[obol] Crows, CBCs and Curmudgia

[Alan Contreras]

I think this crowspeak has been pretty interesting in a slightly off-kilter way.  Information flows in strange ways for unexpected reasons.

Looking at the CBC list, it seems that the Malheur County CBCs are not happening this year.  I wonder if there is any local interest in a count in that area.  We have none active in the Snake River lowlands region.

I'm a Those Who Seek, myself.

- The One True Curmudgeon



-----Original Message-----
>From: Tom Crabtree <tc at empnet.com>
>Sent: Oct 31, 2007 9:53 AM
>To: "'Paul T. Sullivan'" <ptsulliv at spiritone.com>, 'obol' <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
>Subject: Re: [obol] hesperis crows... and those who know -- revised
>
>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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Alan Contreras - Eugene, Oregon