Bravo, Auburn, for designating your crow roost as one of the Seven Wonders of your city.
For my work as an author, radio commentator and documentary script writer, I have travelled all over the world, from the Amazon rainforests to the cloud forests of Papua, New Guinea, and I can say with authority that the roost is one of the most thrilling natural spectacles I have ever encountered.
This great aggregation of highly intelligent, vocal, social animals is a riveting event.
I had the privilege of writing about it for National Public Radio's environmental show, “Living on Earth,” which aired my report over their last winter to more than 200 stations nationwide.
As part of the reporting for this piece, by the way, I talked to top epidemiologists who assured me the crow roost poses NO threat of transmitting bird flu to humans -- a reason sometimes cited for some people's fear of these birds.
On the contrary: having this extraordinary wildlife bonanza in town, I would think, could be a tourist draw for your beautiful city, given the fact that birdwatching is America's No. 1 outdoor hobby.
Here is a chance for ordinary people to watch birds doing something extraordinary.
Sy Montgomery
Hancock, N.H.
This great aggregation of highly intelligent, vocal, social animals is a riveting event.
I had the privilege of writing about it for National Public Radio's environmental show, “Living on Earth,” which aired my report over their last winter to more than 200 stations nationwide.
As part of the reporting for this piece, by the way, I talked to top epidemiologists who assured me the crow roost poses NO threat of transmitting bird flu to humans -- a reason sometimes cited for some people's fear of these birds.
On the contrary: having this extraordinary wildlife bonanza in town, I would think, could be a tourist draw for your beautiful city, given the fact that birdwatching is America's No. 1 outdoor hobby.
Here is a chance for ordinary people to watch birds doing something extraordinary.
Sy Montgomery
Hancock, N.H.
