Fish Crow

Status Three sight records. Mrs. Betty June Smith saw a Fish Crow at Cape Sable near the light station on 23 February 1966. Her attention was attracted by its strange call, "a broken, two-syllabled cry." The bird was in company with American Crows, allowing her to observe that it was decidedly smaller. Another small, thin-beaked, "smoother" crow, its voice a distinctly nasal "ca-ar," was seen on Sable Island on 12 January 1967. It was very tame (unlike the few Common Crows resident on the island), allowing Christel and Norman Bell to approach within 3 m of it. On 23 September 1978, Shirley Cohrs, already familiar with the species in Florida, saw a calling Fish Crow at Cheticamp, Inverness County.

Remarks Although these sight records cannot be taken as confirmation of the species in Nova Scotia, they are strongly suggestive. The species has in recent years occurred in southern Maine but is not notably migratory. Observers should be alert to field marks other than its distinctive call--its glossier and more iridescent plumage and its habit of hovering but probably only specimen records would be completely convincing.