Fish Crows have been reported at this shopping center in 2019.

My suggestions for birding the area would be to go early in the morning when the stores are less busy and you can see the crows in the parking lot. The Home Depot is good as is the area behind the Chick-fil-A dumpster. No scope is needed. The parking areas are wide open. Park where you see a large number of Crows and listen for the distinctive call.

I first discovered the Fish Crows there on November 14, 2017. They have been seen there regularly between November and April since then. My experience with the birds is that they can best be seen around lunchtime, when they like to mob the restaurants and their dumpsters. They often take their foraged food back behind the stores like Dick’s to eat in the trees on the edge of the woods. I see them most often on the south side of Howe Avenue but have seen them on the north side occasionally. Chick-Fil-A seems to be their favorite spot.

There can be large flocks of crows at this location, both American and Fish. Fish Crows can most reliably be identified by their nasally cah or cah-ah sound. They are a bit smaller than American but unless side by side for comparison, size isn’t as reliable as sound. Another thing to help with identification is that when Fish Crows call, the neck feathers puff out.

Located on Howe Avenue east of OH-8, the Plaza at Chapel Hill, Market Center, and surrounding shopping destinations offer many eateries like Chipotle and Starbucks and big-box stores including Target, Best Buy, PetSmart, Staples, and The Home Depot.