Date: 1/27/26 5:42 am From: Paul Fusco via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Re: 100’s of Crows Waterbury
I often see dozens + of crows flying in late afternoon from farm fields in Southbury toward the direction of Waterbury. Don’t know if this observation is related to the Waterbury crow roost. I would think to get that many crows at the roost site they must be flying in from a good distance.
Paul Fusco
Oxford, CT
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jan 27, 2026, at 6:33 AM, C. S. Wood via CTBirds <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> The latest destination i’ve seen is exactly at the mixmaster
> interchange of route 84 and route 8, in trees north and south of 84.
> Not far from the Waterbury Hospital site that Bruce recalls.
>
> Chris Wood
> Woodbury, CT
> 203 558-0654
> [1]C.S. Wood Photo Sampler
>
> On Jan 26, 2026, at 9:51 AM, Folsom-O'Keefe, Corrie via CTBirds
> <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> I'm hoping to leave work early one of these days and get to the area
> ~half hour before sunset. It is tricky to observe while driving on
> I-84 during rush hour. I'm hoping to get off the highway and follow
> the crows to their final evening destination.
>
> Cheers,
> Corrie Folsom-O'Keefe
> Cheshire, CT
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jan thespiriteddesign.com <jan...>
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2026 9:31 AM
> To: Adam Fasciolo <adam_fasciolo...>
> Cc: Tom Baptist <tbaptist47n...>; Folsom-O'Keefe, Corrie
> <corrie.folsomokeefe...>; Birds CT
> <ctbirds...>
> Subject: Re: [CT Birds] Re: 100’s of Crows Waterbury
> Sent from Jan's cell phone.
> Please excuse autocorrects🌿
> Are there any photos?
>
> On Jan 25, 2026, at 11:29 AM, Adam Fasciolo via CTBirds
> <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> Continuing this very interesting topic on Crows in Connecticut.
>
> Yesterday, Saturday January 24th, while driving through Waterbury on
> Route 8 at approximately 5PM, my wife Jo and I could see hundreds of
> Crows in the sky. A conservative estimate would be 300. But it could
> have been upwards of 500.
>
> It would be interesting at some point to set up a viewing with
> binoculars a/o scopes one day to try and get a better viewing of
> exactly where they’re coming from and also if the flock is just one
> (American Crow?) species.
>
> Adam Fasciolo
>
> Norwalk, CT
>
> On Jan 9, 2026, at 9:59 AM, Tom Baptist via CTBirds
> <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> The history of winter crow roosts in Connecticut is fascinating.
>
> Connecticut Birds (Zeranski & Baptist 1990) cites an article
>
> published in Bird-Lore in 1933 that listed winter crow roosts in
> five
>
> Connecticut counties, the largest roost being in Hartford of 50,000
>
> birds and indicated that that roost was "known to exist for at least
>
> 100 years". Believing that crows were significant predators of eggs
>
> and young of waterfowl, song and insectivorous birds, the
> Connecticut
>
> Board of Fisheries and Game embarked on a campaign in the winter of
>
> 1932-33 to eradicate crows at their winter roosts and approximately
>
> 1,000 birds were shot that winter before the effort was abandoned.
>
> The crows simply dispersed to form new roosts, "thus outrunning the
> men performing the killing."
>
> On Tue, Jan 6, 2026 at 12:58 PM Folsom-O'Keefe, Corrie via CTBirds <
>
> <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> In the winter months, when I'm driving home from the Bent of the
>
> River Audubon Center, I see the birds congregating around the Rte
>
> 8/84 interchange. Often there is a line of birds coming from
>
> Northeast and I'm pretty sure the birds that fly over my house in
>
> Cheshire in the morning and early evening are coming and going from
>
> this roost. New Year Eve, I was headed home from a gathering north
>
> of Waterbury. It was snowing, thundering, and lighting. As we
>
> drove through Waterbury, a flash of lighting startled the crows and
>
> they took to the air. Snow, orange illuminated skies, and crow
> everywhere. It was quite the sight.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Corrie Folsom-O'Keefe
>
> Cheshire, CT
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: C. S. Wood via CTBirds <ctbirds...>
>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 2026 11:48 AM
>
> To: Frank Mantlik <mantlik...>
>
> Cc: Birds CT <ctbirds...>
>
> Subject: [CT Birds] Re: 100’s of Crows Waterbury
>
> There has been a crow roost in Waterbury for at least 40 years. It
>
> has apparently relocated from the northern part of the city to the
>
> area around the Rt 8/Rt 84 interchange. I just noticed it recently,
>
> but I do not travel that way in the evening as often these days so
>
> I don’t know how long it has been there.
>
> Chris Wood
>
> Woodbury, CT
>
> 203 558-0654
>
> [1]C.S. Wood Photo Sampler
>
> On Jan 5, 2026, at 11:23 PM, Frank Mantlik via CTBirds
>
> <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> Hello Ian,
>
> I remember the Norwalk crow roost well. I no longer live in
>
> Norwalk, so the fact that the evening roost no longer exists is
>
> news to me. Perhaps those crows are now flying all the way to
>
> Waterbury, or even West Haven.
>
> Frank Mantlik
>
> Stratford
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 5, 2026, at 10:32 PM, Ian Devlin via CTBirds
>
> <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> 4:30pm
>
> Waterbury by Route 8
>
> Hundreds of crows flocking to roost for the night in treetops
> along
>
> RT 8 by Waterbury.
>
> I used to see this reliably and all the time in the evening
> between
>
> Exit 15 I-95/Route 7 Connector to DMV back in the 1980’s into the
>
> 1990’s. If not hundreds of crows, then at least thousands of them.
>
> No more. Does anyone else remember this phenomenon there and then?
>
> Capt. Ian Devlin
>
> Norwalk, CT.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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> Tom Baptist
>
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>
> East Hampton, CT 06424
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> 1. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cswood-photos/albums/72157710313935571/ >
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