Amazing American Crow Migration Report from Mt Wachusett YESTERDAY

[Dana Fox]

American Crows from the north are on the move at this time of year. 

Friends,

I Wrote the following YESTERDAY -

 Four years ago today, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing hundreds of migrating crows from the Woodmont orchard parking lot in Hollis NH which had probably been following the Merrimack River. An hour later, hawk watchers on Mt. Wachusetts reported seeing hundreds of crows passing overhead. That mountain and Hollis are on a direct line SW and the crows were flying at their mph rate.

Yesterday, Eric Mueller, the Mt Wachusetts hawk watcher reported his first flock of migrating crows..

Keep an eye out and please report what you are seeing.

The numbers of crows in Massachusetts winter roosts will begin to swell.

Late December is the peak in my nearby Lawrence MA roost.

Last night I received the following from Eric Mueller -

"

Eric Mueller	Fri, Oct 25, 9:20 PM (10 hours ago)
to me

Hi Dana,

We counted at least 312 migrating Amer Crows today at Wachusett Mt.  Almost all of them were spotted flying down low by one of our observers who was stationed at a north-facing overlook that's about 500 ft lower than the summit.  The birds flew by in the following numbers - 2, 20, 24, 8, 9, 23, 8, 30, 13, 32, 45, 100+ & 28.  The 100+ group went by around 3:45 pm EDT.   

Hope this helps!

Eric"

What is the likelihood a migration would occur on the same day of the month as four years ago?

By the way, my husband, Bob Fox and I are leading trips to the Lawrence MA American and Fish Crow roost the first week-end of January for the Seacoast Chapter of the New Hampshire Audubon Society and the third weekend of January for the Brookline Bird Club.

Let me know if you are interested in observing the winter phenomena which will occur between 3:30 and 5:30 pm at that time of the year.

Dana

Dana Duxbury-Fox

North Andover, MA

[David Gulick]

I am surprised by the discussion of "migrating" crows. Aren't these simply the typical, nightly, late fall/winter, overnight, in-city roosting flights? I have been witnessing these for decades into Portland late every day in the fall and winter. I rough counted 3,000 in two trees one evening in Portland 15 years ago. The daily in-flights start around 2 pm and continue until dark. Forbush has a considerable section on these nightly roosting events from a century ago. Huge numbers of birds reported flying in to roost nightly in several cities. David Gulick

On Oct 26, 2024, at 7:39 AM, Dana Fox <dana.f...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Dana Fox]

David,

The vast number of crows coming into these nightly roosts are migrants that have come from further north. They typically come from as far away as 30 miles. They are joined by the resident crows at this time of year. Both groups return to their breeding locations in the spring and the resident breeding crows stay on that territory for the summer. Our Lawrence MA  nightly roosting crows in October number no more that a couple thousand. By January we have seen the numbers grow to 24,000.

Dana 

[Dana Fox]

That 30 mile figure is for the daily WInter range of the flock.

[Steve Plumb]

Peter Vickery, in Birds of Maine speaks of a Aug-Oct migration season with reports of "unusually large flocks" occurring around the state during short periods. Then a winter season with few crows inland and large flocks centered in a few city and coastal locations. The Waterville roost is the largest mentioned at 10,000 birds and smaller roosts in Lewiston, Portland, and Bangor.

Wikipedia defines migration as, "Migration (ecology), the large-scale movement of species from one environment to another"

The largest flock I've observed passing over my house in Nobleboro was in Oct 2022 if I am remembering correctly. It numbered in the many dozens, possibly low hundreds heading SE over a 20 minute period.

Steve

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