- Crows are generally black, with black beaks and legs, but they can
also be black with white, gray, or brown coloring.
- The common crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is approximately 20 - 30
cm long, with a wingspan double that.
- Crows range all over North America, and some species or another can
be found just about anywhere. They thrive in mountains, woodlands, across
plains and farmers' fields, and throughout urban areas.
- While they are raising their young, crows are not very gregarious
creatures. However, they are migratory, and will assemble in large flocks
in the fall, to travel south.
- Crows nests are bulky structures built in trees or bushes. They are
made of twigs, lined with bark, grasses, and rootlets.
- The female crow lays 4-7 eggs in the nest, and the male helps incubate
them. These eggs are greenish or bluish, and blotched with brown.
- Once hatched, the young remain in the nest 6 - 8 weeks, and in their
early life they eat almost half of their weight per day in food, which
the parents bring to them.
- Crows are omnivorous - they will eat anything edible, and many things
which aren't.
- Their regular diet includes animal and vegetable matter, insects,
crops (especially corn), and occasionally the eggs or young of other
birds.
- Despite their bad reputation for eating crops, crows also eat a number
of pests which are harmful to those same crops, including cutworms,
wireworms, grasshoppers and even noxious weeds.
- As members of the corvid family, crows are considered to be among
the most adaptable and intelligent birds in the world.
- Crows have a varied and evolved language. They can mimic the sounds
made by other animals, and they learn to associate noises with events,
especially with the distribution of food.
- Well-adapted to diverse habitats, crows are found across North America.
They thrive in cities and suburban areas where they live in close association
with humans.
- Crows roost at night in large flocks of up to several thousand during
the winter. During the day, smaller groups may fly up to fifty miles
in pursuit of food.
- 31 species of crows are found worldwide with exceptions being in New
Zealand, South America and Antarctica
- Crows, both male and female, have entirely black plumage, bills,
legs, feet and claws
- Crows use a mixed habitat including woodlands for roosting, nesting
and perching, open areas, agricultural fields, coastal wetlands, marshes,
rivers and streams.
- Crows are called short distance migrants. Some may only move a few
miles from the nesting territory to ones that move a few hundred miles.
This seems to occur more in the northern climates where winters get
fairly harsh
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