Corvid Biology

Morphology

Corvids are large to very large passerines with a robust build, strong legs and all species except
the pinyon jay have nostrils covered by bristle-like feathers. Many corvids of temperate zones
have mainly black or blue coloured plumage; however, some are pied black and white, some
have a blue-purple iridescence and many tropical species are brightly coloured. The sexes are
very similar in colour and size. Corvids have strong, stout bills and large wingspans. The family
includes the largest members of the passerine order.

The smallest corvid is the dwarf jay (Aphelocoma nana), at 41 g (1.4 oz) and 21.5 cm (8.5 in).
The largest corvids are the common raven (Corvus corax) and the thick-billed raven (Corvus
crassirostris), both of which regularly exceed 1,400 grams (3.1 pounds) and 65 cm (26 in).

Species can be identified based on size, shape, and geography; however, some, especially the
Australian crows, are best identified by their raucous calls.

Ecology

Corvids occur in most climatic zones. Most are sedentary and do not migrate significantly.
However, during a shortage of food, eruptive migration can occur. When species are migratory,
they will form large flocks in the fall (around August in the Northern Hemisphere) and travel
south.

One reason for the success of crows, compared to ravens, is their ability to overlap breeding
territory. During breeding season, crows were shown to overlap breeding territory six times as
much as ravens. This invasion of breeding ranges allowed a related increase in local population
density.

Food and feeding

The natural diet of many corvid species is omnivorous, consisting of invertebrates, nestlings,
small mammals, berries, fruits, seeds, and carrion. However, some corvids, especially the crows,
have adapted well to human conditions and have come to rely on anthropogenic foods. In a US
study of American crows, common ravens and Steller's jays around campgrounds and human
settlements, the crows appeared to have the most diverse diet of all, taking anthropogenic foods
such as bread, spaghetti, fried potatoes, dog food, sandwiches, and livestock feed. The increase
in available anthropogenic food sources is contributing to population increase in some corvid
species.

Some corvids are predators of other birds. During the wintering months, corvids typically form
foraging flocks. However, some crows also eat many agricultural pests including cutworms,
wireworms, grasshoppers, and harmful weeds. Some corvids will eat carrion, and since they lack
a specialized beak for tearing into flesh, they must wait until animals are opened, whether by
other predators or as roadkill.
Corvids are highly opportunist foragers. Here a jungle crow feeds on a shark carcass.

Since crows do not seem to mind human development, it was suggested that the crow population
increase would cause increased rates of nest predation. However, Steller's jays, which are
successful independently of human development, are more efficient in plundering small birds'
nests than American crows and common ravens. Therefore, the human relationship with crows
and ravens did not significantly increase nest predation, compared to other factors such as
habitat destruction.

Reproduction

Many species of corvid are territorial, protecting territories throughout the year or simply during
the breeding season. In some cases territories may only be guarded during the day, with the pair
joining off-territory roosts at night. Some corvids are well-known communal roosters. Some
groups of roosting corvids can be very large, with a roost of 65,000 rooks counted in Scotland.
Some, including the rook and the jackdaw, are also communal nesters.

The partner bond in corvids is extremely strong and even lifelong in some species. This
monogamous lifestyle, however, can still contain extra-pair copulations. Males and females build
large nests together in trees or on ledges. The male will also feed the female during incubation.
The nests are constructed of a mass of bulky twigs lined with grass and bark. Corvids can lay
between 3 and 10 eggs, typically ranging between 4 and 7. The eggs are usually greenish in
colour with brown blotches. Once hatched, the young remain in the nests for up to 6–10 weeks
depending on the species. Corvids provide biparental care.
A gray jay pair feeding their chicks

Jackdaws can breed in buildings or in rabbit warrens. White-throated magpie-jays are

cooperatively breeding corvids where the helpers are mostly female. Cooperative breeding takes
place when additional adults help raise the nestlings. Such helpers at the nest in most
cooperatively breeding birds are males, while females join other groups.

