Crow Patrol Sunday February 17, 2019 Lawrence MA
Last night 25 people joined us on Crow Patrol including a group of students in Acting Professor Sean Williams’s biology class from Holy Cross College and a group from the South Shore Bird Club. One guest from Andover, MA recalled thirty years ago on February 16th her daughter was born in the local Lawrence General Hospital and she was alarmed by the large number of crows outside her window. This is amazing for me since 1989 was the first written record I could find for crows coming to this roost.
What a fun afternoon. The temperature was 37, the wind 7 miles from the SW, sunset was at 5:18 pm and it was sunny. We gathered around 4 PM at the Bashara Boathouse at 1 Eaton St. to glean what direction the crows were flying in to stage. There was a small trickle of crows passing by us heading to the west of the boathouse. One Common Mergansers was attempting to swallow a large fish. Soon we decided to move to the Industrial Park to our west. There we found crows assembling to the west of the New Balance Distribution Building which we all enjoyed watching from the open area to the west of it. Many crows were streaming in from the west. Soon all the crows began to move eastward. The passengers walked eastward and saw many around the NB building. Soon these too kept moving eastward. One of our watchers said they had all flown out to the east. So back to the boathouse. Further eastward from us once there we could see thousands perching on the tops of the trees on the northside of the river. Soon too these moved eastward, and some seemed to move in vast flocks to the south side of the river. Now the patrol was back in our cars and headed to the Riverside State Park, the next open area to the east of us. Once there we had an amazing site of thousands of crows to the east of us up to the Experiment Station, thousands across the river and thousands to the west of us. It was now after sunset and many of the crows across from us streamed over to the east of us. Such an impressive site against the sunset lit sky. We marveled at their many calls. More and more from the west of us and across from us joined those to the east of us. Just as the students were leaving, in the deep dusk at 6 pm all the crows to the east of us lifted – such a breath-taking site – and flew across the river joining what already appeared to be a myriad of crows. How could those trees accept more? Every day I continue to be amazed by the majesty and diversity of their actions. Wish you had been there with us to share in the wonder.
Bob and I will be away for a few days and will not be able to lead Crow patrol until after March 5th, but you can follow the directions above and enjoy them in our absence. You can also follow the blog www.wintercrowroost.com where Craig Gibson will let you know what he sees.
Also remember the crow art show is open at the Essex Art Gallery until March 15 at 56 Island St. M-F 10-6.
Enjoy,
Dana
North Andover, MA
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