Crow roost still together

What a glorious news I was reading on the weather forecast – almost 60 on Friday! With temps just over freezing, the snow is already giving way to bare earth, UVM was starting to move mulch, and the cardinals are singing in the mornings. And yet as much as my heart sings with all that buzzing life of spring time, it’s always such a bittersweet moment for me, as there’s so much I love about the winter, and as spring starts to crop up in its myriad forms I realize just how fleeting the seasons are. Until the next turn of the earth, I’ll have to start saying my goodbyes.

One of the things that becomes a constant companion during the long winter months is the nightly migration of crows into Burlington. This afternoon, a giant murder stopped by my house on its way to the Burlington roost. I estimated about 3,000-4,000 crows flew by over the 45 minutes that I watched them this afternoon. As spring arrives, the roost slowly breaks up into mated pairs. As the pairs build nests, they become anchored to one site and it’s no longer worth the effort or risk of flying at night with eggs in the nest. So, until November, goodbye to the crow roost!