Corvus

For other uses, see Corvus (disambiguation) and Crow (disambiguation).

Corvus is a widely distributed genus of passerine birds ranging from medium-sized to large-sized in the family Corvidae. It includes species commonly known as crows, ravens, and rooks. The species commonly encountered in Europe are the carrion crow, hooded crow, common raven, and rook; those discovered later were named "crow" or "raven" chiefly on the basis of their size, crows generally being smaller. The genus name is Latin for "raven".^[2]

Corvus Temporal range: 5–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Late Miocene origin based on molecular clock^[1]
American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Corvidae
Subfamily:	Corvinae
Genus:	Corvus Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Many, see List of Corvus species
Diversity
c. 46 species

The 46 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents except South America, and several islands. The Corvus genus makes up a third of the species in the family Corvidae. The members appear to have evolved in Asia from the corvid stock, which had evolved in Australia. The collective name for a group of crows is a "flock" or a "murder".^[3]

Recent research has found some crow species capable of not only tool use, but also tool construction.^[4] Crows are now considered to be among the world's most intelligent animals^[5] with an encephalization quotient equal to that of many non-human primates.^[6]

Description

 

Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) in flight

 

Jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) scavenging on a dead shark at a beach in Kumamoto, Japan

Medium-large species are ascribed to the genus, ranging from 34 cm (13 in) of some small Mexican species to 60–70 cm (24–28 in) of the large common raven and thick-billed raven, which together with the lyrebird represent the larger passerines.

These are birds with a robust and slender appearance, equipped with a small, rounded head with a strong, conical beak, elongated and pointed, with a slightly curved end towards the bottom; the legs are strong and the tail is short and wedge-shaped.

The coloration of the livery is dominated by shades of black, with some species having plumage with metallic iridescence and others that have white or gray areas on the neck or torso. Australian species have light eyes, while generally the irises of other species are dark.

Sexual dimorphism is limited.

Evolutionary history and systematics

Further information: Corvidae

 

Rook (Corvus frugilegus) on a branch

The members of the genus Corvus are believed to have evolved in Central Asia and radiated out from there into North America, Africa, Europe, and Australia. The center of diversity of Corvus is within Melanesia, Wallacea, and the island of New Guinea and surrounding islands, with numerous species endemic to islands in the area; other areas with a large number of crow species include South and Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Australia. A high density of endemics is also present in Mexico and the Caribbean.

The diversification of Corvus corresponded with a quick geographic expansion. The radiation of the genus resulted in rapid expansion of morphological diversity and fast speciation rates, especially around the beginning of the genus' radiation around 10 million years ago.^[1]

The genus was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.^[7] The name is derived from the Latin corvus meaning "raven".^[8] The type species is the common raven (Corvus corax);^[9] others named by Linnaeus in the same work include the carrion crow (C. corone), hooded crow (C. cornix), rook (C. frugilegus), and two species which have since been moved to other genera, the western jackdaw (now Coloeus monedula) and the Eurasian magpie (now Pica pica). At least 42 extant species are now considered to be members of Corvus, and at least 14 extinct species have been described.

The fossil record of crows is rather dense in Europe, but the relationships among most prehistoric species are not clear. Corvids are found in major cities across the world, and a major increase in the number of crows in urban settings has occurred since the 1900s. Historical records suggest that the population of American crows found in North America has been growing steadily since the introduction of European colonization, and spread east to west with the opening of the frontier. Crows were uncommon in the Pacific Northwest in the 1900s, except in riparian habitats. Populations in the west increased substantially from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. Crows and ravens spread along with agriculture and urbanization into the western part of North America.^[10]

Species

Main article: List of Corvus species

Behavior

 

House crow (Corvus splendens), Bangalore, India

Communal roosting

Crows gather in large communal roosts numbering between 200 and tens of thousands of individuals during nonbreeding months, particularly in the winter. These gatherings tend to happen near large food sources such as garbage dumps and shopping centers.^[11]

Play

Countless incidents are recorded of corvids at play. Many behaviourists see play as an essential quality in intelligent animals.^[12]

Calls

 

Corvus brachyrhynchos call

Call of Corvus brachyrhynchos (American crow)

