Last night (1/10/08) we decided to try once again to determine how many crows are using the roost located behind the Annin flag company in Coshocton. We arrived at 4:30 PM and the trees already had quite a few birds in them, but not so many that we couldn't get a beginning count of ~550. As the birds streamed in, we were able to count them, first in groups of 10, then 50s, then 100s. There was even a space of time when we could only estimate groups of 1000. Tim & I were each counting from 2 different directions but there were also birds coming in from beyond the trees that we could not see well enough to count so the final count we came up with has to be off by at least a few thousand. To make it an even greater challenge, it was raining pretty steadly and then a train came by and roused them all up. What a sight that was! At any rate, our final tally was 16,180. And knowing that we missed several thousand, that roost has to be at least 20,000 crows strong. So my question is, does anyone know how this roost compares to other crow roosts throughout the state? And how many large roosts might be present? How far away might these birds be coming from? While getting permission to park in the back parking lot to count the birds, employees of the flag company expressed a great deal of interest in what we were doing, partly because they have been finding a significant number of dead crows on & around the lot. They wondered whether there was anyone to whom this should be reported. I informed them that as far as I know, there is no further testing being done on crows for West Nile virus, but that I would inquire on this list serve as to whether there is anyone interested in this information. If anyone else is interested in checking out this crow roost, the flag co. people are very cooperative; they just ask that you let them know you are there & why. If the door is locked when you arrive, just ring the buzzer--there is always someone around. Annin & Co. is located just south of the intersection of 3rd & Ivy in Coshocton. Laura Dornan Louisville Stark Co. **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]