At the University of Washington there are a series of small Islands
connected to each other and to the Lake Washington shore line by with
narrow spits of land near the Museum of History and Industry. During
the day it it is an interesting nature walk noted for it's fauna, and
muddy trails.
But I decided to explore it one night in the summer some years ago at
3:00 am. What I discovered as I wandered about was at night the
islands were inhabited by hundreds of thousands of crows perched in
the trees. The sound was very daunting, the rustling, the low
murmuring (snoring?) of that many birds sitting from a few feet above
your head to maybe 25 feet in the highest trees.
As it got lighter, around 4:30 AM, the noise increased as the birds
prepared to leave for the day to inhabit the entire area of Seattle.
The lighter it got, the noisier. Eventually, flocks of 50 to 200 birds
rose and circled overhead until they were organized, and headed off in
a variety of compass points to find food. The entire taking flight and
staging of these birds took almost an hour. The noise was incredible.
By the time the light was good enough for photography with my PZ-1p
and Velvia, there were no crows left. The shores of the islands were
populated by then with ducks and geese who had been floating offshore
all night. As the sun rose, a few smaller species moved in to inhabit
the trees for the day. I shot a few rolls and went home to bed.
Always after that night, whenever I observed large flocks of crows
anywhere around the Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond areas in the early
morning or late evening, it was apparent that they were headed to or
from this overnight retreat.
Were I to go back, I could probably get some great shots like yours if
I brought a tripod. But I have too much trouble walking right now to
venture into rough terrain in the dark for fear of falling and
injuring myself in some manner. So it probably won't happen again.
And now BACK to bed, after awakening at 2:50 am to turn off the lights
and making the mistake of sitting down at the computer for a second.
Damn!
On Mar 23, 2009, at 20:03 , [email protected] wrote:
=========
There were a lot more birds. But they flew off, naturally, as soon
as I
approached.
Must be a flock of about 10-20 here. Weren't around before, or not
many,
although we've always had black birds (which have a pretty song).
But since last
summer I've seen more and more in this area, in all of California
actually.
Concerns me a bit, because done some reading up, and they tend to
drive other
birds out. And evidentially about a year or two ago Japan got over
run with
them and they became a menace. So I keep wondering if that is going
to happen
here.
I'll probably try again -- think they'll be around for a while,
unfortunately.
Marnie :-(
Joseph McAllister
Pentaxian
http://gallery.me.com/jomac
http://web.me.com/jomac/show.me/Blog/Blog.html
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