Facts on Crows

Crows have a bad reputation with some people because of their dark color, loud call or appearance in scary books and movies. Many also associate crows with attacking farm crops. If you take a full look at what crows are all about, however, you'll discover that crows are intelligent and intriguing animals.

  1. What Do Crows Look Like?

    • Crows are big, black birds with straight bills. While some birds have black feathers but have features of various colors, even the bill and feet of crows are black. The only time crow feathers may look brown is right after a bird has gone through the molting process. Some people use the terms "crow" and "raven" interchangeably because both birds are black, but ravens are much larger and have diamond-shaped tails.

    What Do Crows Eat?

    • Crows are omnivores, meaning they'll eat plants and meat. A common meal for a crow may be a worm, a frog, seeds, a mouse or nuts. Crows are known for being scavengers and aren't too picky about the food they consume. Trash cans and garbage dumps may attract crows because of the presence of rotting food. According to the American Society of Crows and Ravens, crows hunt for live animals to eat and also graze on dead animals.

    Where the Crows Are

    • There are many species of crows found all over the world. The common American crow, for example, can be spotted throughout most of the United States and in large portions of Canada. Crows are versatile birds that can survive in woods, wetlands, marshes, fields and residential areas. Flocks of crows that stay in Canada and the northern United States during summer may migrate to the southern U.S. for fall and winter.

    More About Crows

    • According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, crows are very intelligent. Crows communicate well among each other, which helps in finding food. A little-known fact about crows is that they have a parrotlike quality to them in that they can be trained to squawk short words. Another interesting tidbit about crows is that each one mates for life with one other crow; a crow will look for a new partner only if its original mating partner dies.