Fish Crow!???/ ¡¿¿Cuervo Pescador!??

Corvus ossifragus?

I know, I haven't posted anything for a week or more so here's a story I have been longing to finish up:
On Thursday (Feb 5th) me and my younger brother (Daniel) were coming back from school. I took a different path home while Daniel headed to the playground with his friends. As I walked, a strange bird called from some unknown site. It sounded corvid-like but certainly not coming from a crow. I tried to look for the bird, and finally found it perched on top of an apartment building. It kept calling and calling, and after standing idle, looking at the puzzling black crow-like figure, I ran home and pounded on the door. When my sister (Mariela) opened I whispered hurriedly "GIVE ME THE CAMERA, QUICK!". She quickly whispered back "I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS!" My mother appeared, asking what was going on. Impatient and worried about the "crow" flying away, I flung inside the house and rushed to our parent's bedroom were the camera stood next  to our laptop. I quickly snatched it and ran back outside.
The crow had stopped calling, and for a moment I believed it had flied away. But to my delight the crow was still perched on the apartment building, having ceased its calling. I had the camera ready for action, and seeing no activity from the corvid I temporarily switched my attention to some house sparrows on a nearby rose bush.
Suddenly the crow let out a call and took flight. I quickly changed my attention back at the crow and put the camera on the "Video" setting. This is what I got:

To my relief the crow flew to a nearby oak tree, and I saw who it was calling to. Another crow was perched in the same tree, not far from the first crow I'd seen.

For a few moments they kept silent, while I prayed under my breath "Please, caw some more, crow, will you?". As if I had been answered, one of the crows began cawing a couple of times, but for the moment I had my camera recording they had stopped.

But they began cawing a lot afterwards, and this I WAS able to record!:

Excited about being able to record their calls, I played what I'd recorded and discovered that nothing could be heard. I was extremely frustrated, but wouldn't give up. I got closer to the tree, trying not to scare the corvids. One of them (the one you can see on the left from the video above) got nervous and flew off to another oak far from the tree were it had been--exactly what I didn't want to happen--and settled there to caw at its companion. To my relief, the other crow stayed in the tree  "Man! We were havin' a mighty good conversation here! Come and get hold of your guts, for heaven's sake! That human down there can hardly walk in this snow!"

I tried to move silently, slowly and very carefully towards the oak were the crow was. I stopped for a moment, afraid to scare the crow away. Suddenly, it began calling its companion, who then called back. It was my moment! I began recording:

                                                               

I replayed the video I had recorded, and again I could barely hear a thing! I simply stopped recording and  looked at the remaining crow, who had stopped calling after its companion flew away from the tree it had gone to after I had got too close to it and made it fly away. Afterwards the remaining crow let out a series of calls, and I tried to record them, but began recording right when the crow was flying away:

"Wait for me, man! This human's givin' me the creeps!"

Darn.

While heading home I decided to play the video once more, just to make sure I had really failed to record the crow's sounds. But then an idea came to me. What about putting the camera right next to my ear while the video play, and try and see if I could hear anything? I held the camera right next to my ear and played the video. To my surprise, I was able to perfectly hear the crows! The camera's volume was on a very low setting, making me think believe that I hadn't recorded any sound, only video. What a HUGE relief!

 I ran home and, after meddling about with my field guide and crow recordings on the Internet, I finally came to confirm that what I had seen were fish crows, for 2 reasons.

1. Its sound

2. Its wings

The fish crow's call is a dull, rather nasal Uh, uh, or Cuh, Cuh! or a very short, hoarse Car! instead of the American crow's strong CAW! or CRAW! You can hear their sound here and here (On the "Songs and Calls part, the first recording is that of a Fish Crow, the second one of an American Crow for comparison).

Now, you may be stumped on the wings. Why the heck would the wings of a fish crow would help me, if the are jet-black like that of other crows, with no special markings? Well, the wings of a fish crow are pointier than those of the American crow, that's why, only that it can be hard for one to see in the field (I guided myself by stopping the video and looking at pictures of the wings of an American crow).

Since that first sighting I've heard and seen many more fish crows, sometimes in flocks, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs. I think that's pretty weird, how after an isolated sighting you start seeing more and more...little avian mysteries...

__________________________________________________________

Traducción vendrá pronto

============

-Cristina

-----------------

All images and videos are (C) me /Todas las imágenes y videos me pertenecen.

Creeper!/¡Trepador!

Certhia americana

Yesterday was  my dad's birthday, and we decided to go out together and play with the snow to celebrate and have a good time. When we got outside I found myself busy examining unknown mammal tracks and droppings, plus of course going off to look for birds in my patch. Therefore I left them playing snowball fights and ran off to the woods, with its huge oak trees standing like majestic giants.
I heard a familiar series of calls in the forest. At first I was doubtful of what it was, but then rose to a half-conclusion--cedar waxwings! I crossed the small stream that runs through those woods (the Paint Branch Valley stream) and looked around for a sign of movement.  I was determined to get at those waxwings.
I'd seen waxwings here before. One day while looking out the window, I noticed these strange flock of birds squabbling in an oak tree. My heart pounded. I raised my bins to my eyes and clearly saw a flock Cedar waxwings, with their unmistakable crests, upright posture and black mask. This would hopefully be my second sighting of a waxwing.
I searched through the leafless trees for a flock of birds, but was only able to spot a Downy woodpecker and couple of cardinals and chickadees (I love them, but they weren't exactly what I was looking for then).
Suddenly, I noticed this tiny bird climbing up a tree, and immediately recognized it. I had seen it mentioned in several birdfeeding books, and was quite familiarized with its appearance, yet wondered why it had never shown up around here. Now, it did show up. It was a Brown Creeper, a tiny, brown bird with a white underside and markings all over its body, keeping it well camouflaged in the trees..
I was terribly happy/proud! A Brown Creeper! My first one ever! I lost sight of the bird for a moment, but afterwards spotted it again, climbing up a tree trunk when it was half-way up the tree it flew over to another tree and began climbing again. I must confess they are incredibly adorable birds.
I believe that perhaps I saw a creeper earlier before, for I had noticed a little brownish bird creeping up a tree in the morning. Afterwards I convinced myself it was just a nuthatch, but now I believe it was a creeper, not only because of its behaviour but also because of its brown-looking color (didn't have my binoculars with me).

Afterwards my dad called me back so that we could all played together a game where somebody  stands flat against a wall and everybody else throws snowballs at him/her. Then, one person is chosen to stuff a snowball into the victim's neck. We played many variants of the game and then when back home to celebrate some more with a delicious dinner.

When I felt nice and warm, and my toes weren't numb anymore, I checked in my field guide for the brown creeper and quickly understood why I hadn't seen creepers here before. They appeared in this area only in the winter, thus explaining why I had never seen these apparently common birds around this woodland before winter came.

What a great experience did I have with the creeper (and the waxwings)! And Happy Birthday dad, we hope you can celebrate with us many more of your birthdays!
_____________________________________________________________
ES

Traducción vendrá pronto


========
-Cristina
---------------
Photo/Imagen: Brown Creeper/ Trepador Americano de Wiki Commons.