BOTHELL — “It’s just so weird,” lifelong Bothell resident Lisa Coon mentioned as she stared on the sky.
Coon and her husband, Mitch Evans, typically watch the crows swarm over town from the home windows of their home. Evans mentioned the crows even flip the sky black on some winter nights.
Thousands of crows have gathered nightly on the University of Washington’s Bothell campus for at the least 14 years. The “murder,” or group, of crows in Bothell can attain a peak of as much as 16,000 birds.
Even those that witness the phenomenon often are nonetheless awed. On Wednesday night, standing shut collectively, the couple had a entrance row seat because the corvids descended on the bushes behind the UW Bothell soccer subject.
Close to 200 folks attended UW Bothell’s annual Crow Watch, that includes a number of shows about crows and an invite to observe the birds at nightfall.
People collect for Crow Watch 2023 on the UW Bothell campus in Bothell, Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. Thousands of crows come to roost nightly. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Observers started crowding on the North Creek Events Center, overlooking the soccer subject, at 4 p.m. — almost an hour earlier than the crows began touchdown. Many held binoculars and cameras in anticipation of the crows’ arrival.
Flocks of geese flying excessive above the sphere all through the night sometimes induced confusion amongst onlookers who wished to ensure they caught the primary glimpses of crows.
Crows collect throughout Crow Watch 2023 on the UW Bothell campus in Bothell, Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. Thousands of crows come to roost nightly. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
“Are those crows and geese?” requested Sabrina Bates, a UW Bothell alumna who enjoys coming again to her alma mater for the free leisure. With so many teams of birds circling above the soccer subject, it was tough to differentiate the species.
“It’s a bird-watcher’s paradise,” mentioned Bates, eyes skilled towards the sky.
Close to five p.m., the crows stopped hovering and began touchdown on campus buildings. Many swooped even decrease to the bottom, swirling almost 30 toes away from onlookers standing on the trail between the soccer subject and tennis courts. Most of the crows settled into close by bushes, however a small group huddled on a tennis courtroom, unfazed by individuals who moved as shut as they might.
Crows collect throughout Crow Watch 2023 on the UW Bothell campus in Bothell, Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. Thousands of crows come to roost nightly. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Faculty at UW Bothell suspect the 58-acre web site on campus turned a roosting space for crows round 2009 as a result of bushes within the close by wetlands have been tall sufficient, finally, to offer nighttime safety. Crow consultants mentioned the campus can also be a central location for the birds to assemble, beckoning them from cities throughout King and Snohomish counties.
Ursula Valdez, a lecturer at UW Bothell, mentioned how media influences public emotions towards birds in a presentation at this 12 months’s Crow Watch. She talked about Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and the way the 1963 movie performed a major function in making folks cautious of crows.
She mentioned occasions just like the Crow Watch encourage folks to study concerning the birds’ precise conduct.
“We don’t tend to notice things that are around us,” Valdez mentioned.
Crows and geese collect throughout Crow Watch 2023 on the UW Bothell campus in Bothell, Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. Thousands of crows come to roost nightly. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
When her relations from Peru come to go to, Valdez mentioned they all the time wish to see this native spectacle.
She believes persons are consistently captivated by UW Bothell’s crows due to the sheer variety of them and the predictability of their day by day roost.
Valdez mentioned, “People like things that are out of the ordinary.”
Ta’Leah Van Sistine: 425-339-3460; [email protected]; Twitter: @TaLeahRoseV.
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