Bird Neighbors Part 6

Baltimore Oriole. Bohemian Waxwing.

The Grosbeaks: Evening, Blue, Yellow-breasted Chat.

Pine, Rose-breasted, The Thrushes.

and Cardinal. Bluebird.

ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE ROBIN.

Red-headed Woodp.e.c.k.e.r. Northern Shrike.

Hairy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r. Mocking-bird.

Red-winged Blackbird. Catbird.

Rusty Blackbird. Chewink.

Loggerhead Shrike. Purple Martin (apparently).

Starling.

LONGER THAN THE ROBIN

Mourning Dove. Blue Jay.

The Cuckoos. Canada Jay.

Kingfisher. Meadowlark.

Flicker. Whippoorwill (apparently).

Raven. Nighthawk (apparently).

Crow. The Grackles.

Fish Crow. Brown Thrasher.

V. DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRDS

GROUPED ACCORDING TO COLOR

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK

Common Crow.

Fish Crow.

American Raven.

Purple Grackle.

Bronzed Grackle.

Rusty Blackbird.

Red-winged Blackbird.

Purple Martin.

Cowbird.

Starling.

See also several of the Swallows; the Kingbird, the Phoebe, the Wood Pewee and other Flycatchers; the Chimney Swift; and the Chewink.

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK

COMMON CROW

(Corvus america.n.u.s) Crow family

Called also: CORN THIEF; [AMERICAN CROW, AOU 1998]

Length -- 16 to 17.50 inches.

Male -- Glossy black with violet reflections. Wings appear saw-toothed when spread, and almost equal the tail in length.

Female -- Like male, except that the black is less brilliant.

Range -- Throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.

Migrations -- March. October. Summer and winter resident.

If we have an eye for the picturesque, we place a certain value upon the broad, strong dash of color in the landscape, given by a flock of crows flapping their course above a corn-field, against an October sky; but the practical eye of the farmer looks only for his gun in such a case. To him the crow is an unmitigated nuisance, all the more maddening because it is clever enough to circ.u.mvent every means devised for its ruin. Nothing escapes its rapacity; fear is unknown to it. It migrates in broad daylight, chooses the most conspicuous perches, and yet its a.s.surance is amply justified in its steadily increasing numbers.

In the very early spring, note well the friendly way in which the crow follows the plow, ingratiating itself by eating the larvae, field mice, and worms upturned in the furrows, for this is its one serviceable act throughout the year. When the first brood of chickens is hatched, its serious depredations begin. Not only the farmer's young fledglings, ducks, turkeys, and chicks, are s.n.a.t.c.hed up and devoured, but the nests of song birds are made desolate, eggs being crushed and eaten on the spot, when there are no birds to carry off to the rickety, coa.r.s.e nest in the high tree top in the woods. The fish crow, however, is the much greater enemy of the birds. Like the common crows, this, their smaller cousin, likes to congregate in winter along the seacoast to feed upon sh.e.l.l-fish and other sea-food that the tide brings to its feet.

Samuels claims to have seen a pair of crows visit an orchard and destroy the young in two robins' nests in half an hour. He calculates that two crows kill, in one day alone, young birds that in the course of the season would have eaten a hundred thousand insects. When, in addition to these atrocities, we remember the crow's depredations in the corn-field, it is small wonder that among the first laws enacted in New York State was one offering a reward for its head. But the more scientific agriculturists now concede that the crow is the farmer's true friend.

FISH CROW (Corvus ossifragus) Crow family

Length -- 14 to 16 inches. About half as large again as the robin.

Male and Female -- Glossy black, with purplish-blue reflections, generally greener underneath. Chin naked.

Range -- Along Atlantic coast and that of the Gult of Mexico, northward to southern New England. Rare stragglers or) the Pacific coast.

Migrations -- March or April. September. Summer resident only at northern limit of range. Is found in Hudson River valley about half-way to Albany.

Compared with the common crow, with which it is often confounded, the fish crow is of much smaller, more slender build. Thus its flight is less labored and more like a gull's, whose habit of catching fish that may be swimming near the surface of the water it sometimes adopts. Both Audubon and Wilson, who first made this species known, record its habit of s.n.a.t.c.hing food as it flies over the southern waters -- a rare practice at the north. Its plumage, too, differs slightly from the common crow's in being a richer black everywhere, and particularly underneath, where the "corn thief" is dull. But it is the difference between the two crows' call-note that we chiefly depend upon to distinguish these confusing cousins. To say that the fish crow says car-r-r instead of a loud, clear caw, means little until we have had an opportunity to compare its hoa.r.s.e, cracked voice with the other bird's familiar call.

From the farmer's point of view, there is still another distinction: the fish crow lets his crops alone. It contents itself with picking up refuse on the sh.o.r.es of the sea or rivers not far inland; haunting the neighborhood of fishermen's huts for the small fish discarded when the seines are drawn, and treading out with its toes the sh.e.l.l-fish hidden in the sand at low tide. When we see it in the fields it is usually intent upon catching field-mice, grubs, and worms, with which it often varies its fish diet. It is, however, the worst nest robber we have; it probably destroys ten times as many eggs and young birds as its larger cousin.

The fishermen have a tradition that this southern crow comes and goes with the shad and herring -- a saw which science unkindly disapproves.

AMERICAN RAVEN

(Corvus corax princ.i.p.alis) Crow family

Called also: NORTHERN RAVEN; [COMMON RAVEN, AOU 1998]

Length -- 26 to 27 inches. Nearly three times as large as a robin.

Male and Female -- Glossy black above, with purplish and greenish reflections. Duller underneath. Feathers of the throat and breast long and loose, like fringe.

Range -- North America, from polar regions to Mexico. Rare along Atlantic coast and in the south. Common in the west, and very abundant in the northwest.

Migrations -- An erratic wanderer, usually resident where it finds its way.

The weird, uncanny voice of this great bird that soars in wide circles above the evergreen trees of dark northern forests seems to come out of the skies like the malediction of an evil spirit. Without uttering the words of any language -- Poe's "Nevermore" was, of course, a poetic license -- people of all nationalities appear to understand that some dire calamity, some wicked portent, is being announced every time the unbirdlike creature utters its rasping call. The superst.i.tious folk crow with an "I told you so," as they solemnly wag their heads when they hear, of some death in the village after "the bird of ill-omen" has made an unwelcome visit to the neighborhood--it receives the blame for every possible misfortune.

When seen in the air, the crow is the only other bird for which the raven could be mistaken; but the raven does more sailing and less flapping, and he delights in describing circles as he easily soars high above the trees. On the ground, he is seen to be a far larger bird than the largest crow. The curious beard or fringe of feathers on his breast at once distinguishes him.

These birds show the family instinct for living in flocks large and small, not of ravens only, but of any birds of their own genera. In the art of nest building they could instruct most of their relatives. High up in evergreen trees or on the top of cliffs, never very near the seash.o.r.e, they make a compact, symmetrical nest of sticks, neatly lined with gra.s.ses and wool from the sheep pastures, adding soft, comfortable linings to the old nest from year to year for each new brood. When the young emerge from the eggs, which take many curious freaks of color and markings, they are pied black and white, suggesting the young of the western white-necked raven, a similarity which, so far as plumage is concerned, they quickly outgrow. They early acquire the fortunate habit of eating whatever their parents set before them -- grubs, worms, grain, field-mice; anything, in fact, for the raven is a conspicuously omnivorous bird.

PURPLE GRACKLE (Quiscalus quiscula) Blackbird family

Called also: CROW BLACKBIRD; MAIZE THIEF; KEEL-TAILED GRACKLE; [COMMON GRACKLE, AOU 1998]