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Crows and the other members of the genus make a wide variety of calls or vocalizations.^[13] Crows have also been observed to respond to calls of other species; presumably, this behavior is learned because it varies regionally.^[14] Crows' vocalizations are complex and poorly understood. Some of the many vocalizations that crows make are a "koww", usually echoed back and forth between birds, a series of "kowws" in discrete units, a long caw followed by a series of short caws (usually made when a bird takes off from a perch), an echo-like "eh-aw" sound, and more. These vocalizations vary by species, and within each species they vary regionally. In many species, the pattern and number of the numerous vocalizations have been observed to change in response to events in the surroundings (e.g. arrival or departure of crows).^[15]

Foraging

 

Wolf and ravens associating

Along with other birds, ravens have been known to associate with other animals such as coyotes and wolves. These associations are linked to feeding and hunting. Ravens use their calls to notify these animals when an injured prey is near. This interaction is most noticeable in winter where ravens are associated with wolf packs nearly 100% of the time.^[16] As a result of this connection, studies have been conducted on the reaction of prey animals to the call of the raven. In areas where ravens associate with predators, prey animals are more likely to avoid predation by leaving after hearing the call.^[17] Crows are also capable of distinguishing between coyotes and wolves and have shown a preference for wolves. This may be due to the fact that wolves kill larger prey.^[18] When hunting, ravens can locate injured animals, like elk, and can call out to wolves to kill them. At times, ravens associate with wolves even when there is no carcass and can even be seen forming relationships with them.^[18] This includes playing with cubs by using sticks, picking at their tails, or flying around them.^[19]

Audio clip of the call of a Common Raven from the Yellowstone sound library

Ravens have been mostly seen among travelling wolf packs rather than resting wolves, possibly due to the increased likelihood of food. They are also known to trust wolves in the pack they follow; when encountering a carcass killed by animals other than wolves, they are more apprehensive to eat from it.^[18] This symbiotic relationship between ravens and wolves is shown to be mutualistic; ravens help wolves find prey and when the wolves kill them the ravens can eat too. However, this relationship is not without its faults. Ravens may sometimes eat more of the prey than the wolf does. This problem has also been linked to wolf pack size, with some researchers suggesting that one of the reasons wolves hunt in larger packs is so that ravens (and other scavengers) get less of the food.^[20] Along with contention in wolves, ravens can also bother each other. By feeding off of the same carcass it is possible that some ravens will steal from their conspecifics. This behaviour is related to the ravens' ability to make quick decisions about eating the food then or storing it for later,^[19] and to their dominance and fighting ability.^[21]

 

Indian crow in Tamil Nadu

Intelligence

As a group, crows show remarkable examples of intelligence. Natural history books from the 18th century recount an often-repeated, but unproven anecdote of "counting crows"—specifically a crow whose ability to count to five (or four in some versions) is established through a logic trap set by a farmer.^[22][23] Crows and ravens often score very highly on intelligence tests. Certain species top the avian IQ scale.^[24] Wild hooded crows in Israel have learned to use bread crumbs for bait-fishing.^{[25][unreliable source?]} Crows engage in a kind of midair jousting, or air "chicken" to establish pecking order. They have been found to engage in activities such as sports,^[26] tool use, the ability to hide and store food across seasons, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use individual experience in predicting the behavior of proximal conspecifics.^[27]

One species, the New Caledonian crow, has also been intensively studied recently because of its ability to manufacture and use tools in the day-to-day search for food. On 5 October 2007, researchers from the University of Oxford presented data acquired by mounting tiny video cameras on the tails of New Caledonian crows. They pluck, smooth, and bend twigs and grass stems to procure a variety of foodstuffs.^[28][29] Crows in Queensland have learned how to eat the toxic cane toad by flipping the cane toad on its back and stabbing the throat where the skin is thinner, allowing the crow to access the nontoxic innards; their long beaks ensure that all of the innards can be removed.^[30][31]

The western jackdaw and the Eurasian magpie have been found to have a nidopallium about the same relative size as the functionally equivalent neocortex in chimpanzees and humans, and significantly larger than is found in the gibbons.^[32]

Crows have demonstrated the ability to distinguish individual humans by recognizing facial features.^[33] Evidence also suggests they are one of the few nonhuman animals, along with insects like bees or ants, capable of displacement (communication about things that are not immediately present, spatially or temporally).^[34][35]

In the Gumyoji Park of Yokohama, Japan, crows have shown the ability to both activate public drinking fountains and adjust the water flow to appropriate levels for either bathing or drinking.^[36][37]

