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Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus)
Below: Eastern Kingbirds mobbing a Fish Crow at Fort Smallwood, Maryland (5/18/2012).
Comments: This small eastern crow is rarely found far from water. It is an active scavenger and omnivore: it steals food from gulls and terns, raids shorebird nests and heronries, and has learned the trick of dropping mollusks on hard surfaces to open them. It is smaller than an American Crow, has more pointed wings, and a proportionally smaller and thinner bill. It can most easily be distinguished by its nasal vocalization, which sounds like "uh-uh" or "aw-uk." Top photo was taken at the Salisbury Landfill, Wicomico Co., Maryland (12/10/2005). Bottom photo was taken in North East Town Park, Cecil County, Maryland in February 2004. Hundreds of Fish Crows often assemble here in the winter, creating quite a cacophony. Large flocks of gulls also often gather on the ice here, and the park has produced many excellent gull sightings.