Hooded Crow - Corvus corone cornix

Hooded Crow (Corvus corone cornix)

Hooded Crow, Ag. Irino Gorge, Crete, November 2002 - click for larger image

The Hooded Crow has long been regarded as a sub-species of the Carrion Crow Corvus corone largely because there is a wide range of intergradation between the Hooded and Carrion Crows where they meet which is in Scotland roughly in line with the Great Glen, and in western Europe from Denmark south to northern Italy.

Hooded Crow, Kato Zacro Gorge, Crete, October 2002 - click for larger image

On 17th September 2002, the British Ornithologists' Union decided that Hooded Crow was a species in its own right. This decision was published in the October 2002 issue of Ibis, Volume 144, Pages 707-710.

On this basis, the Hooded Crow is found in Scandinavia and eastward from a line from Denmark to northern Italy through northern and central Asia to Japan. There is a disjunct population in Ireland and north-west Scotland. However, the HBW and Birdlife International checklist lumps the Hooded Crow with the Carrion Crow based on the very slight genetic differences.

It is light-grey with black wings and tail, a black head and untidy black bib down to its breast. They are noisy birds and often seem to be chasing each other when not mobbing smallish raptors such as Sparrowhawk Accipter nisus.

It has a wide diet including refuse, carrion, nestlings, insects, seeds and berries.

Hooded Crow, Mainland, Orkney, Scotland, May 2003 - click for larger image

Hooded Crow, Fetlar Shetland, Scotland, May 2004 - click for larger image

Hooded Crow, Cape Clear Island, Co. Cork, Ireland, July 2005 - click for larger image

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