The American Crow needs little description. It is
a large (17 to 21-inch), completely black bird. It has a purplish
gleam in strong sunlight. The tail is fan-shaped, the bill and
feet strong and black.The only other large black bird is the
This sociable bird is found among deciduous growth along rivers
and streams; orchards and city parks. It will also frequent mixed
and coniferous woods, but avoids closed coniferous forests and
desert expanses. Its voice, a loud caw caw or cah cah, is easily
The Crow breeds from British Columbia, central interior Canada
and Newfoundland south to Southern California, the Gulf Coast
and Florida. It winters north to southern Canada.
The nest is a well-made bowl of sticks lined with feathers,
grass and rootlets built in a tree. There it lays 4-6 greenish
eggs that are spotted with dark brown.
The Crows diet is varied: seeds, garbage, insects and mice.
It is well-known for its nest-plundering, but in orchards and
fields it destroys many injurious insects. Crows do destroy many
eggs and nestlings of woodland and meadow birds, but they also
weed out the weak and feeble, and they alert the animals in a
neighborhood when danger approaches.