Fish Crow
Learn to identify the Fish Crow by ear. Master the "uh-uh" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Fish Crow sounds like
Single nasal awoh notes recur at an easy pace, with more space and a thinner tone than a broad American Crow caw.
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the Fish Crow
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the Fish Crow's sounds in this interactive in-app lesson.
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Where you'll hear it
Year-round in the Southeast; northern populations withdraw to warmer coastal areas in winter.
Found primarily in the southeastern and eastern United States, especially near coastal areas, rivers, and wetlands. Its association with water gives it its name.
Form flocks and may join communal roosts in winter; pair off and localize around nesting areas in breeding season.
How to recognize it by sight
A Fish Crow is a compact, glossy black crow of coasts, rivers, and wetlands. It averages a little smaller than an American Crow, though the overlap is too broad for size alone to settle the ID.
Similar species
American Crow
American Crows average slightly larger, but the two overlap so closely that shape alone is often inconclusive.
Common Raven
Much larger than a Fish Crow (about twice the weight). Ravens have a very heavy bill and shaggy throat feathers, plus a wedge-shaped tail in flight. Range overlaps with Fish Crows mainly in some Eastern states, but ravens prefer more wilderness areas (mountains, large forests) whereas Fish Crows stick to waterways and urban coasts. Ravens have a deep, croaking "kraaawk" or "prruk" call, nothing like the high nasal call of a Fish Crow. In flight, ravens soar more and perform acrobatics like rolls, which crows usually do not. So if you see a truly large black bird soaring or hear a deep croak, it's a raven, not a Fish Crow.