Tweeters,

How quickly we forget-- or how often we rehash the same subject on
TWEETERS!

Attached is a copy of a message I sent to TWEETERS on Feb 20, 2001, in
response to a question about crows from Susan Muttart. At the time, it
provoked no discussion whatever, except for a private response from
Bill Smith.

Agreed that in much of western Washington, there has been so much
interbreeding of Northwestern and American Crows that it is almost
futile to try to separate them. However, in British Columbia, the two
forms have totally separate ranges, and there is little or no
interbreeding. Even at Hope, 100 miles up the Fraser River, where I've
birded frequently, all the crows are clearly Northwestern, based on
calls and size. However, at the Hope Slide, only about 20 miles east
of Hope, the crows appear to be American.

So don't assume, just because it's hard to separate Northwestern from
American Crows in the Puget Sound area, that you can't do so anywhere.
Whether these two are well-marked subspecies (as seems likely, contra
the A.O.U.) or species, they are easily identified in B.C.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus at home.com



----- Original Message -----
From: WAYNE WEBER <contopus at home.com>
To: TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; WHATCOM BIRDERS
<whatcombirds at lists.wwu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 8:53 AM
Subject: CROWS IN WESTERN WA

> Tweeters,
>
> Most Tweeters are probably familiar with the status of crows in
> western Washington. However, like Susan, there are probably quite a
> few who aren't, so the following explanation may be helpful.
>
> Ornithologists recognize 2 species of crows in the Northwest: the
> smaller Northwestern Crow, generally found in coastal areas from
> south-central Alaska to the Puget Sound area and the Olympic
> Peninsula, and the American Crow, found in all other areas. However,
> in the last 50 to 100 years, American Crows have spread westward in
> Washington due to the creation of new habitat by the clearing of
> forest. They have apparently interbred with Northwestern Crows to
the
> point where, in much of western Washington, it's hard to say what
kind
> of crow is present, and many of us just call them "crows". In fact,
> the two species should almost certainly be "lumped", but the
American
> Ornithologists' Union, which rules on such matters, has not made
this
> decision yet.
>
> In southeastern Alaska and in coastal British Columbia-- unlike
> Washington-- there is little or no overlap and/or hybridization
> between the two crows, and any crow seen west of the Cascade/Coast
> Range crest can safely be called a Northwestern.
>
> In my birding experience in WA, virtually all crows I see in San
Juan
> and Island Counties, and in western Whatcom and Skagit Counties,
look
> and sound like Northwestern Crows, and I record them as such. Most
> crows in coastal parts of the Olympic Peninsula are probably
> Northwesterns as well.
>
> However, by the time you get south to Snohomish and King Counties,
the
> picture becomes much more confused, and it is safer to just call
them
> "crow species". Even in eastern parts of Whatcom and Skagit Counties
> (e.g. around Diablo Lake), the crows there look and sound to me like
> American Crows.
>
> Others may have somewhat different impressions of the local
> distribution of crows in WA-- and I'd be interested in hearing
them--
> but I believe the overall picture I've drawn is fairly accurate.
>
> Wayne C. Weber
> Kamloops and Delta, BC
> contopus at home.com
>