The roost

In their most recent outing, the Vancouver Queer Birders went out to visit the crow roost. For those not familiar with Vancouver, the woody area around Still Creek alongside Highway 1 near Willingdon Avenue sees about 10,000 crows congregate every evening, and spread back out across the Lower Mainland in the morning.

I used to this crows have been using this spot since time immemorial, and have been squeezed in with urban development. But no, history is never that simple! Still Creek has only been in use since the 1970s. Before that, it seems there were roosts on Bowyer Island, in West Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Moody and a few other relatively remote places, each used by a few hundred crows. Which does make sense because while numbers are nice when you roost — well, more than nice, it’s a survival strategy — you don’t really need ten thousand of your pals with you, and with development being relatively recent even in Burnaby, you can afford to pick and choose your spots. But, for whatever reason, they all collectively decided on this spot.

(I’m guessing there must have been roosting spots in what’s now Vancouver before settlers came along, but those are lost to history.)

Butler, R.W. and G. Clulow. 2020. History of the establishment of a large Northwestern Crow roost in Burnaby, British Columbia. British
Columbia Birds 30:7–9

So where do you go to see the sights? Head out to the McDonald’s on Still Creek Drive. South of the parking lot is a little trail (-ish) running parallel to the creek. It’s not a great location because there’s garbage here and there (including some bits of dead crows — even a couple fairly complete skeletons) and nowhere to sit down. It feels neglected and forgotten by humans, but then maybe that’s why the crows like it?

A pretty little creek with some trees in the background, sun going down

Wait a bit until just before the sun goes down, and the crows will come, by dozens and then hundreds. Follow the trail as it curves north along Willingdon, and you can see more crows and more trees between The Keg and the highway. It doesn’t look like there are any trails east of Willingdon, so this is as close as we get.

A tree lit gold by the setting sun, with dozens of crows sitting in its branches. The background sky is mostly blue — lil bit gold, lil bit blue

A number of crows sitting or flying around some branches. They are lit up bronze by the low sun. Background is blue sky — flutter flutter caw

Closeup of a few crows clustered on a bare branch. They are lit a bit bronze by the setting sun — getting comfy

A crow in flight, lit up bronze by the setting sun — a bit metal

A tree lit gold by the setting sun, with dozens of crows sitting in its branches. The background sky is mostly cloudy, and lots more crows are flying about — big orange roost

Some trees and crows against an orange cloudy sunset sky — silhouette crows

A single crow landing on top of a tree, against an orange cloudy sunset sky — landing

I’d seen commuting crows at various times — when I lived near BCIT, when I worked at the Broadway Tech Centre near Renfrew Station — and these black feathered weirdos are always such a thrill to see. And, just like all birds, they have their own thing going on, mostly but not completely independent from our human things. We’re part of their world, they’re part of our world, and I hope that continues for a long time.

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