Many studies have been conducted to research the ways in which ravens and corvids learn. Some have concluded that the brains of ravens and crows compare in relative size to great apes. The encephalization quotient (EQ) helps to expose the similarities between a great ape brain and a crow/raven brain. This includes cognitive ability. Though the brains differ significantly between mammals and birds, larger forebrains are seen in corvids compared to other birds (except some parrots), especially in areas associated with social learning, planning, decision making in humans and complex cognition in apes. Along with tool use, ravens can recognize themselves in a mirror.^[38] This complex cognition can also be extended to socio-cognitive abilities. Studies have been conducted regarding the development and evolution of social abilities in ravens. These results help to show how ravens prefer to form stable relationships with siblings and close social partners as opposed to strangers.^[39] The development in social abilities is essential for raven survival, including identifying whether something poses a threat and how ravens alert others nearby of an incoming threat.^[40]

Diet

 

Corvus splendens or house crow resting in shadows on a rooftop with slaughterhouse refuse to eat

Crows are omnivorous, and their diets are very diverse. They eat almost any food, including other birds, fruits, nuts, mollusks, earthworms, seeds, frogs, eggs, nestlings, mice, and carrion. The origin of placing scarecrows in grain fields resulted from the crow's incessant damaging and scavenging, although crows assist farmers by eating insects otherwise attracted to their crops.^[41]

Reproduction

 

Nestlings, almost ready to fledge

Crows reach sexual maturity around the age of three years for females and five years for males. Clutch size is around three to nine eggs, and the nesting period lasts between 20 and 40 days. While crows typically mate for life, extra-pair copulation is not unusual,^[42][43] and young from previous years often help nesting pairs protect a nest and feed nestlings.^[44]

 

A crow's nest is made of materials such as twigs, electrical wire, metal strips, plastic pieces, and other small items.

Crow nestlings in urban areas face threats such as nest entanglement from anthropogenic nesting materials and stunted growth due to poor nutrition.^[45][46]

Lifespan and disease

Some crows may live to the age of 20, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost 30 years old.^[47] The oldest documented captive crow died at age 59.^[48] The American crow is highly susceptible to the recently introduced North American strain of West Nile virus.^[49] American crows typically die within one week of acquiring the disease and very few survive exposure.

Conservation status

 

The Hawaiian crow or ʻalala (Corvus hawaiiensis) is nearly extinct; only a few dozen birds survive in captivity. It is listed as "extinct in the wild" by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Two species of crows have been listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - the Hawaiian crow and the Mariana crow.^[50] The American crow, despite having its population reduced by 45% since 1999 by the West Nile virus, is considered a species of least concern.

Problems and methods of control

Intelligence and social structures make most crow species adaptable and opportunistic. Crows frequently cause damage to crops and property,^[51] strew trash, and transfer disease. In densely populated areas around the world, corvids are generally regarded as nuisance animals.^[52] Crows are protected in the U.S. under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, but because of their perceived destructive nature, control of the species is allowed in certain areas. Because of their intelligence, control is often difficult or expensive. Methods for control include hunting, chemical immobilization, harassment and scare tactics, and trapping. Before any measure is used to confine, trap, kill, poison, immobilize, or alter the habits of any wild bird species, a person must check local, state, and federal regulations pertaining to such actions.

Hunting

 

Skeleton of American crow (Corvus brachyrhychos) on display at Museum of Osteology

In the United States, hunting is allowed under state and federal regulation. Crow hunting is considered a sport in rural areas of the U.S. because the birds are not considered a traditional edible game species. Some cultures do treat various corvid species as a food source.^[53] Liability and possible danger to persons and property limit the use of hunting or shooting as control methods in urban areas. Crows' wariness and cunning make harvesting crows in sufficient numbers difficult.

Scare tactics

Scare tactics have been the most widely used aversion tactic for crows in areas frequented by humans and domestic animal species. This safe method does not require constant maintenance or manpower to operate or monitor. However, corvids quickly become habituated to most tactics such as blast cannons, predator decoys, and traditional scarecrows. Greater success has been achieved by adding sound and motion to predator decoys to mimic a distressed crow being caught by a predator such as an owl or hawk.^[54] Work is currently being done which uses multiple aversion techniques in one area. The theory is that multiple techniques used together will confuse the crows, thereby lessening the probability of habituation to stimuli.

