Hi Tweeters --

I just got back from rural Pennsylvania, and was startled by the variety
of crow voices there. Many of the crows sounded like they'd inhaled
helium. The National Geographic guide puts the range of fish crows just
up into SE Pennsylvania (where I was) and says they are primarily
distinguished from their american crow cousins by voice, but warns that
they also sound a lot like juvenile american crows. Size was never a
useful differentiator because I never saw two with different voices
sitting side by side. The habitat was rural farmland/woodland mix. I
tend to think the high voiced crows were probably juvenile americans,
mostly because I've never knowingly seen a fish crow. Are there any
really good ways to differentiate between juvenile american crows and
fish crows?

Katie Sauter
sauter at u.washington.edu