Corvus ossifragus
Silhouette: Peileppe · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The fish crow (Corvus ossifragus) is a species of crow associated with wetland habitats in the eastern and southeastern United States. The fish crow was given its binomial name by the Scottish ornithologist Alexander Wilson in 1812, in the fifth volume of his American Ornithology. The binomial is from Latin; Corvus means "raven", while ossifragus means "bone-breaker". It is derived from os or ossis, meaning "bone", and frangere, meaning "to break". The English-language common name fish crow also derives from Wilson, who ascribed the name to the crow's aquatic diet, as described to him by local fishermen. He distinguished the fish crow from John Bartram's great seaside crow by the former's diminutive size when compared to the American crow.
The fish crow's taxonomic relation to other species of the Corvus genus is still poorly understood, but DNA sequencing indicates that it is most closely related to the Hispaniolan palm crow (C. palmarum) and the Jamaican crow (C. jamaicensis), with the three species forming a Nearctic clade. The Sinaloa crow (C. sinaloae) and Tamaulipas crow (C. imparatus) bear morphological similarities to and were once considered conspecific... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ähtäri Zoo | 🇫🇮 Finland |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fish Crow sighting in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, based on 268 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 84th most-seen of the 186 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–April, June–July and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fish Crow in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, August–October and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fish Crow sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Fish Crow sightings, Shenandoah National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (United States, about 40%), Congaree National Park (United States, about 10%) and Big Cypress National Preserve (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Corvus
The closest relatives of the Fish Crow that you can see in Shenandoah National Park (genus Corvus, Crows and Ravens) are American Crow (about 60%) and Common Raven (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fish Crow is recorded against all the birds logged in Shenandoah National Park (268 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
