Family Corvidae of Order Passeriformes is represented on Mount Desert Island by four species: Perisoreus canadensis (Gray Jay), Cyanocitta cristata (Blue Jay), Corvus brachyrhynchos (American Crow), and Corvus corax (Common Raven). Below are reports of some observations of these birds. Your contributions are welcome and can be sent by e-mail.

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos):
November 2007: two observations (separated by more than a week) were made of a dark brown (but not black-brown) crow on a lawn/driveway on Gray Barn Road in Bass Harbor [TFV]. The tail feathers were even lighter brown, approaching a cinnamon color. After the first observation, it was suggested [TAH] that this might be a juvenile bird, and Sibley (2001, p. 410) said that juvenal wing feathers often weather to a dull brown and contrast with the bird's black back. A second observation of this bird (or of a second one) was consistent with its being a young bird as it was noticeably smaller than two black crows that it was with. It should be noted, however, that all the feathers of the observed bird(s) appeared to be brown, not just the wing feathers.

30 November 2007: Crows, along with herring gulls (Larus argentatus), were observed scavenging for food among the cobbles on which people often park their cars near the Seawall Picnic area to look out at the ocean. Two crows were seen pushing rocks out of the way with their bills and sometimes picking up the rocks in their bills and tossing them aside. [TFV]