 |
The Personal Crow Observations of Michael Westerfield
A "CROW FUNERAL": JUNE 1, 2001 Several times in the past, I have heard reports of "crow funerals", various types of group behavior by which crows acknowledge the death of another crow. I had never observed anything that might fit into this category of behavior until today. At about 5:10 p.m. I was bicycling home when I heard the cawing of a number of crows from above me. My first thought was that a group of crows were "mobbing" an enemy and I looked to see what was going on. About a dozen crows were flying above, coming together and moving apart, all the while keeping up a steady vocalization which sounded almost, but not quite like a mobbing call. No predator was anywhere in sight and their flight behavior was not typical of engaging an enemy. As I watched, small flights of crows joined the group until there were perhaps 30 crows present. All kept up a continuous cawing, and although the birds clearly were interacting with each other in flight, they seemed neither to be challenging nor courting each other. Eventually, seeking the reason for the behavior, I moved up closer to the area that seemed to be the center of attention. There, on the side of the road, was a dead crow that appeared to have been hit by a car and to have been dead for a short time. The birds continued to circle overhead as I examined the dead crow. I moved away, leaving the dead bird in place so that I could continue to observe the group behavior. The birds continued on in the same mode until a man who was working in a nearby yard came over and swept the dead bird into a clump of bushed. The crows lingered for another minute or so then dispersed. --------------------------Sunday, February 20, 2000 Drove down to Norwich this evening, after an absence of a couple of weeks, to see what was going on at the roost. First I checked out the assembly area in the cemetary, and not one bird was present. Next I went to the shopping center area where the roost had been, and again not a crow to be seen. I knew that there was still a roost; I had seen large flights of crows heading in and I could still see flights overhead, but heading beyond the old area. After chasing crows for fifteen minutes or so, I spotted a large congeregation at the school bus parking area alongside the railroad tracks. They remained there until just before dark then all left and reassembled to roost in a residential area a few hundred yards away. This area was actually just about half a mine down the road from the original shopping center lot. The puzzling thing about this change of location was that it defied the conventional wisdom as to the location of city/suburban crow roosts. Many roosts are located in brightly lit areas, such as the original shopping center roost, and it is said that they like these areas because the lights let them spot predators - particularly owls - and see to fly if they must escape. But the new roost location was in about as dark an area as you could find in a city, an old Victorian street with virtually no street lights. Crows are always interesting. Sunday, November 28, 1999 I had made three or four trips down to Norwich to observe the communal roost. During the course of those visits, I tried to get the lay of the land and identify the "staging areas" and the main roost. On my first visit, starting about an hour before sunset, I posted myself in the main area where I had spotted numerous crows in past years and set to watching the sky and attempting to follow the flights of crows to their destinations. The area was located in the southwest corner of Norwich near the intersection of Routes 82 and 395. The area which I suspected to be the communal roost was centered on the Staples company parking lot between Route 82 and Old Samem Road. On the first visit, I followed the flights of crows west on Route 82 past the Maplewood Cemetary, then south on Montville Road. I found a large congregation of crows in a gravel mining area just south of the cemetary. Many hundreds of birds were in the trees, perched on the gravel piles and walking around on the ground. Surely a major "staging area", I thought. Towards dusk, the crows all took off and headed towards the roosting area around Staples. The next visit I made was a few days later. I drove straight to the gravel bank at about the same time of day and there was not a crow to be seen.. After waiting a bit, and still no birds, I drove up into the cemetary to take a look there. Sure enough, hundreds of crows were assembled there, sitting in the trees and wandering around between the graves. I couldn't stay until dusk, and when I left the birds were still in this new "staging area". Third visit. No crows in the gravel bank. Crows in the cemetary and, as dusk approached, they flew off in the direction of the Staples parking lot. I followed after them, but when I reached the parking lot, very few birds were in evidence, about a couple of dozen in the nearby trees. However, flights of crows were visible above the trees to the north in an area called on the map East Great Plain (which was odd because it seemed to be a hill). I followed a series of roads up the hill and found a vast number of crows in a new well wooded subdivision on Sherwood Lane. At this point I didn't know what to think. Is this a staging area? Is this the main roost? Today, I went down again, determined to solve this mystery. It was a bright, clear day with the temperature in the 50s. I arrived at the Staples parking lot at 3:25 p.m., about an hour and a half before dark. A few crows were perched in the trees that surround the parking lot. Most of those had left by 3:55 p.m. At 4:00 I checked the gravel pit and there were no crows. At 4:05 I checked the grave yard and not a single crow was present. I drove back towards Staples and drove up the hill behind the parking area. In the subdivision, thousands of crows were perched in the trees in an area centered on Sherwood and Boxwood Lanes. The time was 4:15 p.m. The curious thing was that the heads of all of the thousands of birds perched in the trees all seemed pointed in the same direction. Not having a compass or map with me, I noted that I needed to check on that phenomena again next time and see in which direction (if any) they faced next time. At about 4:25 p.m., the crows began flying down towards Route 82 and I drove back to the parking lot and watched as thousands of birds flew in and filled all the trees in the area. For half an hour, the sky was filled with crows, then as it grew darker they settled down in the surrounding trees until, in the dim light, it looked like the leafless trees were in full foliage. Next, I drove back up Sherwood Lane and found the area empty of crows. Questions to be answered: Why and how often do the crows change their staging areas? Were the crows on Sherwood Lane really facing in the same direction? Were they facing the direction of the communal roost or were they, perhaps facing out of the wind or responding to some other environmental stimulus? Note: the birds in the communal roost were facing all different directions. Monday, November 29, 1999 7:00 a.m. Clear, 35 degrees F. Grey dawn about 6:30 with crows calling in the distance.. A week ago or so I stopped putting out food overnight so that the crows wouldn't wake me up with their calling at dawn. I put the food out at noon now and they have learned about the shift in schedule very quickly. Later, when it gets colder, I'll switch back to morning feeding. 