Here’s a question for you: What do you suppose is the most commonly recognized bird by the average American? From my point of view, I’d say it’s a tossup between the pigeon and “seagull.” But I’m guessing that the crow wouldn’t be far behind.
Since common birds are ubiquitous, we tend to pay them less attention than other birds that draw our gaze because they’re infrequent or seasonal visitors. Crows (in this case the American Crow) are very common and are found nearly everywhere in the continental United States. And, for the most part, we pay them little attention. As you can see from the range map below, crows are in nearly every state in the lower 48 in part or in full, outside of the southwestern deserts.
The genus Corvus comprises crows, ravens, and rooks. These birds are all part of the Corvidae family, which includes jays, magpies, and nutcrackers. There are about 40 species of crow, so there are many different sizes of crows. The American crow measures around 17.5 inches.
American Crows are large, intelligent, all-black birds with hoarse, cawing voices. They are common sights in treetops, fields, and roadsides, and in habitats ranging from open woods and empty beaches to town centers. Their flight style is unique, a patient, methodical flapping that is rarely broken up with glides.
American crows differ from Common Ravens in several ways. Ravens are bigger; their voices are hoarser; and they have heavier bills, according to the University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web (ADW). Ravens' tails and wings come to a point.
It can be hard in the field to distinguish crows from ravens. Size is the best indicator. The Common Raven is the size of a Red-tailed Hawk. Here’s a helpful guide:
And here’s a more amusing distinction between crows and ravens:
No doubt you’ve heard about how intelligent crows are. Until the 21st century, birds were largely dismissed as simpletons. After all, how smart can you be with a brain the size of a nut, the theory went.
Research has since shown, however, that birds make good use of the allotted space for their tiny brains by packing in lots of neurons—more so than mammals, in fact. And crows are one of the smartest of the birds.
For example, crows understand analogies, can exercise self-control, can fashion tools, and like to play —all signs of what we call “intelligence.” Crows also are known for their problem-solving skills and amazing communication skills. For example, when a crow encounters a mean human, it will teach other crows how to identify the human. In fact, research shows that crows don’t forget a face.
An article that appeared in the science journal PLOS ONE in July 2014 puts a comparison estimate on that brainpower: the authors concluded that crows are just as good at reasoning as a human seven-year-old child.
I don’t know about you, but watching this video convinces me that crows are actually smarter than a seven-year-old child. I’m not sure I could have solved this problem when I was seven!
As for the notation that crows like to play, here are a couple of examples. The first is one of some crows playing while swinging on a branch and knocking each other off:
This next one is of a crow sliding down a snowy roof riding a plastic lid:
Crows are cooperative breeders, which means they often stay close to the place where they were born and help raise and defend the area’s young chicks. When it’s time to have babies, a mating pair will build a nest 15 to 60 feet above the ground using branches, twigs, hair, twine, bark, plant fibers, mosses, cloth, and other materials. Nests are 1.5 to 2 feet in diameter, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The female lays four to five eggs and incubates them for 18 days. At four weeks, the chicks are able to leave the nest, though their parents still feed them until they are around 60 days old. Crows can live up to 14 years. The oldest recorded wild American Crow was at least 16 years 4 months old when it was recaptured and rereleased during a banding operation in New York. A captive crow in New York lived to be 59 years old.
59 years old! That is astonishing!
Young American Crows do not breed until they are at least two years old, and most do not breed until they are four or more. In most populations, the young help their parents raise young for a few years. Families may include up to 15 individuals and contain young from five different years.
American Crows congregate in large numbers in winter to sleep in communal roosts. I've certainly seen this driving home from work when I encounter hundreds of crows flying in huge flocks coming in from the north. They land in trees up and down the thoroughfare and it’s an amazing thing to see. They are so thick in the trees that it reminds me of the birds gathering in the schoolyard in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, “The Birds.”
Did you know that some crows have learned how to read traffic lights? In Japan, carrion crows have learned to take walnuts—a favorite treat—over to road intersections, where they put the hard-shelled nuts down onto the pavement. The crow then waits for a passing vehicle to smash the nut, after which it will swoop down and eat the delicious interior.
It's a risky trick, but the crows aren't usually run over because (unlike some people) they've figured out what traffic lights mean. Carrion crows wait until the light turns red before flying down to place the un-cracked nut on the road. The second the light goes green, the crow takes off to watch the nut get run over from afar; it will even wait for the next red to scoop up the nut's insides.
This behavior isn't limited to just one corvid species: American crows have been observed doing the same thing in California.
Crows usually feed on the ground and eat almost anything – typically earthworms, insects and other small animals, seeds, and fruit but also garbage, carrion, and chicks they rob from nests. Here are a couple of photos I’ve taken of crows with tasty snacks:
Although crows are all jet black, under certain lighting conditions, you can see the details of their feather patterns. I’m sharing the title photo again below because it’s my favorite crow photo I’ve taken and because you can clearly see the pattern of its feathers. As you might have guessed, I took this photo at the city cemetery and the crow is perched on a headstone.
Here’s another delightful photograph (not mine) of a crow with a single detailed snowflake on its tailfeathers. Extraordinary.
Finally, I want to share with you this video of a talking crow sent to me by a friend just this morning. It’s pretty wild, but you can clearly hear it asking, ‘You alright, luv?”
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The floor is now open for your birdy observations about crows or any other things birdy that you want to share.