Bird name:

Chihuahuan Raven

Corvus cryptoleucus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Crows and Jays (Corvidae)

Code 4

CHRA

Code 6

CORCRY

ITIS

179730

Breeding Location:

Grassland with scattered trees, Desert, semi, Scrub vegetation areas

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial

Breeding Population:

Common to fairly common

Egg Color:

Green or gray green with lavender and brown marks

Number of Eggs:

3 - 8

Incubation Days:

18 - 21

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Prickly sticks and sometimes barbed wire.

Migration:

Some migrate

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General

Chihuahuan Raven: Relatively small raven, entirely metallic blue-black except for inconspicuous white neck feathers which are infrequently displayed. Eyes are pale brown. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has dark brown eyes.

Range and Habitat

Chihuahuan Raven: Breeds from southern Arizona, southeastern Colorado, and western Kansas southward into Mexico. Spends winters in southern part of breeding range. Preferred habitats include arid grasslands, plains, and deserts.

Breeding and Nesting

Chihuahuan Raven: Three to eight dull green eggs, spotted and streaked with brown and purple, are laid in a loose nest made of thorny sticks, lined with grass, moss, and bark strips, and built in an exposed tree or on a telephone pole. Incubation ranges from 18 to 21 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Chihuahuan Raven: Eats insects, especially grasshoppers and beetles, cultivated grains, small reptiles, cactus fruit, carrion, eggs and young of birds, and scraps of human food.

Readily Eats

Peanuts

Vocalization

Chihuahuan Raven: Call is a drawling "crooaak." As a warning, utters a guttural "quark, quark."

Similar Species

Chihuahuan Raven: Crows are smaller, have squared tails, and different calls. Common Raven is larger with somewhat different call and occupies less arid habitats.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America