Different 'crows'

session savage

Because there's an alarming number of people who apparently cant identify these birds....
Do your homework before you go shooting random species or hand in your firearms.

ROOK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(bird)
Look at the picture and notice the colour and shape of the beak. Its the only crow with a whitish grey beak. It is also the scruffiest looking crow.
The juveniles however have black beaks and are tidier looking.



JACKDAW. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Jackdaw
These guys are easily identified by the black face and thier small size in comparison to rooks who they usually hang around with.



MAGPIE. its black and white if you need more than that then you need help.

RAVEN. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Raven
Its simple to tell a raven apart from other crows from its sheer size but also note the black beak with a hooked end.



CHOUGH. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pyrrhocorax_pyrrhocorax_-standing-8.jpg
its a crow with a red beak and red legs... pretty easy really.

vermin99

Grey crows!

session savage

Its a big crow with a grey waistcoat!

insignia33

How do you tell a young rook from a jack daw...

recipio

session savage wrote: »

Its a big crow with a grey waistcoat!

More wary than wily-e- cyote. You have to have a lotta luck to get one of these in the crosshairs.

session savage

insignia33 wrote: »

How do you tell a young rook from a jack daw...

a young rook and Jackdaw are similar in size but the rook is a uniform black whereas the Jackdaw has the lighter black body with his dark black face and cap.

Conmaicne Mara

Some will shoot anything intentionally. Anyone with a bit of moral fibre should know what they're shooting at.

flanum

what about "carrion crow"?

and jay?

Half-cocked

Ravens have a distinctive diamond shaped tail in flight that makes them easy to tell apart from other corvids, plus their massive size of course.

Here's a point: Carrion Crows are protected (no derogation) but Grey crows are not. There are a few Carrion/Grey hybrids knocking around - protected or not? Greys are a sub-species of Carrions I think? (I don't shoot crows, just wondering).

Capercaille

Half-cocked wrote: »

Ravens have a distinctive diamond shaped tail in flight that makes them easy to tell apart from other corvids, plus their massive size of course.

Here's a point: Carrion Crows are protected (no derogation) but Grey crows are not. There are a few Carrion/Grey hybrids knocking around - protected or not? Greys are a sub-species of Carrions I think? (I don't shoot crows, just wondering).

Carrion crow and hooded crow are considered different species now. There are very few carrion crows in the Country and as such the number of hybrids would also be very low.

insignia33

Capercaille wrote: »

There are very few carrion crows in the Country

I was just about to ask that. Looking at that picture of the carrion a few posts back and dont think I ever saw one of them.... but then again, Im not a crow shooter so I wouldnt be looking too hard anyway.

Anyone ever see the video on youtube where the crows drop nuts in front of traffic lights. The cars drive over it, breaks the shells. Lights turn red, cars stop moving and the crows swoop down and get the nut... theres no flies on them

Half-cocked

Capercaille wrote: »

Carrion crow and hooded crow are considered different species now. There are very few carrion crows in the Country and as such the number of hybrids would also be very low.

Don't know about the rest of the country, but there's a few Carrions and Grey/Carrion hybrids in Dublin city. Didn't realize they'd been seperated as species. Thanks.

insignia33

Another question for you crow experts. I was told that crows mate for life. And when the partner dies then the crow thats left gets very depressed/upset and will die shortly after? Is this true? Does it apply to all crows.... or just one subset, say jackdaws for instance?

Grizzly 45

Half-cocked wrote: »

Don't know about the rest of the country, but there's a few Carrions and Grey/Carrion hybrids in Dublin city. Didn't realize they'd been seperated as species. Thanks.

No shortage of them down here in the Limerick area either.

Capercaille

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

No shortage of them down here in the Limerick area either.

People commonly mistaken juvenile rooks for carrion crows. There are 256 recorded sighting on Irishbirding.com for the last 6 years for the whole Country.

knockon

About 4-5 years ago my Lab and I were walking in our fron drive and it was a really warm spell in June or July. A bunch of crows (I have no idea what the difference are and I don't shoot any animals before someone gets thick) swooped down on my dog and me screaming and cawing like a scene from Hitchcocks movie, The Birds. 30 mins later as we were going back out the same 2 or 3 started their dive bombing run. Was it weather related? I don't know but a couple of blasts from the 12 gauge into the Oak tree reminded them who was who (no fatatalities).

dodderangler

recipio wrote: »

More wary than wily-e- cyote. You have to have a lotta luck to get one of these in the crosshairs.

I'd get more of these than I would magpies. They're a hell of alot more wary than any other crow.

jill_valentine

Is there a relative scale chart knocking around? That would be handy.

knockon wrote: »

About 4-5 years ago my Lab and I were walking in our fron drive and it was a really warm spell in June or July. A bunch of crows (I have no idea what the difference are and I don't shoot any animals before someone gets thick) swooped down on my dog and me screaming and cawing like a scene from Hitchcocks movie, The Birds. 30 mins later as we were going back out the same 2 or 3 started their dive bombing run. Was it weather related? I don't know but a couple of blasts from the 12 gauge into the Oak tree reminded them who was who (no fatatalities).

Did you do anything to pee them off previously ?

http://www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html

Whenever the scientists walked around campus with the masks on, the crows would "scold" and dive-bomb them... because along with the ability to recognize us as individuals, the researchers also learned that crows can hold a grudge. And pretty soon, it wasn't just the first seven crows reacting. Other birds, ones that hadn't even been captured in the first place, started dive-bombing the scientists as well.

...

And it's not just that they're capable of identifying threats within their visual range and relaying that information to one another: Some of the crows never actually saw the person in the mask, but they knew about him all the same. Even subsequent generations of crow, whose only experience with the "masked scientists" was from stories told 'round the crow campfires at midnight, displayed the exact same antagonistic behavior when encountering the masks.

So, not only do they recognize us as individuals, but they have the means to describe us in detail to one another, even across generations. You know what that means: If you've ever ****ed with a crow, even if it was just the one time, decades ago, his children might be out there right now, plotting bloody revenge against you.

Fascinating chaps. They'd be even more fascinating if they left our bloody sheep alone. :mad:

flanum

im sure a few people here are aware of a rook funeral.... shoot one and the rest of flock go absolutely mental dive bombing.... ie... rifle the first one and have shotgun ready for 2 minutes of manic banging till they twig!

session savage

flanum wrote: »

im sure a few people here are aware of a rook funeral.... shoot one and the rest of flock go absolutely mental dive bombing.... ie... rifle the first one and have shotgun ready for 2 minutes of manic banging till they twig!

yep. also grey crows will come back to see if their buddy is ok and you can pick them off one by one. but you do need to be really well concealed.