Disease

Corvids are reservoirs (carriers) for the West Nile virus in the United States. They are infected by
mosquitoes (the vectors), primarily of the Culex species. Crows and ravens are quickly killed by
this disease, so their deaths are an early-warning system when West Nile virus arrives in an area
(as are horse and other bird species deaths). One of the first signs that West Nile virus first
arrived in the US in 1999 was the death of crows in New York.

Corvid social life and intelligence

Social life

Some corvids have strong organization and community groups. Jackdaws, for example, have a
strong social hierarchy, and are facultatively colonial during breeding. Providing mutual aid has
also been recorded within many of the corvid species.

Social games

Young corvids have been known to play and take part in elaborate social games. Documented
group games follow a "king of the mountain"- and "follow the leader"-type pattern. Other play
involves the manipulation, passing, and balancing of sticks. Corvids also take part in other
activities, such as sliding down smooth surfaces. These games are understood to play a large
role in the adaptive and survival ability of the birds.

Mate selection

Mate selection is quite complex and accompanied with much social play in the Corvidae.
Youngsters of social corvid species undergo a series of tests, including aerobatic feats, before
being accepted as a mate by the opposite sex.

Aggression
Some corvids can be aggressive. Blue jays, for example, are well known to attack anything that
threatens their nest. Crows have been known to attack dogs, cats, ravens, and birds of prey.
Most of the time these assaults take place as a distraction long enough to allow an opportunity
for stealing food.

Relationship with humans

Several different corvids, particularly ravens, have occasionally served as pets, although they are
not able to speak as readily as parrots and do not like being caged.

Intelligence

The brain-to-body weight ratios of corvid brains are among the largest in birds, equal to that of
most great apes and cetaceans, and only slightly lower than a human. Their intelligence is
boosted by the long growing period of the young. By remaining with the parents, the young have
more opportunities to learn necessary skills. Since most corvids are cooperative brooders, their
young can learn from different members of the group.

Comparison to other species

When compared to dogs and cats in an experiment testing the ability to seek out food according
to three-dimensional clues, corvids out-performed the mammals. A meta-analysis testing how
often birds invented new ways to acquire food in the wild found corvids to be the most innovative
birds. A 2004 review suggests that their cognitive abilities are on par with those of great apes.
Despite structural differences, the brains of corvids and great apes both evolved the ability to
make geometrical measurements.

Social intelligence hypothesis

Corvid ingenuity is represented through their feeding skills, memorization abilities, use of tools,
and group behaviour. Living in large social groups has long been connected with high cognitive
ability. To live in a large group, a member must be able to recognize individuals and track the
social position and foraging of other members over time. Members must also be able to
distinguish between sex, age, reproductive status, and dominance, and to update this information
constantly. It might be that social complexity corresponds to their high cognition.

Self awareness

The Eurasian magpie is the only non-mammal species known to be able to recognize itself in a
mirror test. Magpies have been observed taking part in elaborate grieving rituals, which have
been likened to human funerals, including laying grass wreaths. Marc Bekoff, at the University of
Colorado, argues that it shows that they are capable of feeling complex emotions, including grief.

There are also specific examples of corvid cleverness. One carrion crow was documented to
crack nuts by placing them on a crosswalk, letting the passing cars crack the shell, waiting for the
light to turn red, and then safely retrieving the contents. A group of crows in England took turns
lifting garbage bin lids while their companions collected food.

Object permanence

Members of the corvid family have been known to watch other birds, remember where they hide
their food, then return once the owner leaves. Corvids also move their food around between
hiding places to avoid thievery, but only if they have previously been thieves themselves (that is,
they remember previous relevant social contexts, use their own experience of having been a thief
to predict the behaviour of a pilferer, and can determine the safest course to protect their caches
from being pilfered). Studies to assess similar cognitive abilities in apes have been inconclusive.
The ability to hide food requires highly accurate spatial memories. Corvids have been recorded
to recall their food's hiding place up to nine months later. It is suggested that vertical landmarks
(like trees) are used to remember locations. There has also been evidence that western scrub
jays, which store perishable foods, not only remember where they stored their food, but for how
long. This has been compared to episodic memory, previously thought unique to humans.

