Date: 11/16/25 3:21 pm From: james wilson <jfwilson54...> Subject: [MDBirding] Re: Winter Crow Roost in North Bethesda - They're back!
The winter crow roost at North Bethesda is happening again this year, the
birds are back in large numbers already. I am observing them daily from my
apartment at Pike and Rose (and other locations at times), would again love
to hear from folks who either see them coming and going from the roost, or
have some insights on the exact roost locations. I find many crows again
along Citadel Avenue between Nicholson Lane and Marinelli, but I suspect
there are other locations.
There will be a presentation and walking tour about the roost on December
7, I will post about that separately.
Thanks for anything anyone can share about this fascinating bit of bird
social behavior.
Jim
On Sunday, February 2, 2025 at 1:28:07 PM UTC-5 James Wilson wrote:
> Big thank you to all who responded and provided more intelligence about
> the North Bethesda crow roost and where these crows spend their days. The
> various observations, and radar capture yesterday (more on that below)
> expand on what I have observed from near the roost area: the crows are
> mainly going north (Laytonsville, roughly) and west (Darnestown, on to
> Poolesville maybe) and also northwest (maybe Clarksburg). I captured these
> three streams on weather radar Saturday evening, thanks to Jared's
> suggestion; the streams were fairly clear from about 4:45 to 5:05 PM. Will
> try to attach.
>
> If anyone can be more specific about exactly where they have seen
> significant numbers of crows either en route to/from the roost, or staging
> in big groups, I would appreciate it. Please provide an intersection, and
> time, direction, if you know, perhaps even order of magnitude how many
> crows. I'd like to make a few trips out to see them.
>
> I also intend to do a rough count of the North Bethesda roost, by
> capturing on video the 2-3 main streams very close to the roost, and
> counting based on the videos. I expect it will be 20,000-30,000 based on
> rough counts earlier in the winter.
>
> Thanks again all, do tell more if you can, either to group or just me if
> you prefer.
>
> Jim
>
>
> On 1/29/2025 1:32 PM, Jared Fisher wrote:
>
> The birds that head west feed in agricultural fields out toward homestead
> farms and further west. I see them over my house in Darnestown on their
> return journey to roost quite often. Often, it's more Fish Crows than
> American but it might change a bit by date. My highest count at the house
> has been north of 4000 in late Nov/Dec, and I believe that was a day when I
> only heard Fish Crows. When flying back to roost the birds fly mostly in a
> loose line j100-200 feet wide and can pass over for 45 minutes or more.
> Being this close to the weather station in Sterling and, depending on the
> density and height of the birds, they are often visible on radar. Here is a
> screen grab from one afternoon showing the line of crows from Darnestown to
> the roost in Rockville.
>
> Jared Fisher
> Darnestown MD
>
> On Tue, Jan 28, 2025 at 1:31 PM james wilson <jfwil......> wrote:
>
>> The North Bethesda crow roost is happening again this winter, it is now
>> located around Nicholson Lane, Citadel Ave. and Marinelli Road just east of
>> Rockville Pike in the North Bethesda neighborhood (aka White Flint, aka
>> Pike & Rose) about 3 miles north of I-495.
>> I have been observing this roost for decades, but this winter I live
>> right here and have been observing it almost daily since October. I
>> roughly estimate it at well over 20,000 crows. Most of the crows seem to
>> be going north and west from the roost, I have not seen many going east or
>> south.
>>
>> Last week Craig Gibson, who operates the site Winter Crow Roost and is a
>> great expert on this phenomenon, passed through, and we viewed the crows
>> arriving to the roost on the evening of January 21. He then blogged about
>> the North Bethesda roost on his web site and posted some photos:
>> https://www.wintercrowroost.com/winter-crow-roost-north-bethesda-md/ >>
>> I also note there was a conversation about the crow roost in this group
>> two years ago:
>> https://groups.google.com/g/mdbirding/c/pBu_1IRUWRg/m/RZsUnxKRAQAJ >>
>> I would like to restart the conversation about this fascinating
>> phenomenon. I am especially curious about the daily streams of crows into
>> and out of the roost area; and I have observed and taken notes on these
>> streams over 40 times since October. I live 1/2 mile from the roost at
>> Pike & Rose but would love to hear from folks who live anywhere else and
>> who have noticed these streams of crows that occur around sunrise and
>> sunset daily and last for over a half hour. If you've seen such streams
>> please let us know where when what direction heading if you can.
>>
>> There is also a quite significant roost at Shirlington in Arlington
>> County; I'll start a separate conversation about that one.
>>
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>
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