Ohio birders: Yesterday I discovered an apparent FISH CROW in University Heights, OH, a near-east suburb of Cleveland. Michelle Leighty joined me in the field, and within ten minutes we were had found a nest that is still under construction, with SIX crows attending the nest. I hesitated to put a 100% certain ID on the bird, and instead posted about the birds to the ID-Frontiers listserv. Immediately I received comments supporting our identification of the bird, including unequivocal support of the birds' identification as Fish Crow from David Sibley. I am still soliciting input on the identification. One field mark I forgot to mention, and one that Jen Brumfield noted as soon as she saw the images, is that the throat feathers are ruffled while the bird was vocalizing, which is a Fish Crow feature. At least one bird has been feeding in the Heinen's grocery store parking lot on Green Road just south of Cedar Road in University Heights. 2180 South Green Road University Heights, OH 44121 The nest is a ways to the south. I am hesitant to post the exact location because the nest is still under construction. When Michelle and I were in the area, the birds would not go to the nest if we were standing ANYWHERE nearby. They only approached the nest if we were in the car, and I suspect that even then they were not in a relaxed state. The birds are VERY active and call frequently, so there is no need to harass the birds by standing close to the nest. The nest is located at a house with no visible number on it on Rocklyn Road in Shaker Heights, and is apparently number 2677. Basically, get yourself to the intersection of Sherburne and Rocklyn roads and you will detect the birds. Below is what I posted to ID-Frontiers. It is also on the Facebook group Birding Ohio for additional discussion. You can follow the discussion on the ID-Frontiers listserv through this website if you are not a subscriber: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/FRID.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi folks: Yesterday afternoon I heard a nasal, descending "ahh" call coming from a crow in a Cleveland, OH suburb, then located the bird and took photos and audio. The bird appeared smaller than a typical American Crow, and all vocalizations were nasal. Michelle Leighty joined me for more detailed observations, photos, and call recording, and we watched the bird fly off to the south where we eventually found a nest. The nest was being attended by up to six birds. All of the birds gave nasal calls that resemble calls I've heard from Fish Crows elsewhere. They never gave the more diagnostic two-noted "uh uh" that I'm also used to hearing from Fish Crows, but they never gave American Crow calls. The only other vocalization that we noted was a somewhat high pitched rattle. This morning we watched the nest for a few more hours. An American Crow was in the area, but never at the nest. The nest is still under construction, and the bird(s) responsible for building the nest always gave nasal calls if they make any noise. Fledged young American Crows give calls that can be confused with Fish Crow, but it is too early in the season for this (the birds lack any juvenile-like plumage and soft part characters). Female American Crows also can give begging calls at the initiation of the nesting season, but we can hear the call coming from at least three different individuals at a time. But do second year (SY) helpers at the nest continue to give fledgling-like nasal calls? I don't see an answer to this in the literature anywhere. I'm not sure what to call these birds. Evidence in favor of Fish Crow: -The first bird I located was giving nasal calls, but not in the presence of other crows. No American-like vocalizations were noted. -This first bird also seemed slimmer and thin-billed. -Wing shape (see below) Evidence against Fish Crow: -The birds never ever give the two-syllabled "uh uh" -There are six birds at the nest. According to BNA accounts, this is a routine number of helpers for American Crow, but Fish Crows are only known to have a single helper (and it is possibly not a relative, as there is some antagonistic behavior between them) Characteristics I can't judge without direct comparisons: glossy aspect of plumage leg length overall size The other field mark that is important for identifying these birds is the comparison of the length of P9 to P5. Kevin McGowan's webpage has a nice summary of this characteristic, as does a quiz from Cape May: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/FishCrow.htm http://www.birdcapemay.org/tigrina/2007/quiz_1207.shtml This characteristic is difficult to use in the field, even with photographs, as the angle between the wing and the observer can greatly influence the appearance of the primaries' length. The first bird I observed also has something wrong with its left wing, possibly missing a primary or two. I've labeled the primaries on the wings in a few images at my Flickr page, below. To my eye, P9 is quite a bit longer than P5 on both of the birds that we photographed. Michelle and I obtained photos of at least two individuals (one with the problem on the left wing and one without), as well as recordings of the vocalizations: PHOTOS: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ornitholoco AUDIO: http://soundcloud.com/ornitholoco The audio is unedited, but the recording from 3:49pm is perhaps the most useful. The recording from 5:26pm is typical of what is heard around the nest. I can see two ways to interpret all of this. Either 1) Fish Crows have set up their first ever nest for Ohio and have an unusual number of helpers at the nest, or 2) an after-second year (ASY) American Crow pair has four second year (SY) offspring helping at the nest and the ASYs stay silent while the SYs give constant begging calls that resemble Fish Crow. Any insight would be appreciated! Andy ------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Andy Jones, Ph.D. Director of Science William A. and Nancy R. Klamm Endowed Chair of Ornithology and Head of Department of Ornithology Cleveland Museum of Natural History 1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle Cleveland, OH 44106 http://www.cmnh.org/Ornithology.aspx Photography: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ornitholoco ______________________________________________________________________ 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]