When the CROWS Come Home to ROOST

On a winter evening, lines of birds stream across the sky, all heading to the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts. As the sun goes down, more birds, thousands of them, pour into the city. They look like a dark river flowing across the sunset sky. They land in squawking, rustling groups in trees and on buildings along the Merrimack River. By nightfall, the crows pack into a clump of trees on the riverbank where they spend the night, quiet and barely moving. With the first light of morning, the crows caw and flap and fly off in all directions. But they’ll be back. Every night until spring comes, the crows will return to the riverbank. They’ve been doing this every winter for 30 years.

When birds settle down to rest or sleep, it’s called “roosting.” The word “roost” also means a group of birds that is roosting together,