I have never seen any foraging flocks in my area, but now I am definitely going to be on the lookout for them. In the meantime, I must say that I was fascinated by the network analysis - I am surprised by what complex relationships crows have with one another.

1. I have seen flocks of 100+ foraging on grass fields at the back of the farm this fall, outside Orangeville, Ontario, Canada.
2. Canada Geese and Starlings both also form large flocks of 100+ birds during the fall in this area.

Yes, here in Chicago, along the lakefront, on Northerly Island we saw a huge gathering of crows who were foraging as a flock in the tall grasses and wild flowers that flourished in early October, 2020. Usually we see them in family groupings and the sight of them chatting, playing, and foraging was a delight.

I haven't observed any foraging crow flocks in our area of Western NY but have observed large flocks of other birds in the last few weeks. Starlings? Sparrows?

We live along a large creek that empties into Lake Ontario so some geese are present year around but large groups are very active spring and fall.

Bonnie

I haven't sen foraging flocks in my area. I do see other birds in flocks. like starlings, and Canada geese. Others, too, but I haven't identified them.

1.  I have not noticed a group of crows larger than about seven in my yard at one time.  I believe this to be a family, the same family that has been living behind my house for a number of years now.

2.  Yes, once a large flock of redwing black birds landed at my feeders.  I believe they were migrating.  There must have been about 40 birds in the flock.

1. Rarely--but just this morning I saw a group of ~25 cawing and agitating in the trees bordering the street on which we live. 2. Our largest flocks are common grackles--we've had more than 100 at a time swarm our backyard, often with 10-20 red-winged blackbirds and starlings and a few cowbirds mixed in.

I used to work on the tree crew for the city (Lanc. Pa).  People would call and complain about the crows roosting in a nearby tree and covering their car(s) in "waste".  It really can be pretty bad.  Anyway, we would have to hang a fake crow (upside down) in the offending tree.  This actually worked.  They would move to another area.  Am loving this course,

thanks,  Ticia

1. yes, in cornfields I have seen foraging flocks. . I will pay more attention next time to the number of crows I see.It is  definitely after harvest because the cornfields are plucked clean.

2. The other flocks I've seen are Grackles and Cranes.

I have a wonderful flock of bushtits that visits my birdbath periodically.  I have seen up to 15 at one time in the birdbath plus more hopping around in the bushes next to the birdbath.  Those are hard to count because I mostly see the leaves shaking as they hop from branch to branch.  They are a little larger than ping pong balls so even though there are many in number the overall flock size is pretty small.

I have seen an incredibly large congregation three years in a row from my office in SF.   Several hundred birds gather at dusk at the old SF post office on Mission street in December for several days.   They appear to all have their place to land in some kind of pecking order on the building and in the trees.   Needless to say, the morning after the sidewalk is quite messy :)

In Montauk, we have black and grey seagulls, they congregate (usually about 40 or 50 at a time) on a certain area in the beach and sit facing the sun.     If one moves...they all move.

I have also seen a swarm of barn swallows come in to check out our feeder in Montauk.

And as many as 15 to 20 grackles in one group.

We usually see a flock of robins in the spring who spend about one week with us and move on.  This summer we have had killdeers nesting in the yard of our farm home which is in the middle of two wheat fields and back by grassed area.  A group of Barn Swallows have nested at least twice on the house this summer.  Have also had two hatchings of Eastern Bluebirds in yard.

We have seen flocks of 6 to 12 in late spring and last of September for several years.  They play around in our yard and in the wheat fields that are planted to wheat.  They seem to be making a twice a year visit.

I have missed the foraging flocks - I have seen just one this summer, on a lawn near an ocean beach. I am happy to learn that I may expect and upswing quite soon with fall - in fact, this explains why I associate the sound of many crows WITH autumn!

1. Yes, only really in the fall and spring, I don't really know why. The size of the flocks are probably over 850 individuals.

I live in the Northwest of NJ in a rural area surrounded by farms. I have a family of crows that live somewhere around my house (I think there are 7 currently and for the last two years), but see flocks foraging in the nearby farm fields. They are usually more noticeable in large numbers in the fall and winter. These flocks can be anywhere from 30 - 100+.

Interestingly there are never any large flocks in the corn field that backs up to my house... I guess, from what I'm learning here, that's because 'my' family of crows is territorial and keeps them away...?

1. I have not seen large flocks of foraging crows, only families I guess. There are only 3-4 in my area right now.

2. I see a large flock of Canada geese at my closest large park. In the past, in an urban area, I used to see flocks of starlings, pigeons and during certain times of the year, grackles with a few red winged blackbirds mixed in.

I have noticed foraging flocks in my area. My family aggressively protects their territory consisting of 50+ acres. There are two other family groups near by. They all seem to forage down the road in a very large open field (100+ acres). This behavior is consistent throughout the year with the addition of the Crows tricking the other birds about the location of their true nest during breeding season. I see migrating Crows in November. I am assuming they go as far as Massachusetts for the winter and that they come from Canada. They never stop in our area just go overhead in a large flock.

In the 1980s, I used to sit on my porch near dusk and watch crows pass over head heading back home.  It was a fairly constant flow considering that I live in Southern CA.  Over the decades I noticed that there were fewer and fewer instances of seeing/hearing "streams" of crows at night or morning for that matter.  Just recently (over the last 5 years), I have once again noticed crows heading west toward the evening.  Just a couple of days ago, around 4 pm, there was a nice flow of crows heading west.  What happened to the populations from the 1980s and why are crows now making a comeback even with urban sprawl?

I used to wonder and still do wonder where there home might be...

I have seen pigeons, going from one house to the other. Crossing/Flying over the streets. Always the same two houses, for months/years.

I have seen some crows' nests, in the center/top, of trees.

I have never seen a huge roost/flock of crows. Always 10-15 max.

I haven't seen a large foraging flock, however recently (September) on the edge of Lake Ontario there was a roost of about 20 crows resting in some trees overlooking the lake to one side and a field of goldenrod/marsh to the other. It was late afternoon and the weather was quite solemn but beautifully peaceful. They were totally silent and resting.

As for other birds in large flocks - murmurations of starlings or foraging on lawns, ring billed gulls, Canada geese, and a flock of 12 vultures flew over my neighbourhood late summer.

1.  I haven't noticed any foraging flocks too much where I live, but close to the nearby city of Watertown, NY, I have observed large forager groups on the outskirts of the city during the day in fall/winter, mostly near cleared off farm fields.  The last several winters the city has hired a company to then come and break up large groups of crows that then return to the city at night.  I can observe this behavior when I am driving mostly, and you can actually see the crows heading back into the city when night comes.

2.  I have seen other groups of blackbirds do the same in late summer/fall, such as starlings, both in town and out in the fields.  In spring large blackbird groups can be observed with some of the returning species, like grackles and red-winged blackbirds together in the same group.  Now that's a noisy congregation!

#1  I worked with a specific family of crows along north Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.  "My" crows recognized a few calls and would respond to me.  However, in the spring and fall I would notice larger gatherings of crows up and down the lakeshore.  When I would give out the calls my family recognized, inevitably one or two or more crows would respond, and usually come to see what I was doing.  This behavior would lead others in the larger flock to also become curious and approach me.

This indication of detailed communications between different families was amazing to me.

Yeah, in the evening they steam south past my house to their special spot down by the water. There is a wetlands by where they hang out in the evening, but there is also a four lane road. Lots of trees. Tall trees. The flock is huge -- a couple of hundred.   Mostly see this in the fall but maybe that is just cause I am outside and notice.

Here in the northwest we have snow geese that flock and swans (trumpeter?).

I live in Beaverton, Oregon. My crow family visits my back yard every day for scraps and I have observed them for about 6 years.  This summer, there was mom, dad and 3 youngsters begging for food. At times I have seen approximately 10-15 individuals waiting for handouts.

I take out breakfast for them every morning and sometimes in the evening. One particular crow sits on my fence, patiently waiting.  This crow will make a "clicking" sound at me, in an attempt to communicate.  I have seen the youngsters sitting together on the grass observing their parents searching for grubs.

There are large flocks of crows occupying trees in downtown Portland that are quite amazing to see during the evening.