Corvus brachyrhynchos
American Crows are large black birds with long legs, heavy, straight bills, dark eyes and short, squared off tails.
This morning, I'm sharing three portraits of an American Crow, two of which include the very pale, nearly icy-blue nictitating membrane that these crows have.
To my delight, I heard and saw hundreds of American Crows at Farmington Bay WMA on my visit there early yesterday morning. The crows were great company.
My birding by ear affliction isn't that I can't hear birds; it is that I can't not hear them. Even when I am on the phone with my friends.
The fog was so thick yesterday morning that I decided to stay near home and focus on urban birds. My first one of the day was an American Crow in a parking lot.
Today I am sharing two American Crow portraits that I took this morning near the water's edge at Farmington Bay WMA.
It does not matter where I am or what I am doing, I am never not looking for birds.
I always get excited about what the first bird will be that I see at the beginning of the new year and for two years in a row now my first birds of the year have been American Crows.
At the end of January I had a few opportunities to photograph some American Crows in nice light on snow and ice at Farmington Bay WMA. I jumped at the opportunity of course.
Okay, that is enough for now, there are more birds that people love to hate but I can only deal with so much of it before I feel the need to get out and photograph all the birds I see, even those that other people despise.
Two days ago there were still numerous American Crows feeding on the carcasses of the carp at Farmington Bay and some of the crows were close enough to allow me to take frame filling images of these pure black birds.
Yesterday the American Crows hung around with the Bald Eagles, Herring, California and Ring-billed Gulls to feast on those invasive fish which gave me an opportunity to photograph this one standing on a dead carp.
There were several fledglings on the rails but I liked how these two young American Crows were relatively close together and both looking the same direction, up the rails and to the north