[CT Birds] Fish Crow

[james.bair at snet.net]

24 years ago when I lived in the New London area (I feel like Dave P. when I think about how long ago it was) Fish Crows were pretty much unknown. I seem to recall them on Fishers Island, but any crow I ever ID'd on the mainland was as best I can recall a Common Crow (American Crow? Common American Crow?). I could usually rely on Fish Crows when I went to Milford Point or other places along the coast in New Haven or Fairfield Counties. But even in the eighties they were headed up the river valleys. About twenty years ago (I think it was 1986 actually) I was with a group at White Memorial in Litchfield led by Lee Schlesinger, and a small flock of Fish Crows flew over. That was a surprise back then. In the last 8 or 10 years I have heard Fish Crows in Torrington--they sometimes come to the parking lot of the Burger King by Route 8. If they have been expanding eastward, then they probably will go up the eastern rivers as they have in the western part of the state.

The Fish Crows do seem to stick closer to the water, though. I live about a mile and a half from the Housatonic River. The crows in the parking lots about a mile closer to the river are mostly Fish Crows. (There is a Burger King there, too.) The crows in my neighborhood, however, are mostly Common Crows. Occasionally I hear a Fish Crow in the neighborhood. Like Roy, though, I don't count them unless it is about November to March. After that, the quacking crows might be young Commons.

Jim Bair