Crows

[Sunrise Point]

We were driving home today around 4PM and in downtown Manchester, on both sides of rte. 293, near the Goffstown exit there were hundreds of crows. They were in the trees, on the ice in the feeder brooks that flow into the Merrimack and down in the vacant lots. We have never seen anything like it. Did anyone else see this? It was amazing!

[Moss Creek Media]

When I lived in Manchester (2005-2008) I was at the Home Depot in Hooksett by Target. The crows were in the trees by the river and they all took off and flew east, it looked like a Canada Geese migration, but it was crows. There was probably over one thousand of them. I just stood there with my jaw dropped, watching them. Never saw anything like it before.

Kirk

[SIKSUKR]

Yup.Saw them in the same location the last 2 weekends.It was hundreds at the least,maybe into the thousands.

[Merrymeeting]

I saw a similar flock here in central MA on the way home from work last week. I didn't realize that crows migrated. I thought they stayed through the winter.

[wifi]

I remember in the 80's and 90's when I drove to Manchester every day, around exit 5 (I believe - across from the GIR towers) was the old dump, along the side of 293S, it was usually covered with birds. Wonder if this is something similiar.

[ApS]

Last summer, I saw a flock of a couple-hundred crows migrating haphazardly past Wolfeboro's Lakeview Inn area.

Today, I Googled this phenomenon, and it turns out that Ontario, Canada may be a contributing factor, with their ¼-million crow population!

"...It looks as if city officials have finally figured out how to win the war against the thousands of crows that return to Chatham each winter...It is estimated that in 2000, there were four crows for every resident of Chatham...When the crows saw their natural enemies in the city, they evacuated Chatham almost immediately...By January, only about 147 crows still lingered in Chatham, down from 250,000 last fall...Where the crows fled to remains to be seen...Maybe they'll be coming to your neighborhood soon..." :eek:

http://web.riverdeep.net/portal/page?_pageid=813,1280338&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

(There's no direct link: Scroll to half-page, under "Scaring Crows").

[SIKSUKR]

I remember in the 80's and 90's when I drove to Manchester every day, around exit 5 (I believe - across from the GIR towers) was the old dump, along the side of 293S, it was usually covered with birds. Wonder if this is something similiar.

Actually,those were all dump ducks(seagulls).The Manchester dump has been closed for a long time and the gulls for the most part have moved on to other dumps.

[Lakegeezer]

Crows are always "in season" and fair game for BB gun practice. I don't think I've ever hit one, but its fun to make them fly off. They are rude, especially in the early morning when they caw out to each other throughout the neighborhood and across the lake - well before a decent hour.

[Sunrise Point]

For 3 years, until this fall, we had a resident crow couple living in one of the pines on the property. One of the birds was lame, it looked as if one of its legs had been injured long ago. They were always together and yes, they started their cawing very early in the morning. It used to drive my husband crazy but I never minded, I was up early anyway and loved to watch them. They had 3 babies over the summer and were very attentive parents.

The lame crow stopped coming around this fall and I'm not sure what happened to the others. I do miss them.