The Crows of Autumn

(If anyone knows how I can make my pix clearer on this site, please let me know)


Here is a typical autumn sight. Sitting high in a tree, an American Crow is silhouetted against the pinkish orange glow of a November sunset.

American Crows are year-round resident of southern California. They survive very well here and in much of the United States. Crows are omnivores, which means they eat both meat and plants. In fact, they eat just about anything. They eat carrion. What is carrion? Carrion is dead animal meat. Oooh, yuck...again! But, remember...what would be all over the place if it weren't for carrion eaters and decomposers? That's right... a bunch of dead animals and plants. So, we need crows to clean up icky stuff around our neighborhoods.

Crows are incredibly intelligent. There is an online video showing crows in the city, dropping nuts onto a road. Car tires crush the nut shells, exposing the edible pieces of nuts. The car drives off and crows swoop down to eat the nuts. Pretty smart, eh? In experiments, they will solve puzzles to get food!

It is common for people to think that American Crows are Common Ravens and Common Ravens are American Crows. There are just a few small differences between the two bird species. Ravens are bigger than crows. Ravens have a V-SHAPED tail. Crows have a C-SHAPED tail. You can remember this because the word RAVEN has a V, and the word CROW has a C. The sounds they make are different, too. You probably have heard a crow caw-caw-cawing from a tree.

Crows really enjoy being around other crows. They can be found together with hundreds of other crows. How many crows can you count here in the tree?

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