Tool use

New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) are notable for their highly developed tool
fabrication. They make angling tools of twigs and leaves trimmed into hooks, then use the hooks
to pull insect larvae from tree holes. Tools are engineered according to task and apparently also
to learned preference. Recent studies revealed abilities to solve complicated problems, which
suggests high level of innovation of a complex nature. Other corvids that have been observed
using tools include the American crow, blue jay and green jay. Diversity in tool design among
corvids suggests cultural variation. Again, great apes are the only other animals known to use
tools in such a fashion.

Clark's nutcrackers and jackdaws were compared in a 2002 study based on geometric rule
learning. The corvids, along with a domestic pigeon, had to locate a target between two
landmarks, while distances and landmarks were altered. The nutcrackers were more accurate in
their searches than the jackdaws and pigeons.

Role in myth and culture

Native American folklore

Folklore often represents corvids as clever, and even mystical, animals. Some Native Americans,
such as the Haida, believed that a raven created the earth and despite being a trickster spirit,
ravens were popular on totems, credited with creating man, and considered responsible for
placing the Sun in the sky.

Celtic folklore

Due to their carrion diet, the Celtic peoples strongly associated corvids with war, death and the
battlefield - their great intelligence meant that they were often considered messengers, or
manifestations of the gods such Bendigeidfran Blessed raven or the Irish Morrigan, underworld
deities that may be related to the later Arthurian Fisher King. The Welsh Dream of Rhonabwy
illustrates well the association of ravens with war. In many parts of Britain, gatherings of crows,
or more often magpies, are counted using the divination rhyme: one for sorrow, two for joy, three
for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told. Cornish
superstition holds that when a magpie is encountered, it must be loudly greeted with respect.

Germanic folklore

Various Germanic peoples highly revered the raven. The major deity Odin was so associated
with ravens throughout history that he gained the kenning "raven god" and the raven banner was
the flag of various Viking Age Scandinavian chieftains. He was also attended by Hugin and
Munin, two ravens who whispered news into his ears. The Valravn sometimes appears in
modern Scandinavian folklore. The Sutton Hoo treasure features stylised corvids with scrolled
beaks in the decorative enamel work on the shield and purse lid reflecting their common totemic
status to the Anglo-Saxons, whose pre-Christian indigenous beliefs were of the same origin as
that of the aforementioned Vikings.

Fables and poetry

The 6th century BC Greek scribe Aesop featured corvids as intelligent antagonists in many
fables. Later, in western literature, popularized by American poet Edgar Allan Poe's work "The
Raven", the common raven becomes a symbol of the main character's descent into madness.

Status and conservation

Human influences

Unlike many other bird families, corvid fitness and reproduction, especially with many crows, has
increased due to human development. The survival and reproductive success of certain crows
and ravens is assisted by their close relationship with humans.

Human development provides additional resources by clearing land, creating shrub lands rich in
berries and insects. When the cleared land naturally replenishes, jays and crows use the young
dense trees for nesting sites. Ravens typically use larger trees in denser forests.

Despite the fact that most corvids are not threatened (many even increasing due to human
activity) a few species are in danger. For example, the destruction of the Southeast Asian
rainforests is endangering mixed-species feeding flocks with members from the family Corvidae.
Also, since its semiarid scrubland habitat is an endangered ecosystem, the Florida scrub jay has
a small and declining population. A number of island species, which are more vulnerable to
introduced species and habitat loss, have been driven to extinction, such as the New Zealand
raven, or are threatened, like the Mariana crow.

The Hawaiian crow is extinct in the wild as a result of habitat loss and other factors

The American crow population of the United States has grown over the years. It is possible that
the American crow, due to humans increasing suitable habitat, will drive out Northwestern crows
and fish crows.

