Bird of the Week: American Crow

Photo by Melissa Hafting

Species: American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos

Family: Corvidae

Sign: Sagittarius

Favorite hobby: holding generations-long grudges

Dear reader, 

How often is it that you look towards a rustling in the trees and see a crow or two staring down at you? There hasn’t been a day at Reed when I haven’t seen these meddlesome creatures pecking through a pile of leaves, dodging around trees in the Canyon, or conversing in their incomprehensible caws with one another. They have been a constant part of my life since I moved to Portland, and while I did believe at first they could be an annoyance, I found quickly that crows are some of the most interesting birds around. Their appearance is distinctive and hard to miss: black, shining feathers adorn their large frames that, unlike the Common Grackle, another entirely black bird from my home state, do not appear iridescent. The American Crow is one of the most common species in North America, with their range spanning from Northern Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean in Canada. They live year-round in a sizable part of North America, including Oregon, perhaps lending to their reputation as a common-place, uninteresting species. They are loud, numerous, and often a pest to farms and gardens. Like many common birds, though, they are incredibly intelligent and adaptable, and have made themselves a facet of our daily lives not through coincidence but persistence. Additionally, like many common birds, I have a soft spot for American Crows. From the family Corvidae, they are related to Jays, like the Scrub Jay or Steller's Jay, and Magpies, another exceedingly crafty creature. While they seem to be herbivores usually, crows are a member of the club of carrion eaters, like vultures, and consume roadkill and other already deceased animals. Unlike vultures, their beaks are not sharp enough to break through skin, so they are usually the last of the visitors to a carcass. While their infamous ‘caw’ is the most common of their vocalizations, crows coo, rattle, and click as well. I have found that their calls often sound like machinery or some other artificially-made noise, especially the rattles and clicks. I suggest, if you haven't heard it before, to watch a video or listen to an audio of their calls – a crow’s range is pretty fascinating. 

Crows have been known as one of the creatures most adaptable to their increasingly urban surroundings. A study at UC Davis found that crows were dropping walnuts onto a road near campus to crack them in order to keep others from acquiring their earned bounty. The road was both a useful hard surface on which to crack walnuts and also a deterrent, because of the danger of cars, to other birds. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle conducted an experiment in which they wore a ‘dangerous’ mask while capturing and banding seven to fifteen wild crows. After their release, the crows would scold and dive-bomb anyone with the mask on, even when they were walking in a crowd. Their gait, height, and age did not matter to them, but their face was what set the crows off. So it happens, not only do we see the crows, but they see us! My friend, one afternoon this summer, fearfully told me of her encounter with some crows as she walked to work that morning. She noticed a crow following her as she walked, hopping along power lines and from branch to branch. She thought nothing of it until it began cawing at her as it followed. As she sped up, the crow began to dive-bomb her, and rightfully terrified, she said she ran the rest of the way to work. She refrained from walking around the neighborhood on her break as she usually did. Next time you find yourself facing a murder of crows, I beg you to remember that our seemingly placid relationship with these tenacious birds is in fact a contentious one, and to treat them with the deference that they so clearly have earned (and may even demand).