Location Chief Logan Scout Reservation, Ray, OH
The crows were ubiquitous that day, even into the heat of the afternoon. I watched them carefully though because I wasn't sure if they were crows or ravens. (Remember I was very much the novice at this point.) The range chart for the Common Raven brought them close to southern Ohio, where I was, and I didn't know how likely it was that ravens would be outside that range.
I shared my conundrum with one of the other adults at lunch time, and he was confident that they were crows. I wasn't going to take his word for it though.
I finally determined that they were indeed crows, and I remember using three criteria (other than the more obvious one: they were big black birds saying "caw-caw"): 1) they were gregarious; ravens are not; 2) the shape of the tail in flight, fan-shaped rather than wedge-shaped; and 3) the range. Ranges are rather imprecise, but taken with all the other evidence, it seemed to confirm the identification.
Cornell: American Crow
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