Have you ever gone to look for a American Crow roost in the United States? In winter, crows gather by the thousands for form large roosts and sleep in the winter time. Some will travel as far as 20 miles during the day to forage, but return in late afternoon.
It seems that more and more, American Crows are choosing to roost in urban areas. It could be that they are less likely to be shot at and driven away or there are fewer natural predators to disturb them at night. Now matter how you slice it, seeing a crow roost in an urban area gets the attention of non birders.
We have a large crow roost in downtown Minneapolis it takes forever for them to finally settle into sleep. It’s strange to walk under bare-limbed trees at night while hundreds of crows sleep directly overhead.
There are websites that track crow roosts because there’s still quite a bit we don’t know about them. If you haven’t checked out a crow roost do. Yes, these are common birds, yes they sometimes eat eggs and baby birds (even woodpeckers do that) but it’s unbelievable to see that much bird mass in one spot. It gives those Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska a run for their money.
I’ve got a crow roost just down the creek from my flat: every evening, just before sunset, they fly over my building by the hundreds, cawing all the way. It’s quite a sight! One of these days, I’ll have to follow them home and take pictures.
We have massive crow roosts here in Rochester. The crows definitely outnumber people, which makes people nervous.
There is a big crow roost in Poughkeepsie, NY, along the Hudson River. From my house, around 10 miles away, around 4pm each day I see crows flying overhead from the northeast to the southwest towards Poughkeepsie. It is amazing to drive near their roost before they have settled down to see thousands of black birds swirling overhead.
I just saw a crow roost in Albuquerque, at one of the malls, this week. They were across the street from the mall in trees in front of a bank.
Have you heard anything noteworthy? I walked under a crow roost once and it was incredibly noisy with very bizarre crow vocalizations. I wonder what they are communicating?
I have been observing those black crows around the downtown/south minneapolis area since about October 2012. They are in the thousands. I work in south minneapolis and I lived in the southern suburbs till Jan1. I remember saying to myself a couple months ago, “I am glad I dont have to hear those crows in the morning.” Well, I just moved to uptown and one night last week, those thousands of crows were 15 feet outside my window on a couple tree tops and I was like, man, that is too funny. They are very lound and they poop all over the place. Sort of sucks, but oh well, i still like them. I call them “the birds in the hood”. helps keep the self talk in my mind funny and at ease.
I love when the crows fly over my neighborhood near sunset. I really would like to know where they go. I live Nordeast, not far from downtown. There are SO many it is thrilling to see them all. Crows are known for their intelligence. I see comments about the Crows being messy. Stop… think….what animal has fouled the Earth the most. Yup, you & I so who are we to talk?