Fish Crows

Every year in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds brings new challenges, but the Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) is a persistent problem across Connecticut. These clever birds know how to find Piping Plover nests when they are exclosed or not, sometimes devouring eggs or causing it to be abandoned regardless. They patrol the coast for all sorts of young birds and eggs to eat, and while I would much prefer them to stick to European Starlings and House Sparrows, they have a taste for the susceptible endangered beach birds.

They are sometimes so aware that the chicks have hatched they will often predate the tiny birds in only a day or two. People exacerbate the problem and increase Fish Crow populations and presence by leaving tasty trash strewn about beaches, islands and marshes. Even at home our poor waste practices can have a negative impact in this way. If you go to the shore this summer please be sure you and everyone else cleans up the beach, wherever you are.