In February of 2012 I filled out the information on a banded crow pictured above. Over the last couple of years I continue to encounter him and have written several posts about him and other banded crows.
This week I received a response from the USGS on the sighting. It is pretty exciting because what they sent me is a letter that was sent to Dr John Marzluff, who is one of the worlds experts on crows. He is a professor at the University of Washington with several books and documentaries on crows. Coincidently, I am currently reading one of his books “Gifts of the Crow”. This letter is asking him to confirm this is one of his banded birds. I was not able to get the number on the silver band but the color sequence should give him enough info to identify it as one of his.
I will keep you all updated if I get a formal response. Took them a long time to sort it out but now I am inspired to continue documenting the crows in my area.
Crows of Arroyos 
Very cool! I read Gifts of the Crow – good read. Loved the documentary from a few years back too that focused on the research that was being done by the UW. I’ve seen a few banded crows downtown, but have always been on the bus going by, so can’t ever get a good look at the color sequence. But I always keep a lookout for banded crows in my neighborhood 🙂
Thanx – you understand my excitement 🙂
Good for you! I wish I could do such fine work (as you do) where I live on the East Coast! I keep track of the birds, i.e., I look for them. I feed them, when I can. That’s as far as it goes. I wish I could do more.
🙂
I saw a banded crow today!! I took a picture of his leg…he was wearing a blue and a green band. It seemed to be following my husband around till he went in the house. Then he started following me!!! He was at the window looking in till I came out, then he followed me into the garage, ate some cat food, then followed me out and finally landed on my head!!! He was actually trying to get in the front door of my house. Finally he went around back where he could see me in the window. I felt like I was being stalked!
Don’t be worried. That Crow just wants a snack. They must find you a good person or they would have flown away as fast as they could. Take care
I just saw a double banded crow on my deck in Manhattan Beach,(Los Angeles Co) CA. He was just looking around. I noticed the bands because I used to have parrots, so am tuned into banding. I would have fed him but did not want to scare him and my cat just about had a seizure looking out the window at this big bird. Both bands looked (silver toned) metallic….no color that I could see. I was very surprised. Being a bird lover I worried that he was someone’s pet, but now I will not worry about it. He or she was a beauty!!
It is very cool when they come to visit. I bet those silver bands had numbers or some sort of tracking code on them. Thanx for visiting my blog