Subject: "Northwestern Crows" (was Ravens)
Date: Jun 11 11:21:08 2001
From: Guttman, Burt - GuttmanB at evergreen.edu
Every once in a while, someone sends a note to Tweeters with a reference
like this one from Jack Kintner:
> I put out the newspaper for recycling this morning and the sports section
> with the picture of Ray Bourque holding the Stanley Cup was on top and a
> nesting pair (site's in my front yard) of Northwestern crows landed on it
I'm interested in these casual references to "Northwestern Crows," and I
have one question for those of you who use the term: How can you tell?
We've had discussions on Tweeters before (maybe before many of you came on
board) about the issue of whether "Northwestern Crows" exist. The general
consensus, as I understand it, has been that there is a broad cline from
relatively smaller crows to the northwest to relatively larger crows to the
southeast, but that the species or even subspecies "Northwestern Crow" is a
fiction. People who still believe in the fiction are apparently going by
the AOU checklist, taking this "official knowledge" as truth. I don't
believe most ornithologists in this area believe in the fiction, and I don't
know why the AOU keeps this "species" on its list. (I've knocked it off my
personal life list.)
Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College 360-867-6755
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
Reunite Gondwana