Subject: [Tweeters] Olympia: The great Crow chase. In search of the roost
Date: Dec 31 00:12:29 2012
From: ray holden - rayleeholden at yahoo.com


At 3pm Saturday there were at least 500 Crows on Marine Drive between the new Hands On Children's Museum and the boat repair yard. ?All the street trees were decorated with crows and more were searching around on the ground for last minute snacks. ?At 3:26 the first crows began leaving in ones and twos and which quickly developed into a steady stream and I headed out across town chasing after them trying to finally find their roost tree. In the past I've seen them flush all at once which is exciting but this time they made a more?leisurely?departure. I had also followed the part of the way earlier last week so I knew the route much of the way. ?

Clocking them with the speedometer?reveled?that they fly a steady 30mph and keeping up with them in traffic is difficult. ?By the time I got to Harrison and Division (by the Grocery Outlet) the advance cloud was a couple of miles ahead of me despite little traffic and some good luck with the lights. ?Stragglers were still flying over in ones and twos and I cranked the sunroof open so I could watch overhead as well as in front. ?When I cleared the light at Cooper Point and Mud Bay even they were gone. ?However the West Olympia Crows martial in a line of trees on 515 McPhee Rd which is behind the 2 Mile Tavern (I had learned this from previous visits) and a couple of hundred took off from there following the downtown flock so I got a second chance. ?Over Phil's?Furniture?they began a wide sweeping turn to the right and headed west over the opposite side of Mud Bay. ?(I had always thought they crossed 101 and went toward Capital Forest but not
so.) ?I kept following them on?Madrona?past the industrial park and pulled over at opening where you can see across Mud Bay and watched the last ones settle into the trees on the other side at 3:45. ?I didn't have the scope and couldn't see the exact trees but now I know were they go. Twenty minutes elapsed time for the entire flock spread out over several miles and around a 15 minute flight for an individual bird. ?

The good news is we now know where they go but would have to use a small boat like a kayak to get there. According to the Google satellite images there is no public access to that area and the closest house is about a quarter mile away. ?From the crows?perspective?it's about perfect. ?It's a tiny?peninsula of maybe an acre that is thickly cover with 100 ft fir trees, many of which have their limbs all the way up so the?foliage?is dense providing good cover from the elements. ?The trees are too tall for?raccoons?to climb and if they get down into the thickly packed limbs it would be hard for owls to take them on the fly. ?Being on the shore it will never be developed and nor will they bother or be bothered by us two legged creatures. ?When the light is better I'll try to find the individual trees and take pictures through the scope. ?

Nisqually Today- Sunday: ?There were 11 bald eagles spread out along the line of trees along the far bank of the Nisqually River as seen from the gravel dike trail where it comes up from the barns. ?There were 5 adults and 6 juveniles which is good because it indicates that this years crop of babies have learned to hunt and are surviving. ?There was another adult eagle in a tree at the V-Center and one at Hogum Bay for a 13 eagle day + a merlin and a red tailed hawk at the NWR. ?Nice day for the raptors. ?
?
Ray Holden
Olympia, WA

Life is for the birds.