Appendix 1

Full list of species in the family Corvidae

Choughs
Genus Pyrrhocorax
 Alpine chough, Pyrrhocorax graculus
 Red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax

Treepies
Genus Crypsirina
 Hooded treepie, Crypsirina cucullata
 Racket-tailed treepie, Crypsirina temia
Genus Dendrocitta
 Andaman treepie, Dendrocitta bayleyi
 Bornean treepie, Dendrocitta cinerascens
 Grey treepie, Dendrocitta formosae
 Collared treepie, Dendrocitta frontalis
 White-bellied treepie, Dendrocitta leucogastra
 Sumatran treepie, Dendrocitta occipitalis
 Rufous treepie, Dendrocitta vagabunda
Genus Platysmurus
 Black magpie, Platysmurus leucopterus
Genus Temnurus
 Ratchet-tailed treepie, Temnurus temnurus

Oriental magpies
Genus Cissa
 Common green magpie, Cissa chinensis
 Indochinese green magpie, Cissa hypoleuca
 Javan green magpie, Cissa thalassina
 Bornean green magpie, Cissa jefferyi
Genus Urocissa
 Taiwan blue magpie, Urocissa caerulea
 Red-billed blue magpie, Urocissa erythrorhyncha
 Yellow-billed blue magpie, Urocissa flavirostris
 Sri Lanka blue magpie, Urocissa ornata
 White-winged magpie, Urocissa whiteheadi

Old World jays

Genus Garrulus
 Eurasian jay, Garrulus glandarius
 Black-headed jay, Garrulus lanceolatus
 Lidth's jay, Garrulus lidthi
Genus Podoces - ground jays
 Biddulph's ground jay, Podoces biddulphi
 Henderson's ground jay, Podoces hendersoni
 Pander's ground jay, Podoces panderi
 Pleske's ground jay, Podoces pleskei

Piapiac
Genus Ptilostomus
 Piapiac, Ptilostomus afer
 Stresemann's Bushcrow
Genus Zavattariornis
 Stresemann's bushcrow, Zavattariornis stresemanni

Nutcrackers
Genus Nucifraga
 Spotted nutcracker, Nucifraga caryocatactes
 Large-spotted nutcracker, Nucifraga multipunctata
 Clark's nutcracker, Nucifraga columbiana

Holarctic magpies
Genus Pica
 Black-billed magpie, Pica hudsonia
  Yellow-billed magpie, Pica nuttalli
 Eurasian magpie, Pica pica
 Korean magpie, Pica (pica) sericea
 Genus Cyanopica
 Azure-winged magpie, Cyanopica cyanus
 Iberian magpie, Cyanopica cooki

True crows (crows, ravens, jackdaws and rooks)

Genus Corvus
Australian and Melanesian species
 Little crow, Corvus bennetti
 Australian raven, Corvus coronoides
 Bismarck crow, Corvus insularis
 Brown-headed crow, Corvus fuscicapillus
 Bougainville crow, Corvus meeki
 Little raven, Corvus mellori
 New Caledonian crow, Corvus moneduloides
 Torresian crow, Corvus orru
 Forest raven, Corvus tasmanicus
 Relict raven, Corvus (tasmanicus) boreus
 Grey crow, Corvus tristis
 Long-billed crow, Corvus validus
 White-billed crow, Corvus woodfordi
Pacific island species
 ʻAlalā (Hawaiian crow), Corvus hawaiiensis (formerly Corvus tropicus) (extinct in the wild)
 Mariana crow, Corvus kubaryi
Tropical Asian species
 Daurian jackdaw, Corvus dauuricus
 Slender-billed crow, Corvus enca
 Flores crow, Corvus florensis
 Large-billed crow, Corvus macrorhynchos
 Jungle crow, Corvus (macrorhynchos) levaillantii
 House crow, Corvus splendens
 Collared crow, Corvus torquatus
 Piping crow, Corvus typicus
 Banggai crow, Corvus unicolor
 Eurasian and North African species
 Hooded crow, Corvus cornix
 Mesopotamian crow, Corvus (cornix) capellanus
 Carrion crow (western carrion crow), Corvus corone
 Eastern carrion crow, Corvus (corone) orientalis
 Rook, Corvus frugilegus
 Western jackdaw, Corvus monedula
 Fan-tailed raven, Corvus rhipidurus
 Brown-necked raven, Corvus ruficollis
Holarctic species
 Common raven, Corvus corax (see also next section)
 Pied raven, Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus (an extinct color variant)
North and Central American species
 American crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
 Northwestern crow, Corvus caurinus
 Chihuahuan raven, Corvus cryptoleucus
 Tamaulipas crow, Corvus imparatus
 Jamaican crow, Corvus jamaicensis
 White-necked crow, Corvus leucognaphalus
 Cuban crow, Corvus nasicus
 Fish crow, Corvus ossifragus
 Palm crow, Corvus palmarum
 Sinaloan crow, Corvus sinaloae
 Western raven, Corvus (corax) sinuatus
Tropical African species
 White-necked raven, Corvus albicollis
 Pied crow, Corvus albus
 Cape crow, Corvus capensis
 Thick-billed raven, Corvus crassirostris
 Somali crow (dwarf raven), Corvus edithae

