ML153964891

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Written at time: Possibly a begging American Crow female - but seemed smaller and more nasal. No other crows around like this one. Update: I'm not entirely sure that this is, indeed, a Fish Crow. I think it is the same individual that has been seen near the compost for the past month. The audio files updated by Graham Rice and Jim Mead sound identical, so I think that this may be the same crow. However, there are a few salient features which may mean it is an American Crow. For one, primaries 7, 8, and 9 seem to be almost equidistant. They could be of differentiable length - the bird is not in my hand - but from the photos, they don't look as pointed as I would expect. The back feathers also show some scaling, in one sun-dappled photo, but these are beneath the mantle and might be larger, anyway, so I don't trust this feature for differentiation. Unfortunately, the fifth primary on the right side appears to be growing in. This can't be molt (wrong season), but because of this I can't judge the size difference between it and p9. In its favor, I have multiple shots of the bird calling, and it appears to be extending its throat without hunching down like a normal crow. However, in a video, I have one segment where it fluffs its feathers before cawing, and then its throat feathers were still distended. This makes me not trust this feature at all. The bird does seem more of a glossy purple than normal, and it had fast wingbeats. It also appeared smaller to me, but it was not directly near other crows for this assessment. It doesn't appear to have a hook on its beak, but my photos are not high-resolution enough. The caw itself still seems more nasal to me than a begging female American Crow. So, given that an individual is known to live here, and that none of the features above seem to permanently disqualify it, I am going to keep this as a Fish Crow, and agree that IDing is very hard.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

Lens

200.0-500.0 mm f/5.6

ISO

2000

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/8000 sec

Dimensions

2048 pixels x 1365 pixels

Original file size

1.68 MB