Trapping

See also: Bird trapping

Trapping is a rarely used technique in the U.S., but is being used with success in parts of Europe and Australia. The ladder-style trap (e.g., Australian Crow Trap or Modified Australian Crow Trap) seems to be the most effective in crow-trapping techniques. Ladder traps are constructed in such a way that unintentional catch of nontarget species is avoided. If a nontarget species is caught, it can be easily released without harm to the bird. The traps are cost-efficient because they are inexpensive and simple to construct, and require little manpower to monitor. The bait used in the traps can also be specific to corvids. Carrion, grains, unshelled raw peanuts, and shiny objects in the trap are effective baits.^{[citation needed]} When removing crows from a ladder trap, one living crow is left as an effective decoy for other crows. Trapping is considered^{[by whom?]} the most humane method for crow removal because the crows can be relocated without harm or stress. However, most wild birds in general have a knack for returning to their home ranges.^[55]

Other methods

Other methods have been used with little or limited success. Lasers have been used successfully to remove large flocks of birds from roost structures in urban areas, but success in keeping crows off roosts has been short-lived.^[56] Homeowners can reduce the presence of crows by keeping trash stored in containers, feeding pets indoors, and hanging tin pie-pans or reflective gazing globes around garden areas.

As food

Crows were hunted for survival by Curonians, a Baltic tribe,^[57] when common food was exhausted and the landscape changed so that farming was not as productive during the 18th and 19th centuries. Fishermen supplemented their diet by gathering coastal bird eggs and preserving crow meat by salting and smoking it. It became a traditional food for poor folk and is documented in a poem, "The Seasons" by K. Donelaitis. After the nonhunting policy was lifted by the Prussian government in 1721–1724 and alternative food supplies increased, the practice was forgotten. The tradition re-emerged after World War I; in marketplaces, butchered crows that were sought after and bought by townsfolk were common. The hunted crows were not the local, but the migrating ones; each year during the spring and autumn, crows migrated via the Curonian Spit between Finland and the rest of Europe. In 1943, the government even issued a hunting quota for such activities. Crows were usually caught by attracting them with smoked fish or grains soaked in spirits and then collecting them with nets. It was a job for the elderly or young who were unable to go to sea to fish, and it was common to catch 150 to 200 birds during a hunting day.

Human interaction

The common raven and carrion crow have been blamed for killing weak lambs and are often seen eating freshly dead corpses probably killed by other means. The Australian raven has been documented chasing, attacking, and seriously injuring lambs.^[58] Rooks have been blamed for eating grain in the UK and brown-necked ravens for raiding date crops in desert countries.^[59]

Crows have been shown to have the ability to visually recognize individual humans and to transmit information about "bad" humans by squawking.^[60] Crows appear to show appreciation to humans by presenting them with gifts.^[61][62]

Cultural depictions

See also: Cultural depictions of ravens

 

Crow on a Branch - Kawanabe Kyosai (1831–1889)

 

Crow pictured in the former coat of arms of Paattinen

In folklore and mythology

 

Crow on a Branch, Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795)

 

Dhumavati

In Ancient Greece and Rome, several myths about crows and jackdaws included:

• An ancient Greek and Roman adage, told by Erasmus runs, "The swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent," meaning that educated or wise people will speak after the foolish become quiet.^[63]
• The Roman poet Ovid saw the crow as a harbinger of rain (Amores 2,6, 34).^[64]
• Pliny noted how the Thessalians, Illyrians, and Lemnians cherished jackdaws for destroying grasshoppers' eggs. The Veneti are fabled to have bribed the jackdaws to spare their crops.^[65]
• Ancient Greek authors tell how a jackdaw, being a social creature, may be caught with a dish of oil into which it falls while looking at its own reflection.^[65]
• In Greek legend, princess Arne was bribed with gold by King Minos of Crete and was punished for her avarice by being transformed into an equally avaricious jackdaw, which still seeks shiny things.^[66]

In the Bible account at 1 Kings 17:6, ravens are credited with providing Elijah food.

 

The Twa Corbies by Arthur Rackham

In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Crow is a trickster, culture hero, and ancestral being. Legends relating to Crow have been observed in various Aboriginal language groups and cultures across Australia; these commonly include stories relating to Crow's role in the theft of fire, the origin of death, and the killing of Eagle's son.