Grey jays
Genus Perisoreus
 Gray jay, Perisoreus canadensis
 Siberian jay, Perisoreus infaustus
 Sichuan jay, Perisoreus internigrans

New World jays

Genus Aphelocoma - scrub-jays
 Western scrub jay, Aphelocoma californica
 Florida scrub jay, Aphelocoma coerulescens
 Island scrub jay, Aphelocoma insularis
 Mexican jay, Aphelocoma wollweberi
 Transvolcanic jay, Aphelocoma ultramarina
 Unicolored jay, Aphelocoma unicolor
Genus Calocitta - magpie-jays
 Black-throated magpie-jay, Calocitta colliei
 White-throated magpie-jay, Calocitta formosa
Genus Cyanocitta
 Blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata
 Steller's jay, Cyanocitta stelleri
Genus Cyanocorax
 Black-chested jay, Cyanocorax affinis
 Purplish-backed jay, Cyanocorax beecheii
 Azure jay, Cyanocorax caeruleus
 Cayenne jay, Cyanocorax cayanus
 Plush-crested jay, Cyanocorax chrysops
 Curl-crested jay, Cyanocorax cristatellus
 Purplish jay, Cyanocorax cyanomelas
 White-naped jay, Cyanocorax cyanopogon
 Tufted jay, Cyanocorax dickeyi
 Azure-naped jay, Cyanocorax heilprini
 Bushy-crested jay, Cyanocorax melanocyaneus
 White-tailed jay, Cyanocorax mystacalis
 San Blas jay, Cyanocorax sanblasianus
 Violaceous jay, Cyanocorax violaceus
 Green jay, Cyanocorax ynca
 Yucatan jay, Cyanocorax yucatanicus
Genus Psilorhinus
 Brown jay, Psilorhinus morio
Genus Cyanolyca
 Silvery-throated jay, Cyanolyca argentigula
 Black-collared jay, Cyanolyca armillata
 Azure-hooded jay, Cyanolyca cucullata
 White-throated jay, Cyanolyca mirabilis
 Dwarf jay, Cyanolyca nana
 Beautiful jay, Cyanolyca pulchra
 Black-throated jay, Cyanolyca pumilo
 Turquoise jay, Cyanolyca turcosa
 White-collared jay, Cyanolyca viridicyana
Genus Gymnorhinus
 Pinyon jay, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
The crested jay (Platylophus galericulatus) is traditionally included in the Corvidae, but might not
be a true member of this family, possibly being closer to the helmetshrikes (Malaconotidae)
or shrikes (Laniidae); it is best considered Corvidae incertae sedis for the time being. Likewise,
the Hume's ground "jay" (Pseudopodoces humilis) is in fact a member of the tit family Paridae.