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On the beach in Chatham, Massachusetts. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hear it call. Fish crow or American crow???

 Thanks! 

Unfortunately, I don't know any good way to tell without hearing it's call. However, the eyes seem to be set a little forward on the head which suggests it is proportionally smaller, so I would temporarily say Fish Crow, and they're definitely more common on the coast.

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Total birds seen: 217
Latest lifers:
Wilson's Snipe, Barred Owl, Eastern Meadowlark
Favorite lifers:
Black-billed Cuckoo, Reddish Egret, Wood Stork
Go Birds Go! Blog

Yeah, there's no good way to tell them apart in the field without hearing the voice.  As Kryptos said, along the coast fish crows probably outnumber American crows, but this bird could certainly be either one.

The legs look pretty small, which is a sign of a Fish Crow, but I can't tell with certainty what this one is.

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Bird Count (18 months): 222
Best Sightings: Ivory Gull, Brown-Chested Martin, Snowy Owl, Townsend's Warbler, Marbled Godwit
Most Recent New Sighting: Canvasback

Alright, after careful observation I've decided to call this one an American Crow on the following observations (from a very helpful website):

Primary feather p5 is about the same size as primary feather p6, but longer than p9, consistent with American Crows, while in Fish Crows the feather should be significantly shorter than p6 and the same size as p9. Additionally, there appears to be no sharp hook to the bill as in a Fish Crow. So (thanks to a very nice picture), I think this is an American Crow.

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Total birds seen: 217
Latest lifers:
Wilson's Snipe, Barred Owl, Eastern Meadowlark
Favorite lifers:
Black-billed Cuckoo, Reddish Egret, Wood Stork
Go Birds Go! Blog

> p5 is about the same size as primary feather p6, but longer than p9

Could be I can't count, but isn't P9 molting on the bird in the photo?   If it is in molt, then interesting info from the Cornell site (I assume it's the same as where you got your info: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/FishCrow.htm ) is that Am Crows molt earlier than Fish Crows, and at least in upstate New York, Fish Crows are the ones molting late into October.

As for leg length, I have no idea how to begin gauging when the legs are tucked up in flight.

Regarding ratio of Am Crow to Fish Crow along the coast, I don't know what it is, and I'm hesitant to say it's a given that Fish Crows will outnumber Am Crows on the coast that far north.

I've been able to ID numerous fish crows by call alone, and I'd say the hooked bill occurs in roughly 50% of them, but the other 50% have relatively straight bills. I've read this occurs sporadically.

Heh. I so do not look forward to the day I go to hunt down a fish crow for the collection. I'll be wading through files upon files of American Crows and hoping.

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141 birds photographed and IDed.