Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 04:29:26 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Frank Boyle Subject: Crows Shireen, Yes, they are heading for a communal roost. Crows (and ravens have been observed doing this in western N.A. in winter) are highly gregarious, social birds. In wintertime, they will roost in the hundreds of thousands, often in a very small area. There used to be a huge roost in Rockville, MD alongside Montrose Road. I can remember seeing tens of thousands crows heading for this roost at dusk, pretty much year-round, although crows are most social during winter and late summer-fall. The sky would literally be black with them. Unfortunately most of the trees in this roost were leveled three years ago to make way for another one of those trendy townhouse developments. But the crows have had the last laugh - they now roost in several "smaller" groups in Rockville, some now near housing developments (much to the chagrin of car owners!!!). I would guess that somewhere near Towson there is a large roost. They seem to like to stay near urban or near-urban areas in order to maximize their scavenging opportunities. Crows also migrate locally when winters are particularly harsh. They will wait out the bitter cold, and as soon as it breaks you can bet they'll be back, ignoring the usual migration timetables of other passerines. Crows are intelligent, ubiquitous, and one of my favorite birds. Merry Christmas! Frank ************************ Frank Boyle Laurel, MD ravenfrank@earthlink.net ************************ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================