[obol] hesperis crows... and those who know -- revised

[Tom Crabtree]

Paul, Mike & obol, 

When I do a Google search on corvus brachyrhynchos hesperis I get 850 hits.
That's AMCR for those who don't speak latin. I've been birding for 50 years,
but not a member of TWK.  Maybe that will come sometime after I get the gold
watch.  Being a curmudgeon (but not THE curmudgeon) I don't believe in the
tooth fairy or the Northwest Crow or Black-capped Chickadees reported on the
Bend Christmas count.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu
[mailto:obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu] On Behalf Of Paul T. Sullivan
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 5:49 AM
To: obol
Subject: [obol] hesperis crows... and those who know -- revised

OBOL:

hesperis crows?   I read Mike Patterson's posting "The truth about
Northwestern Crow" last evening, and went to bed, thinking "I don't need to
get into this," but now I'm awake in the middle of the night, writing to
OBOL.

I've been birding for 30 years.  I have a bookshelf 6' tall & 3' wide, 5
shelves of nothing but bird books.  I'd never heard of "hesperis" crows.  So
I got up and looked at my guides:

GUIDES in common use that DO NOT mention "hesperis" crows:
- Golden Guide - no hesperis crow, but it shows the Northwestern Crow in
Washington
- Peterson's Western Guide - no hesperis crow, but it shows the Northwestern
Crow in Washington
- Audubon Western Guide - no hesperis crow, but it shows the Northwestern
Crow in Washington
- Stokes western guide - no hesperis crow, but it shows the Northwestern
Crow in Washington
- Nat'l Geographic guide (3rd & 4th ed.) - no hesperis crow, but it shows
the Northwestern Crow in Washington
- Kaufman Focus Guide to Birds of N. America - no hesperis crow, but it
lists the Northwestern Crow in Washington
- Sibley Guide to the Birds - no hesperis crow, but it shows the
Northwestern Crow in Washington
- Kaufmann's Lives of N. Am. Birds - no hesperis crow, but it lists the
Northwestern Crow
- The Birder's Handbook - no hesperis crow, but it lists the Northwestern
Crow
- Terres Encyclopedia - no hesperis crow, but it lists the Northwestern Crow
as wandering into Oregon
- Guide to the Birds of Alaska - no hesperis crow, but it lists the
Northwestern Crow
- Evanich's Birders Guide to Oregon - no hesperis crow, but it lists the 
Northwestern Crow
as very difficult to distinguish and limited to extreme NW Oregon
- Rakestraw's Birding Oregon - no hesperis crow, but states "there is no 
physical evidence that Northwestern Crows have ever occurred in Oregon."
- ABA's A Birder's Guide to Washington - no hesperis crow, but a firm 
declaration that Northwestern Crow has been swamped out by American Crow in 
the Puget Trough.  "Phenotypically pure Northwestern Crows still 
recognizable along Outer Olympic Coast."
- A Birder's Guide to Coastal Washington - no hesperis crow, and lists the 
Northwestern Crow, but cautions: "Controversy about the degree of genetic 
separation from the American Crow at the southern edge of the Northwestern 
Crow's range is considerable and criteria for field identification are 
uncertain."


GUIDES I just found on my bookshelf that DO mention "hesperis" crows:
- Birds of Oregon - mentions the "hesperis" subspecies of American Crow and
says they may be conspecific with Northwestern Crow  "Further taxonomic work
is needed..."
- Nat'l Geographic Complete Birds of North America (finally!) lists 4
"poorly defined" subspecies of American Crow, including this sentence: "The
smaller western subspecies 'hesperis' has been suggested to be more closely
related to the Northwestern Crow than to subspecies of American Crow -- the
entire relationship between the American and Northwestern Crow remains
unclear. "
- Bent's Life Histories of N. American Jays, Crows & Titmice, part two
(1946, 1964) - lists Western Crow, Corvus brachyrynchos hesperis, and
Northwestern Crow, Corvus caurinus.
- Birds of the Pacific States by Ralph Hoffmann (1927) lists Western Crow,
Corvus brachyrynchos hesperis, and Northwestern Crow, Corvus brachyrynchos
caurinus.
- Handbook of Birds of the Western United States by Florence Merriam Bailey
(1902, 1930) lists California Crow in a footnote as Corvus americanus
hesperis.

The reason I know not to report Northwestern Crow in Oregon is because I am
a member of TWK (those who know).  I picked this up from the newsletter of
the Washington Ornithological Society some years back.  They discussed the
impossibility of distinguishing Northwest Crows from American Crows and
concluded that the two forms had interbred so much in the Puget Sound area
that pure Northwest Crows no longer could be found in Washington State.
A Guide to Birds and other wildlife on the Columbia River Estuary by
Patterson states: "Personally, I don't believe in Northwestern Crow..."
Talking with TWK and exchanging emails, it became clear that
- Alaska lists the Northwestern Crow,
- British Columbia is proud of the Northwestern Crow,
- Washington State doesn't even list the species,
- Oregon lists Northwestern Crow, but has no accepted records.
[The presence of this species on personal lists is a personal matter.]

Bottom line:
For most species, you can look at a field guide and range maps and learn to
identify birds.  For some species, you need to know the local "wisdom",
which isn't in ordinary field guides.  If you don't know the local "wisdom",
and happen to report the wrong species, you will be corrected.  After that
you can join TWK.

There really is the meat for a comprehensive article for Oregon Birds or
Washington Birds about Northwestern Crows, their existence and range.  That
could expand the circle of TWK and reduce the need to correct mistaken
reports. ;-)

Good birding, everyone,

Paul Sullivan

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