The crows return to Middletown

 Every winter thousands of crows return to Middletown, N.Y. And every winter I try to find and photograph them. In the past, the crows would roost in downtown Middletown. The city would play recordings of crows in distress and shine green lasers at the birds to get them to leave.

That seems to have worked. For the past few years, the crows have been roosting in the Town of Wallkill. After feeding in the countryside all day, they return to the the Middletown/Town of Wallkill area late each afternoon.

The first place I spotted the birds was Randall Airport. They gather here in a staging area before heading to the roosting site.

The birds roost off Route 211 near some of the shopping areas. The theory is that the crows like to roost in lighted areas so they can see any predators, like owls. The birds were perched on a store before heading to the trees to roost.

The crows then gathered in the trees along Route 211.

That's Saturn and Jupiter shining in the background, below.

You can see these and many more crow photos on my website.