Do Crows Rooks or Ravens have mass meetings?

[rutineli]

Now this IS a perfectly serious and honest enquiry.

I was driving near Bottisford in Lincolnshire on an old airfield on a Friday early evening, in early Autumn and I noticed that in the field to my left there were crows, rooks or ravens (I do not know the difference) by the thousand - actually there were tens of thousands (no this is not a fishrman's tale and I know how silly it sounds but I swear it is true).
Most of them were on the ground of the open field although there were thousans (and I DO mean thousands,) circling to fing a place to land.

Now as ridiculous as this sounds and again I swear it is true, every single bird was facing in exactly the same direction. This is not a joke!!

There was an apparent overflow in adjacent fields of birds who had landed unable to squeeze into the main area of attraction and there were literally thousans more there too and all facing the same way, although more widely spaced..

I would be grateful if somebody believed me let alone knew the answer because I was quite spooked by it. I was not alone at the time and I was sober (I am TT).

Has anybody else even seen something like this and if there is a reason for it I would be ecstatic to find out.?

rutineli

[RATTER15]

Well rutineli, they were rooks!! crows are far more solitary, hence rooks live in a rookery!


as for the difference between the two:

If you see 1 rook in a field, it is in fact a crow!
If you see lots of crows in a field, they are actually rooks!

and if rooks live in a rookery, where do bats live?

[rutineli]

Well the rating was for the smile it gave me, not the facts. Now you see why I have hesitated for so long before I actually took the risk of posting this enquiry, because I knew that it would be received in the same spirit that you showed.
I faithfully promise that every word is true. - rutineli

[natalie_1982]

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/organi c_blueber.php

It seems you are not alone. Although it doesn't explain it, someone has seen it happen!

[rutineli]

Natalie I am sooooo grateful to you for adding creditability to my question. The site that you quoted does indeed make mention of such an event but alas it does not take it any further.
To tell you the truth I had even started to doubt it myself but for the presence of another bloke who was too numb between the ears to realise that he was seeing something special.
I hope that there is somebody out there who can add more.
rutineli.

[natalie_1982]

I've never seen it myself, but.... have you seen the Carlsberg advert with the 1000's of swallows (?) making those amazing shapes and displays? Well, my hubby saw that once and was astounded; but could never fully make me comprehend because I couldn't imagine it so I kind of understand where you are coming from. I have been googling on and off since I read the post and have found nothing further, but at least you know it happens elsewhere! I will keep looking......

[rutineli]

Natalie you are a star - many many thanks = rutineli

[natalie_1982]

It's official I am not going to sleep tonight until I know! Try this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/naturescalendar/winter/fa rmland/buckenham/buck_farm.shtml

Whereabouts did you see them? I saw a linkabout Norfolk too.

[rutineli]

Natalie - I saw them next to Lenham airfield (WW"2 , I think) which is near Bottisford, near Grantham in Lincolnshire.
There were without Question tens of thousands of them and to the best of my reckoning they were ALL facing towards the northwest, but I am a cockney and no sailor so don't put too much store in that. - rutineli

[juanmike]

Is'nt it called a Parliament of Rooks?

[Noweia]

Every evening crows pass over our house in large numbers to roost in a nearby forest - we get groups passing over every 10-20 minutes for about an hour!

At the same time the starlings are flying the opposite direction to congregate under one of the city's bridges and form the huge clouds that look so spectacular.

Also, most birds will stand/perch facing the wind if given the choice - it's quite probably the wind was coming from the northwest, so this was the direction most crows were facing.

[lizzydrippin]

rutineli, I have also seen this occurance, not quite on the same scale as what you saw but there's a large tree nearby that I can see clearly from my bedroom window and twice now Ive seen hundreds of crows (rooks?Im mixed up already about the crow/rook thing) all congregating in this one tree. The last time was just a week ago and it was the noise that first made me look. Its quite some site. More and more kept arriving for about half an hour and then eventually they flew off again in groups towards the same direction. It reminded me of that Alfred Hitchcock film 'The Birds' (good name for it that!)

[rutineli]

Thank you everyone, I am begining to feel sane at least, thanks to your reassurances, but it is all very strange isn't it? - rutineli

[burnhal]

and for your info-
generally speaking rooks gather in large groups. They are recognisable as they have a grey beak and grey bare patch at the front of the head.
Crows are a similair size but tend to be solitary except during breeding and after when they appear in family groups- they are totally black. However if you venture north of Glasgow the carrion crow as it is properly known is replaced by the hooded crow- grey belly and mantle but the rest black- they do interbreed where they overlap.
Ravens are huge- size of a buzzard, totally black and recognisable by its heavy beak and distinguishing 'cronk' call- they are generally only found in mountainous places- scotland and wales generally though they can be found in the lake district and SW England (oh and the Tower of London though they have their wings clipped!!)
For interest the other members of the crow family are the magpie, the jackdaw- smaller than a crow , black with a grey nape and the chough- black with red legs and der curved beak- found in west wales, some parts of western scotland and cornwall.

[lizzydrippin]

Well thats even more of a mystery then cos these birds that I saw were most definitely crows then (all black) and Im in the north of England. Which months do they breed burnhal? and how large would these groups be? and with regards to what Ivanmike mentioned whats meant by a parliament of rooks?

[willowman]

Bill Oddie ended one of his birdwatch programmes with film of thousands of birds doing a aerial ballet. He said it was the first time he had seen it, and the image was unbelievable. The birds were swooping round in various formations and patterns, eventually landing in a field. Can't remember what birds they were.
Somebody may know where you can see a video of this, maybe youtube?

[seekeerz]

just a bit of trivia - it's a parliament of owls and a murder of crows [this may also apply to ravens] - food for thought !!

[rutineli]

My cup overflows but what about all of those birds???? rutineli

[Avatar]

Willowman,
Bill Oddie was watching starlings.
It wasnt the first time he'd seen it either. How would he have known to bring a camera crew along if he'd never seen it before....?
He did say he thought it was the most spectacular thing he'd seen in nature.

[burnhal]

a starling roost is an amazing thing- the one on the severn that bill odie was at numbers some quarter million birds- there are plenty of smaller ones- generally you are looking at november though february- the one we have at Otmoor reserve numbers 50,000 at its peak- though its starting to tail off a little now. It is one of the most wonderful things to watch and if you know of one go see it- you dont need to be a birder to appreciate it!!

[rutineli]

Well I am trying to piece together the various fragments of information that will help to explain why tens of thousands of rooks, crows or ravens were sitting in a field facing the same way while thousands more were flying overhead attempting to find a landing spot.
Starlings fly in aerobatic displays and so do swallows but what I saw was like a birdie drive in movie (without the film screen). They were not moving or making a noise, just sitting there. I don't suppose that there is an answer that anyone knows for sure, but thank you to everyone who took an interest. - rutineli