American Crow
Corvus brachyrhynchos
American Crow 2
Identification:
A crow lives just about everywhere. This includes woods, riversides, fields, parks and towns. You can often find crows in small groups (occasionally in large flocks). You can tell it is a crow rather than a raven by the voice and structure. A Common Raven can be 27” in length and have a wingspan of 46”. An American Crow can be 20” in length and have a wingspan of 36”. When the crow flies it has a steady rowing wing beats.
Niche:
The crow is a consumer because it eats insects. These insects include grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, crickets and locusts. They also eat roadkill. Unusual, but they also eat slaughterhouse waste and garbage. Whenever possible, crows will eat apples, beans, corn, cherries, peas, grapes, wheat, figs, and almonds. This helps the ecosystem because they can eat the “waste” in the ecosystem to keep it clean.
Sites or books:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=2501
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/common_crow.htm http://diet.yukozimo.com/what-do-crows-eat/
Sibley Field Guide to Birds by David Sibley
Sources and Credits
- (c) Anita Gould, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Anita Gould, http://www.flickr.com/photos/61897811@N00/2470003522
- Adapted by snappingturtle4321 from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_brachyrhynchos
