Have yet to see crows in my area, but the Pigeon Swarms as I call them are the most amazing thing to see. I think there's only something like 100-150, but it's better than fireworks. An organic fireworks display that shows the beauty of creation. The sound of multiple birds taking flight is also a marvel for me.

Our local Audubon chapter runs a trip to Springfield, MA every February where the crows roost in one of the hospital parking lots (they don't always choose the same one). They seem to like the lights that surround the lots. We go to a couple of the staging areas first, and then on to the roosting spot. The last time I went the estimate was 7000-10,000 birds. It was mind blowing! The trees surrounding the lot looked as though they had suddenly grown leaves, and the noise was deafening.

The bright lights offer protection from predators, and perhaps warmth. There is also lots of trash to pick at in the urban environment.

I love crows and the chance to see so many all at once was pure joy.

I have seen large groups of crows in my area. To be honest, I never paid much attention to the time of year but now I think it is in the winter months. I live in Copper Canyon Texas north of the Dallas area. My property backs up to Army Corp of Engineering property which is part of Lewisville Lake flood plain. There are many trees that could be used for roosting on the Corp property and of course the lake or water is nearby also

In the evenings a large group of Crows (maybe 150-200) will take turns holding a large meeting in one of our 2 acre lots. They begin gathering around 4 or 4:30 and become very vocal. One crow will rise up and Caw loudly and then several others will join in. My Aunt once told me about this behavior and said it reminded her of a large meeting and perhaps they were discussing the day's activities.

Near sunset they all fly off mainly to the Corp property. I have made a note to observe what time of the year it starts because now I realize it is not happening during the summer or breeding time.

 

 

1. In the winter, I have seen many pre-roosts, usually about 20 crows at a time, in different locations in my town. I have mainly seen these pre-roosts in a few nature preserve areas and I think the crows are drawn to them because there is a lot of tree cover, food opportunity, and water access. However, I don't know where their final roost locations are and what draws them there. 2. My main thought when seeing crows roosting together is that it is really cool! You don't get to see that many birds coming together to roost like crows. I also wonder what crows are thinking when they roost and if they have favorite friends to roost with.

When I lived in Saginaw, Michigan, I loved watching the crows flying in from the farm fields in the evening as I drove home from work.  They liked to congregate on Ojibway Island, which is a park area in the city along the Saginaw River.  This small island has many large trees for the crows to roost in.  I saw the largest numbers of crows flying in during the fall and winter.  I would then see them leaving in the morning to head back out to the countryside.  I found them fascinating to watch.  I often thought of it as a crow convention, and thought of them having conversations as they shared details of their day or caught up with friends.   Before sunset, the roost was very active, with much movement and crows calling to each other.

1. I haven't seen any of these large roosting going on.

2.  The Birds of course!  But that doesn't really frighten me.   I would probably slowly approach to see how close I can get!

I have not seen such large roost since moving to Utah but remember them from my time in Iowa and Pennsylvania.  As Kevin mentioned, I made associations with Hitchcock's movie as a reference my mind had stored away.  I never felt threatened, was fascinated and certainly noticed the 'mess' they made.

There is a large roost of crows (in the 1000s) near my home in the Hudson Valley, NY next to a dump.  The crows and seagulls take turns feeding from the dump.  There are many other smaller flocks that also roost and feed there.  TVs also feed from the dump and there are plenty of raptors (eagles, hawks and ospreys).  I originally thought the raptors were hunting the crows but I think they eat from the dump as well.  It is very very noisy and the crows make up most of the noise.  I think there may be ravens as well but I am not sure.

I don't often notice or find crow roosts other than in the cemetery. but when I do see them, my first thought is usually that they seem to be hanging out with friends. some are talking, others are playing and chasing each other described in the video, as a sleepover of sorts. I never knew they pre-roosted together, and that some wouldn't stay for the sleepover. It's really interesting how some are for taking cover, while others sit in the open.

