Thursday, January 5, 2017 Banded NW Crow

Seward, Alaska

On December 27^th, I was amazed to find a single silver band on a NW CROW that briefly landed on the hood of my car. I quickly shot a few photos before it flew off.

Because it was so close and luckily the band was facing me, it was easy to read the numbers.

I submitted the photo to the USGS deformed bills and banded bird website at https://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/landbirds/beak_deformity/observerreport.php

USGS Wildlife Biologist Lisa Pajot reported that this crow is a male that was banded as a second-year bird in 2007, so it could be at least 11 years old.

According to the All About Birds website, the oldest recorded NW Crow was at least 16 years, 8 months old when it was seen in British Columbia and identified by its band. The Seward crow is doing pretty well!

I haven’t seen any banded crows in recent years from this 2007 study; either the birds have died or moved away, the bands have fallen off, or I just haven’t been looking hard enough. It’s very helpful when a banded crow just lands a few feet away like this one!

Note the photo was turned upside down, not the crow, to more easily read the number.

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter