This is, I think, a Fish Crow/Corvus ossifragus.

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Herring Gull amidst Brant. Great Black-backed Gull amidst Herring, Brant, and Ring-billed. Great Black-backed is the world’s largest species of gull. Our triumvirate of winter gulls. From the top, Herring, Great Black-backed, and Ring-billed. Strays and exotica show up, and Bonaparte’s Gull is found off-shore, but these are the three standard gulls of the NYC…

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See how that outer tail feather is so much shorter than the central feathers? Coopers have tails usually described as rounded at the tip; this is why. Of note because Sharp-shinned Hawks have a straight edge to their tail fan. I’ve written a new Medium piece… on raptors!

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This snaggy perch can be a good place for Merlin, but in this case it’s an adult Coopers Hawk. Ready for some stretching… Oh-oh, stand back! Coop poop.

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This scappy specimen may be explained by the damaged foot.

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It’s fruiting body weather.

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Finding a nutty something on the ground, this Red-breasted Nuthatch wedged it into some bark and began to work out the meat. Looks like this has happened a few times here. Note sure this is the same bird. But it sure is a pale specimen.

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Judging from the number and freshness of sap holes, this crab apple is visited often by Yellow-breasted Sapsuckers.

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Ubiquitous yet elusive… the three-alarm fire of winter is fairly camera-shy, but in this case I happened to be below the bird on a slope.

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