Not a very exciting bird to report, perhaps, but the 'crow happening' this afternoon was noteworthy!
I was doing a lower creek loop around 3:30 when I first heard and then saw crows, LOTS of crows, in the air, perched in trees and on buildings, and foraging on the ground in large numbers.
Off Girard St., between A and D Sts., between 500-1,000 crows almost covered the ground foraging for what I eventually found to be mostly acorns! At one time, as many as 300 lifted together and headed in the general direction of Cornwall Park. The rest of the crows stayed and continued foraging.
Interesting thing is that I seemed to be the only humans taking notice of this event. No photo will do it justice, but I have attached one.
Joe Meche
Wish I'd seen this! You have a great knack for being in the right place at the right time. Thanks for this bit of vicarious experience.
Sheila
Joe and Whatcom Birders,
All of the crows in Whatcom County, with the possible exception of the Ross Lake area, and virtually all of the crows in Skagit County and San Juan County, are Northwestern Crows, not American Crows. The calls of the two species are quite different, and if someone captured and measured the birds, they would certainly fall within the Northwestern Crow range.
Northwestern Crows have hybridized extensively with American Crows in much of western Washington, including nearly all of the Puget Sound region south of Skagit County, and much of the Olympic Peninsula. However, we do not have a single record ever for American Crow for the Vancouver, BC area (we just issued a new checklist for the area), and there are no records for Vancouver Island, so it would be very surprising if there were American Crows in Whatcom County.
The situation needs much more study, including detailed DNA analysis, but I’m certain that if this were done, it would show that Whatcom County crows are Northwesterns.
Wayne C. Weber
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