Sept. 3, 2023 under partly sunny, light wind, 80F; sunset time 7:15PM
First time back on Crow Patrol after summer months; smaller groups of Crows seen streaming in and gathering within 1/2 mile radius of overnight roost trees by the New Balance building. Crows seen on utility wires, rooftops, trees, and mulling around on the ground. From the top of the McGovern Parking garage, had nice views of Crows staging on the B&D Warehousing roof, a regular favorite location in the staging process. This image looking west was captured about 4 minutes after sunset time.
Around 20 minutes after sunset, the Crows began to converge in flight onto the north edge of the New Balance rooftop and, some Crows directly into the roost trees as well. The Crows were coming in from all directions, but a major stream from the east and downriver as seen from the Duck Bridge. This view to the east, shows the Riverwalk rooftop football field with nioght lights coming on.
At 30 minutes after sunset, with spectacular sky colors, the north edge of the New Balance building filled up with Crows preparing to converge into the overnight roost. Overall, vocalizations were on the lighter side. A great sight to see as the fall season gets underway!
Note on counts/estimates: we are now using improved methods for counting the large number of Crows while streaming, staging, and in the roost. For all images, we use both a modified open source counting software program, as well as a hand count approach, while outside next to the roost, to carefully document our observations and to significantly increase reliability and accuracy of the presented numbers. Please refer to our new roost counting guide on main page.
Remember to check out the latest Crow Patrol Podcast with John Macone (Merrimack River Watershed Council): wintercrowroost.com/podcast/
Photo gear used for most outings:
Canon EOS 80D with Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon EOS 80D with Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (Infrared)
Canon EOS R6 Mirrorless with Canon RF 28-70 f/2 L IS USM
Canon EOS R6 II Mirrorless with Canon RF 50 f/1.2 L USM
Sony AX700 4K HDR Camcorder
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