Crows are mentioned often in Buddhism, especially Tibetan disciplines. The Dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) Mahakala is represented by a crow in one of his physical/earthly forms.^{[citation needed]}

In the Chaldean myth, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim releases a dove and raven to find land; however, the dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, which does not return, and Utnapishtim concludes the raven has found land.^[67]

In Chinese mythology, the world originally had 10 suns either spiritually embodied as 10 crows and/or carried by 10 crows; when all 10 decided to rise at once, the effect was devastating to crops, so the gods sent their greatest archer Houyi, who shot down nine crows and spared only one.^[68][69]

In Denmark, the night raven is considered an exorcised spirit. A hole in its left wing denotes where the stake used to exorcise it was driven into the earth. He who looks through the hole will become a night raven himself.^[70]

In Hinduism, crows are thought of as carriers of information that give omens to people regarding their situations. For example, when a crow crows in front of a person's house, the resident is expected to have special visitors that day. Also, in Hindu literature, crows have great memories which they use to give information.^{[citation needed]} Symbolism is associated with the crow in the Hindu faith. On a positive note, crows are often associated with worship of ancestors because they are believed to be embodying the souls of the recently deceased. However, many other associations with crows are seen in Hinduism. Crows are believed to be connected with both the gods and goddesses, particularly the controversial ones such as Sani, the god of the planet Saturn, who uses a crow as his vehicle. In Hindu astrology, it is said that one who has the effect of Sani in their horoscope are angered easily, and may be unable to take control of their futures, but are extremely intelligent at the same time. Thus the presence of a crow, the vehicle of Sani is believed to have similar effects on the homes it lays its eyes on. Whether these effects are positive or negative is a source of debate in Hinduism.^[71] Crows are also considered ancestors in Hinduism and during Śrāddha, the practice of offering food or pinda to crows is still in vogue.^[72] Crows are associated with Dhumavati the form of mother goddess that invokes quarrel and fear.^[73] Crows are also fed during the fifteen day period of Pitru Paksha, which occurs in the autumn season, as an offering and sacrifice to the ancestors. During the time of Pitra Paksha, it is believed that the ancestors descend on earth from pitra-loka, and are able to eat food offered to them by the means of a crow. This can also occur during the time of Kumbha, many Hindus prepare entire vegetarian meals that are eaten solely by the crows and other birds.

In Irish mythology, crows are associated with Morrigan, the goddess of war and death.^[74]

In Islam, the Surat Al-Ma'ida of the Qur'an describes the story of how the crow teaches the son of Adam to cover the dead body of his brother: "Then Allah sent a crow digging a grave in the ground for a dead crow, in order to show him how to bury the corpse of his brother. He cried, 'Alas! Have I even failed to be like this crow and bury the corpse of my brother?' So he became regretful."^[75]

In Japanese mythology, a three-legged crow called Yatagarasu (八咫烏, "eight-hand-crow")^[76] is depicted.^[77]

In Korean mythology, a three-legged crow is known as Samjokgo (hangul: 삼족오; hanja: 三足烏).^{[citation needed]}

In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are a pair of common ravens that range the entire world, Midgard, bringing the god Odin information.

In Sweden, ravens are held to be the ghosts of murdered men.^[78]

In Welsh mythology, the god Brân the Blessed – whose name means "crow" or "raven"—is associated with corvids and death; tradition holds that Bran's severed head is buried under the Tower of London, facing France—a possible genesis for the practice of keeping ravens in the Tower, said to protect the fortunes of Britain. In Cornish folklore, crows—magpies particularly—are associated with death and the "other world", and must be greeted respectfully. The origin of "counting crows" as augury is British; however, the British version rather is to "count magpies"—their black and white pied colouring alluding to the realms of the living and dead.

In some Native American mythologies, especially those in the Pacific Northwest, the raven is seen as both the Creator of the World and, separately, a trickster god.

In medieval times, crows were thought to live abnormally long lives. They were also thought to be monogamous throughout their long lives. They were thought to predict the future, anticipate rain and reveal ambushes. Crows were also thought to lead flocks of storks while they crossed the sea to Asia.^[79]

In popular culture

Literature

• In Aesop's Fables, the jackdaw embodies stupidity in one tale (by starving while waiting for figs on a fig tree to ripen), vanity in another (the jackdaw sought to become king of the birds with borrowed feathers, but was shamed when they fell off),^[80] and cunning in yet another (the crow comes up to a pitcher and knows that his beak is too short to reach the water, and if he tips it over, all the water will fall out, so the crow places pebbles in the pitcher so the water rises and he can reach it to relieve his thirst).^[81]
• In Ovid's Metamorphoses, in Greek mythology, the god Apollo became enraged when the crow exposed his lover Coronis' tryst with a mortal, his ire transmuting the crow's feathers from white to black.^[82]
• In the Story of Bhusunda, a chapter of the Yoga Vasistha, a very old sage in the form of a crow, Bhusunda, recalls a succession of epochs in the earth's history, as described in Hindu cosmology. He survived several destructions, living on a wish-fulfilling tree on Mount Meru.^[83]

