American Crow
American Crow: Large, black bird with dark, stout bill, iridescent violet gloss on body, and blue-black wings. Tail is fan-shaped in flight. Eats insects, small invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, eggs and young of other birds, grains, fruits, refuse, and carrion. Steady direct flight.
● Song:
"caw, caw, caw", "caa-caa"
● Foraging & Feeding:
American Crow: Diet includes fruits, snails, salamanders, grain, small birds, mice, eggs, toads, corn, insects, and carrion. Around coastal areas, crows display behavior similar to that of gulls, taking clams and mussels and dropping them from heights to crack open shells.
● Breeding & nesting:
American Crow: Three to seven blue green to olive green eggs with dark markings are laid in a large nest made of twigs and sticks lined with feathers, grass, plant material, and rootlets. Nest is built in a tree or shrub, up to 100 feet above the ground. May use cross posts of utility poles as a nest site; in prairies, nests may be built on the ground. Nest is built by both parents, sometimes with the help of extra birds. Both parents incubate eggs for about 18 days. Young stay in nest 4 to 5 weeks before fledging.
● Similar species:
American Crow: Fish Crow is smaller, has more pointed wings, a more slender bill, longer tail, and different call. Northwestern Crow has a separate range. Common Raven is much larger with heavy, stout bill, shaggy throat feathers, wedge-shaped tail, and different call.