All species › Passerines › Crows, jays and magpies › American Crow
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American Crow | Corvus brachyrhynchos
Amerikaanse kraai | Cuervo americano
The American Crow is the familiar all-black crow of North America. In the guide area it is a peripheral species found only very locally in the far north of Mexico, along the border with the United States. It is social and forages in open country and built-up areas.
Voice
A loud, clear caw or kraa, often in series; also rattling and clicking notes.
Recording: Christian Kerihuel — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
40–53 cm. Entirely black with a slight purplish-blue gloss. Bill fairly stout and black, legs black, eye dark. Tail medium-length and square-ended or slightly rounded. It flies with steady, rowing wingbeats and seldom soars.
Confusion species
Northern Raven Corvus corax and Chihuahuan Raven Corvus cryptoleucus are larger, with a heavier bill, a wedge-shaped tail and a different, grating or resonant call; they soar a lot. Tamaulipas Crow Corvus imparatus and Sinaloa Crow Corvus sinaloae are smaller and slimmer and live farther south.
Habitat
Open country with trees, fields and pastures, riparian woodland, villages, towns and parks. It eats almost anything: insects, worms, seeds, fruit, carrion, eggs and refuse. It nests in trees.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In the guide area only very locally in the far north of Mexico, along the border with the United States, including north-western Baja California; elsewhere in the border region mainly as a scarce winter visitor. Outside the guide area in much of the United States and Canada.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Hard to find in the guide area; the best chance is in the border region with the United States, especially around towns and on farmland.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Common and widespread in North America; scarce and very local in Mexico.
Scientific name
Corvus brachyrhynchos | Brehm, 1822
Brehm described the species in 1822 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Corvus was introduced in 1758 by Linnaeus. Corvus is the Latin word for 'raven'. brachyrhynchos is Greek for 'short-billed', from brakhus 'short' and rhunkhos 'bill'. The specimen the first description was based on came from vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts, USA.