common and rare

Young crows are out. I can hear their nasal voices but also the adults are very edgy and make all kinds of ugly noise if there is any kind of alien presence in the neighborhood (such as myself). Blue Jays probably have fledglings as well as they are noisy after a long period of quiet. Both American Crow and Blue Jay are songbirds without a song but both are extremely vocal with a wide array of calls -- far more than other birds. The oddest crow call is a loud rattling sound that is hardly recognizable as coming from a crow. Ditto, the bell-like calls of the Blue Jay, some of which sound almost electronic (when they heard it, my daughters used to say "the men from Mars are here"). All these calls have specific meanings -- to other crows and jays at least. The corvid or crow family is ancient, widespread and its members are noted for their intelligence as well as predatory habits. We have four species here: American Crow, Blue Jay, Fish Crow and, in the past few years, Common Raven breeding on the water tower just opposite the Hampton Bays LIRR station and across from downtown shopping malls. Anyone know how they made out this year?.

In yesterday's post, I forgot to mention the most interesting sighting on Friday afternoon's expedition to the Calverton area. While driving on River Road where the road crosses the Peconic River, a good-sized low-slung dark mammal with a bushy tail came loping across the road right in front of the car. I wanted very badly to believe that it was a River Otter but the uniform dark coloration and the bushy tail suggest that it was rather a Mink, another locally rare member of the weasel family that I have in fact seen in this area before.

Eric Salzman