1:05 p.m. A single crow sounding the alarm call caught my attention in the West Main Street area of Willimantic. The crow was single-handedly "mobbing" a red tailed hawk, swooping down at it repeatedly while keeping up the alarm calls. After a minute or two, it circled away, still calling, swung back to swoop at the hawk again, then circled the hawk in widening circles. It seemed apparent that the crow was calling for others to help mob the hawk and when, after a few minutes, none appeared, it flew off, still sounding the alarm call. Wednesday, December 1, 1999 6:50 a.m. Clear, 20 degrees. I was awakened as usual this morning by the sound of crows cawing in the distance. Usually, shortly after I first hear them, one or more bird will land in the large sugar maple tree overlooking my porch rooftop feeding station and give a few caws before landing to feed. This morning, however, I heard a call different from any I had heard before. It was somewhere between an alarm call and the continuous cawing that a single bird would make when he was calling others to a food bonanza, but without getting a response. I looked through the one-way mirrored glass in the window and saw a single crow calling a sequence of seven caws, pausing, then repeating the sequence. The bird was obviously reluctant to come to feed, but I could see no cause for alarm and the call was distinctly different from the alarm that was given for a cat or other potential danger. After a few minutes the crow left and I went outside. The cause of the crow's uneasiness was immediately apparent. On the opposite side of the house, out of my view from the window, was a flock of several hundred blackbirds (possibly grackles) which took flight as soon as I walked out. This experience illustrates the difficulty both of trying to catalog the calls of crows and to communicate the subtle distinctions between them in writing. I could clearly distinguish that I was hearing a new call, but without a recording of that call, it would be impossible to convey the new call to others, and the liklihood of such a situation happening again when a recorder is at hand is remote. The call meaning "there's lots of good food here but also a bunch of blackbirds" might, therefore, never be cataloged. Saturday, December 4, 1999 Checked on Norwich roost area again. At 3:30 p.m. no crows were gathered in the cemetary. At the gravel pit a machine was operating and the crows had gathered across the road at another portion of the operation where no work was in progress. It appears that the staging area moves around within a certain area depending, at least to some extent, upon the human activity taking place at the different locations. The birds abandoned the cemetary on weekends when many visitors were present and the gravel pit when machines were operating. The main roost area, however, so far has remained the same. Monday, December 6, 1999 Heavy rain in the afternoon. At 3:30 p.m. No crows were gathered in the cemetary or areas near the gravel pit. A few hundred crows, many fewer than previously, were gathered in the subdivision. A relatively small number of birds gathered in the main roost area towards dark, but only about 10% of usual number. Rain was pouring down very hard as night fell. Wednesday, December 22, 1999 Traveled down to the Norwich roost again on this clear, cool afternoon. The size of the roost seems to have expanded greatly, both in number of birds and in area, since my previous visits. It would be a challenge to work out a method of mapping the roosting area and somehow estimating the number of birds present on any given night. I begin to get the impression that both staging areas and roosts are not static and that their populations fluctuate widely depending on a variety of factors. Saturday, December 25, 1999 I had a reminder this morning that nature makes no allowance for human fancies. Wishing to share the Christmas festivities wityh the birds, I set out a feast at the rooftop feeding station. The crows and bluejays, the starlings and sparrows, the mourning doves and red breasted woodpecker (who loves corn chips) all came. While they were in a frenzy of feeding, I took the dogs outside. I was standing on the side of the house when I heard a loud "thump" against the top floor dormer window. A red tailed hawk had swooped out of the sky, hoping to get his breakfast from among the feasting birds, but he missed his aim. He fluttered down and sat on the front porch for a few minutes then flew off to a high perch. It was a reminder that even on Christmas the hawks are waiting. The afternoon was cold and very clear and bright. As far as I could tell, the crows did not assemble at staging areas in Norwich, but instead flew directly to the roost about half an hour later than usual. Initially they were spread out throughout the roost, but as it grew later and darker and colder, they began to move into a smaller and smaller area until finally they were all packed into the smallest area possible. If tonight is like last night, the temperature should drop below 20 degrees. Surely packing all those birds together must moderate the temperature in the roost and keep the collective mass of crows much warmer than individual crows roosting separately. Saturday, January 22, 2000 While driving home at about twilight on a short section of highway connector by the Eastbrook Mall, less than a mile from my house, I was surprised to see a large number of crows engaged in the sort of group flights that characterize roosts or staging areas. I turned around and found a few hundred crows gathered in the trees around the mall parking lot. The gathering had all the appearances of a small roost and I marveled that it could be within half a mile of my house without my noticing it. The day was clear and very cold, about 10 degrees at 5:00 p.m. Sunday, January 23, 2000 I returned to the mall area at about 5:00 p.m. today and the gathering of crows was gone. One or two birds sat in the trees, but there was no evidence of a roost or staging area. What can this mean? Today, the weather was warmer, about 25 degrees and heavily overcast. I had noticed before that more birds appeared at the Norwich roost on overcast days than on a clear one. This is a subject that requires further investigation. Wednesday, February 2, 2000
The crows have never returned to roost at the Eastbrook Mall. A visit today to the Norwich area found the roost still there, although its center had moved about a quarter of a mile up the road. It was a clear, cold and windy day. A staging area was located in the cemetary, with many birds perched on and around the monuments. Took some photos which should be classics if they turn out. . |
Return to Top of Page.
|
|