Fall has arrived and it is time for the great Renton Crow Party to start outside my office window. Over the years I have investigated this phenomenon.  Here are several of my articles  –  Murder comes to Roost and Mega Renton Crow Roost

I have to admit I still have more questions than answers even after all these years. To watch them arrive around our building in the fall leaves one in total awe. Some employees have gone running to their cars claiming it is a scene from a movie…  aka “The Birds”. Not me, I am transfixed by them and amazed by the aerial performance. Want to see a little sample of this?  Go to this post with video – Renton Crow Rendezvous

One of my unanswered questions is whether this is just a fall thing? I suspect that quite a number of crows come to the valley each night all year-long. What we are seeing in the fall and winter is because the dawn and dusk coincides with our work schedule. In the summer and late spring the days are longer so the coming and going of the big flock are not seen by us.

My first suspicion to this was in the summer when I saw small families in the Burien area flying to the southeast each night. This is mostly occurring after the babies have become big enough to fly greater distances.  Plus in my neighborhood a guard is left at the home territory. That just means the Renton Roost isn’t as large as in the fall/winter time.  This is all just my assumption or theory. Some day I will have the time to confirm this or someone can chime in with additional facts.

Why this place in Renton? As you can see from my prior blog posts I have tried to sort that out. I have resigned myself to the fact that we will not ever really know the answer.

Why do crows mob and roost in large groups? Over the years I have looked at this in several ways. One was to understand this as a bird behavior. Then again it is tempting to add a more human, family, or intelligence aspect of this big gathering. How much I wanted it to be a big party where they get together to share stories, show off children and get to see their distant cousins. Where the reason lies is somewhere in the middle or none of the above. Don’t think we will ever understand this.

Crows and Corvids are a mysterious bunch. I am not surprised that I have questions unanswered. Unexplained behavior is not exclusive to crows but due to their amazing intelligence we are fascinated by them. We humans have built legends around them and in some ways even worshiped them.

Just remember… “They are Black!”