Carrion Crow

The Carrion Crow is a hugely successful resident breeder which, as its name suggests, is able to feed on anything edible.
Dedicated to: 
My sister Angela, may the crows watch over her.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Corvus corone
Family: 
Crows
Family Latin name: 
CORVIDAE
Category: 
Birds

Species description

Species description

No other urban bird messes with the Carrion Crow.  It will feed on anything edible and is a hugely successful resident breeder.  With a population of 1.1 million pairs in 2016 its conservation status is GREEN.  Much the same superstitions that apply to other crows apply to the Carrion Crows, although their confident strut suggests they couldn't care less.  However, because of the scavenging habits of this bird, the phrase 'to eat crow' means to be humbled.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
The Carrion Crow is a hugely successful resident breeder which, as its name suggests, is able to feed on anything edible.

Details

Species family information

Who could not admire the crows? They are intelligent and adaptable, some being users of tools, and they will exploit any food source, plant or animal, living or dead. They have stout beaks, are long-lived, and are generally monogamous. They may not be the world's most tuneful songsters, but their scavenging activities make them most useful in both urban and rural areas.   The number of crows seen together has various connotations in folklore depending on which part of the country the superstitions come from. Crows have long been scavengers on battlefields, and this may be the reason why their appearance elsewhere was regarded as ominous, usually portentous of death or ill luck.

Category information

The earliest feathered dinosaur fossils date from the early Cretaceous, but the ancestry of birds goes further back to Jurassic theropod dinosaurs, which shared a common ancestor with the crocodilians. Well known theropod groups include the tyrannosaurs, allosaurs, and other carnivores. Of surviving bird groups, the most ancient are the ratites (ostriches, rheas, tinamous, moas, kiwis, cassowaries, and emus), followed in evolutionary order by the waterfowl (ducks, geese and swans) and then the land fowl (chickens, turkeys, pheasants and their kin). Heene cemetery’s most ancient bird visitors are the woodpigeons. Strictly, therefore, we ought to refer to birds as dinosaurs, for they are direct descendants. The RSPB would be more accurately restyled as the RSPD. Where known, the conservation status of each bird is given as red, amber, or green, according to its survival potential based on 2016 populations and recent population trends.

Birds are warm-blooded, and have feathers, toothless, beaked jaws, and a strong, lightweight skeleton. They lay hard-shelled eggs. Their hearts have four chambers, and their metabolic rate is high. Although most are adapted for flight, many can also run, jump, swim and dive. Flightless birds retain vestigial wings. Brown, green, and grey are the commonest bird colours, for camouflage.