Illustration from Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia/Corbis
Western Common Crow
Corvus brachyrhynchos hesperis
Subspecies of American Crow
November 29, 1805, at Tongue Point, near present-day Astoria, Oregon.
Stocky black bird with stout bill and fan-shaped tail. Smaller northwestern crow has hoarser voice; larger common raven has wedge-shaped tail. Length: 17-21 in (43-53 cm).
Familiar caw-caw or caa-caa.
Deciduous growth along rivers and streams; orchards and city parks. Also mixed and coniferous woods, but avoids closed coniferous forests and desert expanses.
Breeds from British Columbia, central interior Canada, and Newfoundland south to southern California, Gulf Coast, and Florida. Winters north to southern Canada.
Intelligent, wary, virtually omnivorous, and with a high reproductive capacity, the American crow is undoubtedly much more numerous than it was before the arrival of settlers.
