Conditions: sunrise at 7:10AM; partly sunny skies, calm wind conditions, 48F

Out on solo Crow Patrol at dawn about an hour prior to sunrise. Upon arriving in general area around the overnight roost, drove north on the duck Bridge, with both windows down and listened to loud raucous calls of the Crows. They were located in trees on both sides of the Duck Bridge at the south end, and on the west side at the north end. Surveyed a bit more from the north side of the Merrimack River by the park at Mill240. Made my way back over the Bridge, loud vocalizations were continuing, and many Crows were observed lifting off in flight. Then was able to settle in at 6:30AM on the south end of Duck Bridge on the west side, next to New Balance building. Broke out the night vision googles for a look at the Crows!

The Discovery 5x Gen 2 QS-HD Night Vision Bi-Ocular, is intended for a range night observations. The lens system provides a wide aperture for collecting night light and improves visibility. To enable the ability to make long range night observations or improve visibility and image brightness in complete darkness, this night vision device includes an infrared illuminator for additional illumination of birding targets. To help reduce image jitter due to shaking of hands, which becomes significant at higher magnifications, the bi-ocular can be attached to a 1/4″-20 tripod.  We’ll be using this more often as daylight savings kicks in!

The vocalizations were quite loud and the Crows were seen perched in trees, and departing in flight for day time foraging grounds. The photo above, captured about 20 minutes before sunrise, shows the perched Crows on the top and outside edge of the trees alongside the Merrimack River with the downlit Casey Bridge in the background. At 6:55AM, 15 minutes before sunrise, there was a massive liftoff of Crows, as shown in the cover photo, and they headed in a northerly direction. Amazing action! 

Hunt’s Photo Walk: Winter Crow Roost – Sunday Nov. 3 starting at 1:30PM

Link: https://edu.huntsphoto.com/crows-lawrence/

List of photo equipment used for this outing:

Canon EOS 80D; Lens: EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS     

Discovery 5x QS-HD Night Vision Binocular 5x Gen 2+              

Blog post and photos by Craig Gibson, 2019 Crow Patrol, Lawrence, MA

                                                                                                                                                                      

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