory ones ( various sparrows, Spotted Towhee...)  Canada Geese stay year-round in the lagoon areas, the broad athletic fields of the schools.
    • alice
      Participant
      Chirps: 14
      1. In NW New Jersey there is quite a large group of crows at a nearby strip mall with a large dumpster next to a mcdonalds which also just so happens not to be the best at maintaining the garbage bins there.  I have been to this McDonalds (dont judge me please!!!) and have often sat at the parking lot as my kids enjoy their meals... the crows there are purely on a mission.  They organize - those up on the light post and those down near the trash sorting for good stuff.   All of these times i haven’t seen them competing for food against other birds.   Again, they seem so organized. 2.  I have seen other larger flocks of birds - mostly mallards, geese and swans and other waterfowl on the lake our summer house is on.  In NYC there tend to be the occasional flock of European starlings (if you can call them that - but there are several of them - so maybe you can) which most act like crows in my opinion.   Also in Central Park there appear to be seasonal flocks of Robins that seem to forage the newly defrosted fields for insects.  Grackles seem to be in large collaborative flocks - both in NY and NJ. My yard seems to have an annual ‘flock’ of sparrows who seem to grow up together - they are quite funny and watching the teenagers find their legs mid-summer is often amusing - but the crows by far are the most organized and collaborative...