Hi Tweeters,

Jim Ha Says:

(snip)
>We hope to make those recordings later this summer... any
>suggestions for crow roosts in the Portland to Vancouver Island coastal
>area, anyone?

As far as Vancouver BC stands as a possibility for these recordings, how
about the Still Creek pre-roost staging area in Burnaby BC, the municipality
immediately to the E of Vancouver BC in the Greater VCR conurb? In
non-breeding season, *Tens* of thousands of Northwestern Crows (NOCR) gather
there in the evening before heading to their roost sites on Burnaby
Mountain. The scene is just nutso.

There's been a few American Crows (AMCR) here, usually in winter. Though no
AMCR sighting has ever been accepted by the local rarities committee, a
distinctly-larger crow giving a distinctly-higher-pitched yelp in a flock of
smaller NOCR's all uttering their typical deeper dry bark seems a pretty
straightforward ID to me, but, as usual, I'm open to compelling evidence
that things are never as simple as they appear on the surface.

One of the local Unsolved Mysteries seems to be the contact zone between
NOCR & AMCR in southwestern BC, especially to the east and north.
Intuitively, it would be where the Fraser Delta ends in the E near Hope BC,
and the N end of Howe Sound to the N, but I get a different answer depending
on who I ask. Is there a cline in either direction? Does anyone *know*?

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca