Fish Crow

Photo by Rhododendrites on Wikimedia

Corvus ossifragus

The first time I heard the call of a Fish Crow, I thought an American Crow had been sucking on a helium balloon. I think I even said out loud, “What a weird sounding Crow!” I had never even heard of Fish Crows. It wasn’t until I was using Merlin to identify some other birds that “Fish Crow,” popped up. It was then that it clicked that I hadn’t heard an American Crow with laryngitis, but that this was a completely separate species.

Of course, the first thing I did was look up this anomalous bird to see what the deal was.  I was told they look pretty much identical to American Crows and can usually only be identified by their call. It did make me feel better that I didn’t realize it was a separate species. They are found in the Southeast and, according to All About Birds, not in Kansas. It did mention that their range was spreading north and east along rivers. Well, we have two rivers in town, so that would make sense.  One fun fact they shared was they rob other birds’ nests and dig up turtle eggs. Kind of a bummer, but thanks for the info.

Other than tending to live near water and sounding like Fran Drescher, they are mostly like other corvids, smart, will eat anything, and hold a grudge, probably. They do defer to American Crows when in a territorial dispute because they are every so slightly smaller.
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So, there you have it! What looks like an American Crow, acts like an American Crow, but isn’t an American Crow? A Fish Crow, apparently.

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