Music

• Both ravens and crows have commonly featured in the lyrics of heavy metal songs. A 2019 study showed that ravens are the most frequent birds mentioned in heavy metal lyrics, while crows are the fourth (eagles and vultures being the second and third).^[84]

See also

• Corvus (heraldry)
• Eating crow
• Ischys for the Greek myth of why the raven's feathers are black
• Scarecrows

References

1. Garcia-Porta, Joan; Sol, Daniel; Pennell, Matt; Sayol, Ferran; Kaliontzopoulou, Antigoni; Botero, Carlos A. (21 April 2022). "Niche expansion and adaptive divergence in the global radiation of crows and ravens". Nature Communications. 13 (1): 2086. Bibcode:2022NatCo..13.2086G. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29707-5. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 9023458. PMID 35449129.
2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
3. . Word-detective.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
4. Winkler, Robert (8 August 2002). . National Geographic. Archived from the original on 15 February 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
5. "A Murder of Crows". Nature. PBS video. 24 October 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2011. New research indicates that crows are among the brightest animals in the world.
6. . National Geographic News. NG Society. 9 December 2004. Archived from the original on 12 December 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2015. Emery and Clayton write, "These studies have found that some corvids are not only superior in intelligence to birds of other avian species (perhaps with the exception of some parrots), but also rival many nonhuman primates."
7. Linnaeus, C. (1758). (in Latin). Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii). p. 824. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015.
8. Simpson, D.P. (1979). Cassell's Latin Dictionary (5 ed.). London: Cassell. p. 883. ISBN 978-0-304-52257-6.
9. Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1962). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 15. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 261.
10. Marzluff, J., Bowman, R. and Donnelly, R. (2001). Avian ecology and conservation in an urbanizing world. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
11. Caccamise, D., Reed, L. and Stouffer, P. (1997). Roosting Behavior and Group Territoriality in American Crows. The Auk, 114(4), 628-637.
12. Bekoff, Mark & Byers, John (1998). Animal Play: Evolutionary, Comparative and Ecological Perspectives.
13. Chamberlain, Dwight R; Cornwell, George W (1971). "Selected Vocalizations of the Common Crow". The Auk. 88 (3): 613–634. JSTOR 4083753.
14. . Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
15. birdy (6 May 2022). "Can crows talk like parrots? (Facts + Video)". birdsology. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
16. "Ravens: The Wolf's "Wingman" | Wolf Conservation Center". 28 February 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
17. Berger, J. (1999). "Memorial University Libraries - Proxy Login". Proceedings. Biological Sciences. 266 (1435): 2261–2267. doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0917. PMC 1690453. PMID 10629976.
18. Stahler, Daniel; Heinrich, Bernd; Smith, Douglas (1 August 2002). "Common ravens, Corvus corax, preferentially associate with grey wolves, Canis lupus, as a foraging strategy in winter". Animal Behaviour. 64 (2): 283–290. doi:10.1006/anbe.2002.3047. ISSN 0003-3472. S2CID 53176223.
19. "Naturalist Notes: Wolves and Ravens". Yellowstone Forever. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
20. Vucetich, John A.; Peterson, Rolf O.; Waite, Thomas A. (1 June 2004). "Raven scavenging favours group foraging in wolves". Animal Behaviour. 67 (6): 1117–1126. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.06.018. ISSN 0003-3472. S2CID 52063060.
21. Gallego-Abenza, M.; Loretto, M. C.; Bugnyar, T. (2020). "Memorial University Libraries - Proxy Login". Ethology. 126 (4): 413–422. doi:10.1111/eth.12986. PMC 7079088. PMID 32201438.
22. Dehaene, Stanislas (2011). The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics, Revised and Updated Edition. Oxford University Press. pp. 289–. ISBN 978-0-19-975387-1.
23. Park, Keeok. Numbers Are Us. Keeok Park. pp. 19–. ISBN 978-0-9843446-3-5.
24. Rincon, Paul (22 February 2005). "Science/Nature | Crows and jays top bird IQ scale". BBC News. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
25. Bait-Fishing in Crows
26. . Wimp.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
27. Prior, H.; Schwarz, A.; Güntürkün, O. (2008). "Mirror-Induced Behavior in the Magpie (Pica pica): Evidence of Self-Recognition". PLOS Biology. 6 (8): e202. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060202. PMC 2517622. PMID 18715117.
28. Schmid, Randolph E. (5 October 2007) . Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Associated Press via Discovery Channel
29. See also the video "Crow bars", from the BBC's The Life of Birds
30. Katrina Bolton (15 September 2007). "Toads fall victim to crows in NT – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
31. "Cane Toad (Bufo marinus)". Ozanimals.com. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
32. Rogers, Lesley J.; Kaplan, Gisela T. (2004). Comparative Vertebrate Cognition: Are Primates Superior to Non-Primates?. New York, New York: Springer. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-306-47727-0.
33. Nijhuis, Michelle (25 August 2008). "Friend or Foe? Crows Never Forget a Face, It Seems". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
34. Heinrich, B. (1988). "Winter foraging at carcasses by three sympatric corvids, with emphasis on recruitment by the raven, Corvus corax". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 23 (3): 141–156. doi:10.1007/BF00300349. S2CID 10471307.
35. Heinrich, B.; Marzluff, J. M. (1991). "Do common ravens yell because they want to attract others?". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 28. doi:10.1007/BF00172134. S2CID 38841889.
36. Higuchi, Hiroyoshi (2019). "Carrion Crow manipulating water taps for drinking and bathing". British Birds. 112: 167–169. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
37. Sugimoto, Takashi (2 March 2019). ""Genius" crow that twists the water tap Drinking, bathing, adjustable". Asahi Shimbun Digital. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
