Subject: Re: crows and more crows
Date: Jan 18 10:34:44 1996
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


>This may seem a very obvious question to the rest of you - but I'm a
>brand new birder and new to Tweeters as well. The last week or two when
>I've come to work at UW in the morning and parked in the Montlake
>commuter lot, there have been hundreds (or thousands maybe) of crows
>hanging out in one area of the lot on the pavement. Is this some
>seasonal behavior, or what is going on? I love reading all the tweeter
>messages every day - its a great way to learn about where and how to look
>for birds.
>
>K. Craig

They're presumably "staging," hanging out in one area in preparation for a
flight to another area, something they do morning and evening. Perhaps
they are among the birds that roost overnight on Foster Island, east of the
stadium. But we don't even know all the answers to "what, when, which,
where, and how" (how many roosts are there in the Seattle area? at what
season[s] are they best developed? do adults and immatures roost in the
same areas, in the same way? how far do they fly from a roost? what are the
routes? how do the arrival and departure times vary seasonally, or with
weather conditions?), much less "why" (why do they roost, or to put it in
evolutionary terms, what advantage accrues to crows that roost vs. those
that don't?).

Well, K., you've just found a project for yourself and a way to gain fame
(but probably not fortune) in the Washington ornithological world. Find
out what those crows are doing and tell all the rest of us!

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416