A large flock (murder?) of crows hangs out at the spit?where Shell Creek flows into Puget Sound north of Sunset Ave. ? Today a large swarm of these crows hovered over one of the adult bald eagles perched on the top of the fir tree at the end of Sunset Ave.??Ironically, several of us had just finished commenting on how the local crows had grown complacent to the presence of the eagles.
Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA.



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From: Kara Whittaker <kara.whittaker at gmail.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Mon, February 22, 2010 12:21:25 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: great crow show

Hi tweeters,

I have noticed another large crow roost gathering lately at the intersection of I-90 and 405 in the Mercer Slough area.? My observations are rough, given that I'm always driving at the time, but the crows?seem to be gathering/circling more now whereas their movement seemed more directional in the past at this location?? What was more?unusual last night was having to slow down to ~30 mph to avoid hitting the hundreds of crows hanging out in the separate carpool lane that connects 405 South to I-90 East.? They were spread out over the entire lane and perched on the walls on either side of the lane as if they didn't expect any cars to pass through.? My husband suggested they may have known it was Sunday and expected less traffic?!?

~Kara Whittaker, West Seattle


----- Original Message -----
From: "Diann MacRae" <tvulture at vei.net>
To: <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 12:42 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] great crow show

> Hi, Tweets
>
> Many of you have seen the early evening flights of crows to their various
> roosts in the area, but last night Bill and I had our greatest show ever.
> We went over to the UW-Bothell campus around 5pm. Not a crow in sight. A
> bit to the south there started appearing a few groups flying west to east
> (towards Woodinville). Small groups would fly over the campus, but
> starting at about 5:45, large groups began passing over. We went up on the
> top floor of the parking garage which is just across the street from
> Cascadia College and these flights began flying just over our heads. With
> a crescent moon (it'll be quarter phase tonight) high above it was
> fantastic to watch thousands of crows flying directly above us. I don't
> exaggerate. They were coming from downtown Bothell (perhaps? a staging
> area near the Safeway) directly over us on a line to Woodinville or
> slightly north.
>
> As it got darker, the crow flight was lower. They were muttering and a bit
> of cawing, but essentially just heading to their roost. Our estimate was
> around 8,000 (or more) - just an estimate. It was really a sight to see
> and a great place to watch from. The flight went on until approximately
> 6:18pm.
>
> Cheers, Diann
>
> Diann MacRae
> Olympic Vulture Study
> 22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E.
> Bothell, WA 98021
> tvulture at vei.net