Date: 1/27/26 8:43 am From: C. S. Wood via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Re: 100’s of Crows Waterbury
Back in the 1980’s i would see a steady stream of crows heading north at the top of Cheshire Hill on I-84 while commuting home in the evening from Hartford. I assumed they were heading to the roost site in north Waterbury and coming from the shore and landfills still open down that way.
Chris Wood Woodbury, CT 203 558-0654 [1]C.S. Wood Photo Sampler
On Jan 27, 2026, at 8:42 AM, Paul Fusco <paul.fusco...> wrote:
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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