They certainly could be migrating; it's time for our annual visit from more northern crows. We have had band returns of crows we banded here in Ithaca in winter from around the Montreal area, the Adirondacks, and Vermont. They usually arrive in late October and depart in early March.
But, it's hard to label any particular group as migrants. The locals move around a lot right now, looking for freshly harvested fields and other foraging spots. I don't know how to distinguish between migrants and those crows making local movements. And, in fact, they probably get mixed up together anyway. Kevin From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Susan Fast Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 11:46 AM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Crows--migrating? We just had 169 AMER. CROWS in a loose flock, moving directly north to south, over the house. They were silent. The only "caws" came from our 3 perched yard crows. I have an hypothesis (until Kevin shoots it down) that these silent flocks are migrants; the smaller flocks that move over the house from NW to SE probably come from roosting areas near Cornell, generally fly out early in the morning and back later in the afternoon, and often involve much calling back and forth between the flying flock and neighborhood perched birds. Steve Fast Brooktondale P.S. Early this morning, on our walk, we encountered a flock of 22 noisy BRANT, flying NW! This was just prior to a light rain shower, so the brant were probably heading back toward Cayuga Lake. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
