Please forgive this slightly geographically off-topic post. Yesterday evening
beginning about 4:45 PM I saw a phenomenon I had seen just once before.
Driving south on I-270, as we passed the National Institute of Standards and
Technlogy (NIST) in Gaithersburg I noted an aerial highway of crows flying
southbound over and roughly parallel to the highway. Many were at what I would
guess
was about 150-200 feet high, with others significantly higher. The birds were
irregularly spaced, on average about 15-20 "lanes" wide. Subgroups could be
seen
flying toward the main highway from the west. After about 5 miles, around
Rockville, the line began diverging further to the east and by the point the
road
splits for the Beltway all I could see in the fading light was the occasional
subgroup flying east. I can only guesstimate that there were "many thousands"
of crows. I assume they roosted somewhere in the vicinity of northeast DC,
perhaps near the National Arboretum. I would be interested to hear off-line if
anyone knows of the roost site.
I saw virtually the identical phenomenon - same location, same time of day -
about 17 years ago as I left a meeting at NIST. Cheers,
Steve Young
Arlington
