Crow Patrol with Dana Duxbury-Fox, and husband Bob Fox, and Craig Gibson had the wonderful invitation to visit the New Balance building complex for an opportunity to view the Crows from windows on the fourth floor. Mostly cloudy skies, wind from south at 3MPH, and temp at 45F. With deep gratitude to the NB security and senior staff, we were fortunate to receive the invitation to be on the premises and observe the Crows. We started with an overlook of the National Grid parking lot, looking out in a SW direction.

The remainder of the time, we perched by windows on the north side overlooking the Merrimack River, the roost trees below, and the endless stream of Crows coming by, mostly at eye level and above. At first the Crows were streaming in from the west and heading past the Duck Bridge. Not long after, the Crows began heading to the trees below and into the final roost. Lots of swirling around flight action in front of the trees prior to landing. Here is a blurred image looking down on the trees below along the south side of the Merrimack River.  We observed large amounts of white excrement on the top side of the branches.  According to a published research study in The Condor, by Randall Hicks, the effect of nutrient enrichment by Crow excrement on roost vegetation is not pronounced and may not have any deleterious effects on the roost vegetation. This study was completed as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in Zoology at the University of Oklahoma,

Moments later, we made a final check on the National Grid lot to see numbers filling both on the ground and along utility wires within the Grid station area.

Reference cited: Hicks, R. E. (1979). Guano deposition in an Oklahoma crow roost. Condor no. 81:247-250