Carrion Crow - Corvus corone

Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)

Edinburgh, Scotland

If we treat the Carrion Crow as a seperate species from Hooded Crow Corvus cornix (see the Hooded Crow page for further information on this) then the Carrion Crow's range runs from the British Isles, except Ireland and north-west Scotland, to Germany, France and the Iberian Peninsula.

The Carrion Crow has all black plumage and is considerably smaller than the Raven Corvus corax. It can also be distinguished from the similar sized juvenile Rook Corvus frugilegus by the stouter, less pointed bill.

Carrion Crow, Edinburgh, Scotland, March 2005 - click for larger image

Another distinguishing feature is that Rooks are almost always in large flocks while Carrion Crows are found singly, in pairs or in small flocks. "A Rook on its own is a Crow; and a Crow in a crowd is a Rook" as my ol' Granpappy used to say.

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