38. "Mechanism". www.reed.edu. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
39. "Memorial University Libraries - Proxy Login". qe2a-proxy.mun.ca. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
40. Blum, C. R.; Fitch, W. T.; Bugnyar, T. (2020). "Memorial University Libraries - Proxy Login". Frontiers in Psychology. 11: 581794. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.581794. PMC 7609869. PMID 33192900.
41. Crow Facts 9 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. crowbusters.com
42. https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/wildlife/files/2019/03/SWAP-2015-Alala-Final.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
43. https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugrhs/content/titleinfo/2679337/full.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
44. Allaboutbirds.org, (2014). American Crow. [online] Available at: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_crow/lifehistory
45. Andrea K Townsend and Christopher M Barker (2014). Plastic and the Nest Entanglement of Urban and Agricultural Crows. Heiss, R., Clark, A. and McGowan, K. (2009).
46. Growth and nutritional state of American crow nestlings vary between urban and rural habitats. Ecological Applications, 19(4), 829-839.
47. McGowan, K.J. "Frequently Asked Questions About Crows", Cornell Lab of Ornithology
48. Crow Believed to Be Oldest in World Dies. Associated Press via Washington Post (7 July 2006)
49. . Penn State Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010.
50. . Fws.gov. 23 June 2011. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
51. Lim, H. C., N. S. Sodhi, B. W. Brook, and M. C. K. Soh (2003). "Factors determining the distribution of three invasive bird species in Singapore". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 19 (6): 685–695. doi:10.1017/s0266467403006084. hdl:2440/36842. S2CID 53507416.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
52. Brook, B. W.; Sodhi, N. S.; Soh, M. C. K.; Lim, H. C. (2003). "Abundance and Projected Control of Invasive House Crows in Singapore". The Journal of Wildlife Management. 67 (4): 808. doi:10.2307/3802688. JSTOR 3802688.
53. . News.nationalgeographic.com. 28 October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
54. Conover, M. R. (1985). "Protecting vegetables from crows using an animated crow-killing owl model". The Journal of Wildlife Management. 49 (3): 643–645. doi:10.2307/3801687. JSTOR 3801687.
55. Johnson, R. J. (PDF). Internet Center for Wildlife Management. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
56. Gorenzel, W. P.; Blackwell, B. F.; Simmons, G. D.; Salmon, T. P.; Dolbeer, R. A. (2002). "Evaluation of lasers to disperse American crows, Corvus brachyrhynchos, from urban night roosts". International Journal of Pest Management. 48 (4): 327. doi:10.1080/09670870210151689. S2CID 54997197.
57. "Crow hunting". nerija.lt. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
58. Alexander, G.; Mann, T.; Mulhearn, C. J.; Rowley, I. C. R.; Williams, D.; Winn, D. (1967). "Activities of foxes and crows in a flock of lambing ewes". Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture. 7 (27): 329. doi:10.1071/EA9670329.
59. Goodwin D. (1983). Crows of the World. Queensland University Press, St Lucia, Qld. ISBN 978-0-7022-1015-0.
60. Krulwich, Robert (27 July 2009). "The Crow Paradox". Morning Edition. National Public Radio.
61. Sewall, Katy (25 February 2015). "The girl who gets gifts from birds". BBC.
62. "Birds that bring gifts and do the gardening". BBC News. 10 March 2015.
63. Mynors, Roger A. (1989). Collected Works of Erasmus: Adages: Ivi1 to Ix100. University of Toronto Press. p. 314.
64. de Vries, Ad (1976). Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-7204-8021-4.
65. Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth (1895). "Jackdaw". A Glossary of Greek Birds. Oxford. p. 89.
66. Graves, R (1955). "Scylla and Nisus". Greek Myths. London: Penguin. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-14-001026-8.
67. Kovacs, Maureen Gallery (1989). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-8047-1711-3.
68. This mythology comes from a text in Shanhaijing, among other sources.
69. Yang, Lihui (2008). Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Oxford University Press. pp. 95–96 and 231. ISBN 978-0-19-533263-6.
70. The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. 34.
71. Zailer, Xenia (2013). "Dark Shades of Power: the Crow in Hindu and Tantric Religious Traditions". Religions of South Asia. 7 (1–3): 212–229. doi:10.1558/rosa.v7i1-3.212 (inactive 12 February 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of February 2024 (link)
72. Vasudevan, Vidia (26 July 2001). . The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012.
73. Kinsley, David R. (1988). "Tara, Chinnamasta and the Mahavidyas". Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition (1 ed.). University of California Press. pp. 161–177. ISBN 978-0-520-06339-6.
74. Leeming, David Adams (2005). "Crows and ravens". The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-19-515669-0.
75. "Surat Al-Maidah 5:31". Quran.com. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
76. Picken, Stuart D.B. (1994). Essentials of Shinto: An Analytical Guide to Principal Teachings. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-313-26431-3.
77. Como, Michael (2009). Weaving and Binding: Immigrant Gods and Female Immortals in Ancient Japan. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 100–103. ISBN 978-0-8248-2957-5.
78. . Avianweb.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
79. "Medieval Bestiary: Crow".
80. de Vries, Ad (1976). Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. pp. 388–89. ISBN 978-0-7204-8021-4.
81. "The Crow and the Pitcher". Aesop's Fables.
82. Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). "Coronis/Corvus". Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology. ABC-CLIO. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-57607-129-8.
83. Cole, Juan R.I. Baha'u'llah on Hinduism and Zoroastrianism: The Tablet to Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Concerning the Questions of Manakji Limji Hataria.
84. Soares, Henrique M.; Tomotani, João, V.; Tomotani, Barbara M.; Salvador, Rodrigo B. (2019). "Bird biodiversity in heavy metal songs". Journal of Geek Studies. 6 (2): 111–126.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

