Fish or American Crow (1 Viewer)

[eiguoc]

Ajax, Ontario Canada. Not sure which crow this is, reading descriptions on fish ,It could be that. Report of a fish crow seen in this particular area. I can't remember what it sounded like

 

[njlarsen]

Reliably identified only by voice according to Sibley
Niels

 

[eiguoc]

Reliably identified only by voice according to Sibley
Niels

Thanks. I found a site with his call & played it for him It was the two note call he said = on the Audubon. org field guide

 

[gsimonel]

My highly-suspect rule of thumb is: if I look at a bird and immediately think "Oh, it's a crow", it's probably a fish crow. If my first thought is: "Is that a crow or a raven?", it's probably an American crow.

 

[gsimonel]

By the way, my first thought when I saw your photo was: "Oh, it's a crow."

 

[D Halas]

My highly-suspect rule of thumb is: if I look at a bird and immediately think "Oh, it's a crow", it's probably a fish crow. If my first thought is: "Is that a crow or a raven?", it's probably an American crow.

That might work where you live, but it's a poor rule to follow in southern Ontario, where American Crows are much more common than Fish Crows. According to eBird, Fish Crows are reported from the county where this photo was taken on 0.15% of checklists, whereas American Crows are reported on 39.6% of checklists. Given how much rarer Fish Crows are in the area, surely any small-looking crow that isn't heard calling is still likelier to be a runty American Crow than a Fish Crow.