Bird name:

Fish Crow

Corvus ossifragus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

Code 4

FICR

Code 6

COROSS

ITIS

179737

Breeding Location:

Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Forest

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Small colonies

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Blue green or gray green with brown and gray spots

Number of Eggs:

4 - 5

Incubation Days:

16 - 18

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Dried twigs., Lined with bark chips, pine needles, feathers, horse or cattle hair, soft grasses.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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General

Fish Crow: Medium-sized crow with black body and dark, heavy bill. Sexes are similar. Very similar to American Crow, but call is different.

Range and Habitat

Fish Crow: Resident on Atlantic coast from Massachusetts and southern New England to Florida and along the Gulf coast west to Texas; found inland along larger rivers north to Illinois. Some northern birds migrate south in winter. Prefers low coastal country, near tidewater and pine barrens in the north; in the south, prefers coasts and inland lakes, rivers, and swamps.

Breeding and Nesting

Fish Crow: Four to five blue or gray-green eggs with brown and gray spots are laid in a nest made of twigs, lined with bark chips, pine needles, feathers, hair, and soft grass, and built from 6 to 90 feet above the ground in a shrub or the topmost crotch of a deciduous tree or conifer. Incubation ranges from 16 to 18 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Fish Crow: Eats marine invertebrates, carrion, bird eggs and nestlings, fruits, and seeds. Forages on the ground and in shrubs and trees; opens mollusks by dropping them on hard surfaces.

Readily Eats

Peanuts

Vocalization

Fish Crow: Call is a high-pitched, nasal "ca-hah" or "aw-uk."

Similar Species

Fish Crow: American Crow is slightly larger and has a more typical sounding call. Common Raven is much larger and has a larger bill and wedge-shaped tail.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America