• Burton, Maurice; Burton, Robert (2002). "Crow". The International Wildlife Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614-7266-7.
• Coombs, Franklin (1978). The Crows: A Study of the Corvids of Europe. Batsford. ISBN 9780713413274.
• Gill, B. J. (2003). . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 1 (1): 43–58. Bibcode:2003JSPal...1...43G. doi:10.1017/S1477201903001019. S2CID 84190534. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
• Goodwin, D. (1983). Crows of the World. Queensland University Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-1015-0.
• Heinrich, Bernd (1991). Ravens in Winter. Vintage Press. ISBN 978-0-679-73236-5.
• Heinrich, Bernd (1999). Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds. Cliff Street Books. ISBN 978-0-06-093063-9.
• Kilham, Lawrence (1991). The American Crow and the Common Raven. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-89096-466-8.
• Madge, Steve; Burn, Hillary (1994). Crows and Jays: A Guide to the Crows, Jays, and Magpies of the World. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-67171-9.
• Westerfield, Michael (2011). The Language of Crows: The Crows.net Book of the American Crow. Ashford Press. ISBN 978-0-937992-00-5.
• Worthy, Trevor H.; Holdaway, Richard N. (2002). The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34034-4.

External links

 

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Crow".

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Corvus (genus).

• Frequently Asked Questions About Crows - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Crows.net: The Language and Culture of Crows
• Tool making and use by Crows - Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Oxford University
• "A Murder of Crows" - PBS documentary (2010)