Allyn Weaks wrote:

>Having learned just about enough to start being dangerous to myself and all
>around me, I have a few crow questions. I've been lead to believe that
>there were the 'real' native puget sound crows (subspecies? variety?
>race?), and an invading version from back east that is a good bit larger.
>Is this true, and if so, how completely have the bigger ones taken over,
>and where? Are there any 'natives' left in Seatle? Are the bigger ones
>more aggressive predators than the natives?

Wow, I would love to be able to trace the source of this urban myth. There
are indeed real native Puget Sound crows, probably originally Northwestern
Crows, the form that evolved in isolation on the Northwest coast strip.
Since the opening up of the forests in this region, crows have moved pretty
well all over the landscape. The eastern Washington crows, considered
American Crows in the field guides, are just a bit larger with a somewhat
different call. You can't tell them apart in the field, nor in the hand
without making several measurements. Most of us in the area consider the
Northwestern Crow no more than a well-defined subspecies that is now
intergrading with the larger crows to the east and south, with no barrier
to gene flow.

But the "invading version from back east" is nothing more than some genes
that have managed to cross the Cascades, probably no larger than the genes
that were already here, and I suspect most of the invasion was in fact
coastal crow genes toward the interior and eventually east across the
Cascades. All these genes, no matter their source, are native. And I
think all crows are just about equally aggressive predators.

>Cats at least can be fenced out... Is there anything legal to be done to
>discourage crows from hanging around? Do they react to falcon recordings,
>or are they big enough to only get annoyed? Are there any falconers in
>Seattle who would like to train their birds in my driveway? Plenty of
>tasty starlings and house sparrows, too! :-)

There are probably just too many crows for us to be able to do anything
about their populations. In fact, just the other day I came to the
realization that all those one-year-old nonbreeding crows are not tied down
to a territory and therefore probably wander all over the city looking for
bird-egg breakfasts. All we can do at this point, I think, is shake our
heads with the realization of the extent of some of the ramifications of
our changes in the landscape (including, for example, the garbage available
everywhere for crows). I'm afraid that--exactly as David Wright said--the
"Pacific Northwest Native Wildlife Gardening" that Allyn espouses and that
I follow vigorously won't really exacerbate the problems of urbanization
vis-a-vis wildlife, or at least vis-a-vis migratory birds and many other
elements of our wildlife.

I've actually heard and read this following statement a number of times:
"put a pond in your backyard and attract our vanishing amphibians." Where
in heaven's name do people think these amphibians are going to come from in
the middle of Seattle? I don't expect to see any in my pond, although
plenty of aquatic invertebrates have colonized it, and they are wonderful
in their own right, although probably not declining (but who knows?).

It's easy to be cynical when you bought a particular house just to be on a
green belt, when you've spent several thousand dollars to make the yard
better for "wildlife," and when you look out at your enhanced wildlife
habitat in the morning and see, at your environmentally correct bird
feeders, rock doves, starlings, house sparrows, and eastern gray squirrels.
Oh look, here comes a chickadee; whew, wildlife. Most days I'm not that
cynical, and all kinds of native species of birds visit the yard. But, for
the most part, those Neotropical migrants that are of so much concern are
not our usual visitors; they remain outside the city to breed. And the
resident species that remain on the urban scene have to contend with the
Curse of the Three Cs.

And one question. I'm interested in hearing about catproof fencing. What
we have up so far is differentially permeable; some cats and raccoons climb
it with ease.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416