Pictured is a large tree full of a mixed species roost of smaller birds, such as sparrows and bulbuls.  But on another occasion, in a few palm trees nearby, I witnessed a large roost of grey-necked crows.  The environment is a well-lit golf course, and the roosting trees were next door to the terrace of a bar/restaurant, which I believe is a draw as a food source.  It was winter in the UAE, and it can get quite chilly, although only in the low 50's F in this area.  Still, perhaps warmth was also a motivating factor.  Information sharing would also be valuable, since the area is also urban and there are diverse feeding opportunities to discover.  ... I think crows are fascinating to observe, and I've always thought birds were "sharing" somehow when they chirp and vocalize during communal roosts.

My property is a roosting site, especially in the late Fall and early Winter. I have a number of large red spruce trees and the y love congregating in the upper reaches of those very tall, old trees.

2. I’ve never personally seen crows roosting to be a “bad omen” or some kind of sinister action; I don’t get many large. Roosts around where I live, so judging from the few large gatherings I’ve seen, they give the impression of a spectacle of nature.

I have found one roosting area in a city where i work.  There is a large acreage of woodland in the center of a dense urban area. As a shift worker, i find myself parked near the woodland sometimes in the early hours, 4-7am.  I learned that there is much to talk about in the crow community at that hour! The sounds...i am not sure how one crow can hear another above the loud chatter.  But it makes me smile every time. I imagine they are waking up and checking on each other, asking where they will go today ,  the young ones maybe asking to be fed. Which leads me to my second answer: seeing them together and talking and preening and getting set for the day, as a group, makes me love them even more as i find similarities between them and us.

Number 2....First thought comes to mind is R U N, not really. First thing I think of is WOW look at those beauties.

i have never seen crows roost where I live however when i was on vacation in vancuver city i stayed for 2 nights at capilano rv park and in the evening there was at least a few thousand flying over and roosting in nearby trees they were baren trees as well. then in the morning they would all fly back to downtown vancouver. it was really cool cuz for a bit they would block out the sun there were so many

1) While I have not seen crows roosting in our area, I have seen red wing black birds. They usually arrive in mid-December and are gone by mid-Feb. I suspect they have chosen our local cemetery due the trees along the grassland and the creek. They can forage in nearby grassy areas and then easily return to the roost at night. 2) Using the red wings as my example, when I see the groups coming to roost, I am fascinated by how quiet a large group can get when night falls.

We have Crows and Ravens but I haven’t seen large flocks around our home. We have a family of crows that will come when I make a cawing sound. I feed them peanuts and corn. I enjoy watching them.

I shared previously that I experienced crows roosting in large deciduous trees outside my home in Chicago in early spring. It was at least 40 birds that covered the tree tops and it was so unusual that I felt something was wrong with the birds. Now I know that this was a normal behavior. I can only think they may have selected this spot because it was well lit with city street lamps and plenty of food may have been available from nearby garbage cans. Although, I did have bird feeders in my backyard that attracted other species, I never saw crows feeding from these feeders. But I did witness a hawk stalking the smaller birds feeding there.

1.  As mentioned in the last section, we observed a large roosting in our rural area of KY, in winter, with thousands of crows.  Now that I've learned more, I imagine they chose this particular area because of the lighting.  It is near a shopping center and has more lights than most of the rest of the area.

We see them in late fall and winter. We think they are cool  to see and hear them.

I'd have to search for the pictures I took but I saw crows roosting in the woods between my house and the campus of Notre Dame.  There was a path through the woods and I commuted on foot.  It was March so no leaves on the trees but there were so many crows it LOOKED like the trees were completely leafed out.  It was really amazing but just a bit creepy when the birds went completely silent as I walked past then started up behind me. Like a typical human idiot I always said hello and that I wasn't a threat to them--I think it just felt rude not to.   I've never seen that behavior before of since but that's when my fascination with crows started.

