Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 12:46:13 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Lots of crows building nests MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The wintering distribution of the Fish Crow is problematic and the standard field guide range maps give little guidance. It seems that the majority of Fish Crows do indeed clear out of nesting areas in early winter, presumably heading south. Terry Root's "Atlas of Wintering North American Birds" (from "old" CBC data) shows that by far the largest wintering concentrations of Fish Crows are along the Gulf Coast and in peninsular Florida. However a few family groups/flocks may be found at rich food sources (often landfills) to the northern limit of the breeding range. For instance a few Fish Crows are seen at the Colonie Landfill on the lower Mohawk River near Troy, NY throughout the winter. It seems the Fish Crow's status is comparable to many "half hardies" in showing a pattern of mass exodus with a few wintering at selected hotspots. If this pattern is correct I would guess many Fish Crows reestablish nesting territories in late February and March giving American Crows a head start on nest building, but this is only a rough rule-of-thumb; anybody who sees nest building crows should make an effort to identify the crows to species wherever possible. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator Chestertown, MD 410-778-9568 rossgull@crosslink.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patty Craig" To: Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2002 9:43 AM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Lots of crows building nests > Frank, > > I was wondering where "here" is in the statement: Fish crows > are winter residents here, and during extreme cold snaps american crows > are "partially" migratory - that is, they are local migrants on the east > > coast of North America. > > In St. Mary's County, Fish Crows seem to disappear in the winter > months. I find that I have to go to Charles County to find numbers of > them. Where as American Crows are numerous and can be found in large > flocks. > > Thanks, > Patty Craig > Dameron, Md > pattycraig@mail.ameritel.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================