Suomi
Svenska
Polski
Čeština
Slovenčina
Norsk
Dansk
Hooded Crow
Corvus cornix
Identify the Hooded Crow by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Hooded Crow is a familiar grey-and-black crow of northern, eastern and south-eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East. It has often been lumped with the all-black Carrion Crow, with which it hybridises in a narrow zone where the two meet; they are genetically almost identical but differ in plumage and choose mates of their own colour. Resourceful and adaptable, it thrives in wild coastal landscapes as well as around people.
Did you know?
- An old Scots name for empty sea-urchin shells is “crow's cups”, after the crows' habit of dropping them to break them open.
- Hooded and Carrion Crows are almost genetically identical, yet mostly pair with birds of their own colour.
Voice
About the species
Identification
An easily recognised two-tone crow: the body is ash-grey, while the head, throat, wings and tail are glossy black; bill and legs are black and the voice a hoarse caw. Told from Raven by its smaller size and two-tone plumage (the Raven is all black with a wedge-shaped tail and massive bill).
Family
Corvidae
Size
Large (crow)
Colours
grey, black
About the habitat
Farmland, villages, towns, harbours, landfills, coasts and archipelagos, as well as forest edges.
Diet
An omnivore and opportunistic scavenger: carrion, refuse, grain, small mammals, eggs and chicks of other birds, especially in seabird colonies, and shellfish and crabs, which it drops from a height to crack. It caches surplus food.
Behaviour
Usually in pairs during the breeding season and in flocks outside it, moving daily between communal roosts and feeding areas. Curious yet cautious; frequently mobs birds of prey. It is a clever forager that drops hard-shelled prey and has even been seen pulling up ice-fishing lines to steal fish. Its call is a harsh, rasping caw. It nests high in trees, or on the ground on treeless islets.
Sources
Photo: Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) City Park, Skopje, North Macedonia.jpg
Sound: Kaveh Jamali, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corvus_cornix_-_Hooded_Crow_XC347296.mp3
Sound: Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corvus_corone_-_Carrion_Crow_XC511945.mp3
Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_crow
 City Park, Skopje, North Macedonia.jpg){kind=link}