American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Description: A highly adaptable and intelligent bird, the American crow can be found in many different environments, including Haystack Rock’s intertidal zone. Living for about 7-8 years in the wild, adult American crows are typically about 40-53 centimeters (16-21 inches) in length and weigh about 300-600 grams (11-21 ounces).

Habitat: American crows can be found in the lower regions of Canada and all over the continental United States. They typically live in fields, open woodlands, and forests, but can also be found in human-populated areas like agricultural fields, lawns, parking lots, roadsides, towns, and garbage dumps.

Nesting: American crows nest in trees and lay 4 to 6 muted green eggs and females incubate them for 18 days. Both parents feed the young, and the chicks take their first flight at 4 to 5 weeks.

Diet: American crows are omnivorous and eat a large variety of foods including: various insects, spiders, snails, worms, frogs, shellfish, snakes, carrion, garbage, seeds, grain, berries, fruit, and the eggs and young of other birds. At Haystack Rock, in the spring and summer, crows can be seen stealing eggs and hunting unattended sea bird chicks. They also scavenge for invertebrates within the intertidal zone during low tide.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• In the winter, American crows will create large groups called “communal roosts” where they sleep together in packs of anywhere between a few hundred and two million crows. Typically, these roosts form in the same general area each year. 

• American crows are often seen eating the dead remains of other critters, but these birds are not scavenging experts. Due to the size and shape of their beak, they are unable to break through the skin of some common components of their diet, such as squirrels. In order to eat these remains, they must wait for another animal to break into it first. 

• Crows are incredibly intelligent and have been documented making and using tools, whether it be carrying water in a cup, shaping pieces of wood to use as food-finding tools, or dropping bits of debris on tree-climbing creatures as they perch above on branches.

Reference: The Cornell Lab