interesting facts about the american crow
Interesting Facts About the American Crow
The Iridescent feathered American crow is one of the most common bird species that is spotted throughout America. Keep reading to know more about this bird.
- This crow has the ability to count and is intelligent enough to solve puzzles or problems.
- They are quick at grasping different sounds of animals and birds and mimicking them.
- Crows build nests in pines, cottonwoods and oaks which are built out of twigs, stems and sticks. Their nests go up to a height of 18-60 feet. The nesting phase is observed during the spring season.
- The bird reaches sexual maturity at the age of 2, while some even begin to breed at 4 years of age. Some young crows help to bring up the young ones and a family may include 15 individuals.
- The diet of a crow may vary from insects, mice, and earthworms to fruits and nuts. However, their beak is too short to pierce through the skin of dead animals. Therefore, they either have to wait for another bird or animal to tear open the carcass of the prey or wait for it to decompose and become soft. They also feed on eggs and nestlings of sparrows, terns, robins, loons and eiders.
- Crows build their nests in a manner that it is not easily visible from a distance. The nests are usually built on horizontal branches of deciduous trees. They adapt to different habitats, but avoid deserts.
- As per research, this crow is known to suffer from the West Nile virus that has the tendency to kill the bird within a week. This has brought down the population of this species of crows.
- Though these birds live in the United States, some of them still migrate to distant places during winters.
- During the breeding season the female crow lays around 6 eggs and incubates them for 18 days. After about 35 days, the young ones are well-developed and ready to take flight.
- The Eastern Crow, Western Crow, Florida Crow and Southern Crow are the four sub-species recognized under this kind of crow species.
- A flock of crows live together during the breeding and nesting season and maintain the family for years.
- They come together in roosts to rest or sleep. The roosts consist of around 2 million crows. They also maintain the same resting place for 100 years.