I live in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia (Canada) and once when I came out of the mall at night the whole huge parking lot was covered in what seemed like thousands of crows (you couldn't see the ground for the crows). They were mostly quiet, but kind of murmuring amongst themselves. I think it was the fall. Why were they there? What were they doing? Roosting on  the ground? The same thing happened at night that year at the local high school, in its parking lot.

It actually felt scary, since it seemed like unusual behaviour, you had to walk through crows to get to your car, and you couldn't help wonder what they were talking about. I guess Alfred Hitchcock didn't help my imagination. I've always loved crows, but this seemed weird!

I remember that my children and I marveled at the massive numbers of crows roosting in tall trees in the Rockville area of Montgomery County, Maryland in the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Then in the 2000s West Nile virus swept through the county and the trees were empty. The experience left us feeling a real sense of loss. Now I live in the Allegheny Highlands in a rural wooded area. There are crow families around, and we do have several dozen turkey vultures who come in to roost in the tall pine trees each winter. But I have yet to spot a crow roost. I'll have to look harder.

I have never seen a crow roost, and I would really love to find one. What’s the best way to go about looking for a crow roost?

I live in Lexington, KY., and starting in mid-July, I can go out about 8 p.m. and watch a stream of hundreds of crows emerge from a far point on the horizon and fly in a straight line overhead, disappearing over the opposite horizon, west to east. I've counted more than 200 on that particular sky highway. That's earlier in the year than this module indicates, but it's held true for the last two summers. They may have been doing this longer, but I only noticed them in 2020.  This summer, they made their pre-roost and roost in the tops of neighborhood deciduous trees, rather than flying farther away.  I know that many of them spent the night in those trees, because I could hear them leaving about 5 a.m. the next morning.  This fall I've noticed that they seem to have moved on to roosting in a nearby Kroger's parking lot. I was leaving the store one evening when the noise made me look up. Hundreds of birds were grouping in three deciduous trees along the border of the lot.  I stopped and took it all in. They were chattering and moving around. I pictured them saying, "Is this seat taken?" "Sorry, I'm holding this branch for Harry, but how are the kids?."  Point: I was the ONLY person in that parking lot looking up at the birds. No one even glanced their way, which I can't understand considering the cacophony they created.  I'm working on my master naturalist certificate now, with the hopes that maybe I can help people to stop and notice all the fascinating things that are going on around them. It breaks my heart that they're missing marvels like this.

But I digress. They may be choosing those spots to roost because of the surrounding street/parking lot lights. Both areas are fairly well-lit. I doubt if there would be much food there, unless Kroger is leaving some of their waste uncovered.  And the birds don't seem to dwell in the neighborhood after the sun comes up.

As for the thoughts that come to mind when I see them stream into their roosts or pre-roosts?  Joy. It's just that simple. I marvel at that awesome line of birds streaming from a far point on the horizon to an equally far point on the opposite horizon. Something beyond what I'm capable of is guiding them, whether it be a desire for community, or an innate need for safety in numbers.  One night about a month ago in early October, I stood and watched them stream overhead (don't look up with an open mouth!) and was fascinated by one bird in particular.  A helicopter crow, I thought.  He/she was acting like a social director.  Visiting others in the flock, actually staying in one place vertically in the air, flapping wings in a flurry to accomplish the feat.  I've never seen anything like that.  He/she darted back and forth, would find a particular face he recognized, or maybe didn't, and would stop upright in front of that bird. They'd chat for a second, and then off he would go to do the same thing with someone farther back in the flock.  I could have watched that for hours, but eventually even he went over the horizon.  (They were heading in the Kroger direction that night.)

Yesterday (mid-November) I was driving through the Kroger parking lot when I noticed a car parked below the trees where I had seen the crows roosting in September, and realized they're still roosting there.  That car, which had obviously been left in the lot overnight, was COVERED with huge splats of bird poop.  That was no starling poop. Someone was not going to be happy.   Tip to self: do not leave car parked under trees at night.