American Crow 

Home
Up
Thistle Pouch
Acorn Woodpecker
American Robin
Bullock's Oriole
Black-headed grosbeak
California Quail
Western Bluebird
Black Capped Chickadee
American Crow
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Evening Grosbeak
Northern Flicker
Flycatcher
Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk
House Finch
Hummingbirds
Nuthatch
Red-Winged Blackbird
House Sparrow
Steller's Jay
Tree swallow
Titmouse
Rufous-sided Towhee
Varied thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Western scrub-jay
Bald Eagle
Osprey
Birdbath
Birdhouse Sizes
Birds Foods
Plants for Birds
Owl and Squirrel Nest Box
2-Litter Bottle Bird Feeder
Robin and Barn Swallow nest box
Wire Suet Feeder
Suet Feeder Plan
Shade Plants

 

 

Corvus brachyrhynchos

  • The American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is slightly smaller than the European Carrion Crow in overall size (39-49 cm in length) and also has a proportionately smaller bill.

  • Feathers are black, with a purple or blue iridescence in some lights. Legs, feet and bill are also black.

  •  Several regional forms are recognized and differ in bill proportion and overall size from each other across North America, generally smallest in the southeast and the far west.

  • The Northwestern Crow Corvus caurinus is very closely related to the American Crow and indeed structurally, they almost blend into each other in northern Oregon though the voice remains one of the principal differences between these two close species.

  • Range:

  • Occurring from British Columbia to Newfoundland in the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to Florida in the southern parts of its range and includes virtually all types of country from wilderness, farmland, parks, open woodland to towns and major cities.

  • This bird is generally a permanent resident, but many birds in the northern parts of their range migrate short distances south.

  • Outside of the nesting season, these birds often gather in large communal roosts at night.

  • American Crows are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

  • Diet:

  • A typical crow taking invertebrates of all types, carrion, scraps of human food, seeds, eggs and nestlings, stranded fish on the shore and various grains.

  • It also, like most crows, scavenges at rubbish dumps.

  • Where available, corn is a favorite food.

  • They are also fond of discarded scraps of fast food, especially french fries which can be carried away easily in their strong beaks.

  • Nest:

  • These birds build bulky stick nests, nearly always in trees but sometimes also in large bushes and, very rarely, on the ground.

  • They will nest in a wide variety of trees, including large conifers, although oaks are most often used.

  • Three to six eggs are laid and incubated for 18 days.

  • The young are fledged usually by about 35 days.

  • Normally single nesting, the species has been recorded as nesting in small colonies in the western parts of its range.