page_title: American crow
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: American crow / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) skull at the Royal Veterinary College anatomy museum
context_page_description: The American crow is a large passerine bird species of the family Corvidae. It is a common bird found throughout much of North America.
  American crows are the New World counterpart to the carrion crow and the hooded crow. Although the American crow and the hooded crow are very similar in size, structure and behavior, their calls are different. The American crow, nevertheless, occupies the same role that the hooded crow does in Eurasia.
  From beak to tail, an American crow measures 40–50 cm, almost half of which is tail. Mass varies from about 300 to 600 g. Males tend to be larger than females.
  The most usual call is CaaW!-CaaW!-CaaW!.
  The American crow is all black, with iridescent feathers. It looks much like other all-black corvids. They can be distinguished from the common raven because American crows are smaller, from the fish crow because American crows do not hunch and fluff their throat feathers when they call and from the carrion crow by the enunciation of their calls.
  American crows are common, widespread, and susceptible to the West Nile virus, making them useful as a bioindicator to track the virus's spread.
context_section_description: The American crow is a large, distinctive bird with iridescent black feathers all over. Its legs, feet and bill are also black. They measure 40–53 cm (16–21 in) in length, of which the tail makes up about 40%. The wing chord is 24.5 to 33 cm (9.6 to 13.0 in), with the wingspan ranging from 85 to 100 cm (33 to 39 in). The bill length can be from 3 to 5.5 cm (1.2 to 2.2 in), varying strongly according to location. The tarsus is 5.5 to 6.5 cm (2.2 to 2.6 in) and the tail is 13.5 to 19 cm (5.3 to 7.5 in). The body mass can vary from 316 to 620 g (11.1 to 21.9 oz). Males tend to be larger than females.
  The most usual call is a loud, short, and rapid caaw-caaw-caaw. Usually, the birds thrust their heads up and down as they utter this call. American crows can also produce a wide variety of sounds and sometimes mimic noises made by other animals, including other birds.
  Visual differentiation from the fish crow (C. ossifragus) is extremely difficult and often inaccurate. Nonetheless, differences apart from size do exist. Fish crows tend to have more slender bills and feet. There may also be a small sharp hook at the end of the upper bill. Fish crows also appear as if they have shorter legs when walking. More dramatically, when calling, fish crows tend to hunch and fluff their throat feathers.
  If seen flying at a distance from where size estimates are unreliable, the distinctly larger common ravens (C. corax) can be distinguished by their almost lozenge-shaped tail and their larger-looking heads. They also fluff their throat feathers when calling like fish crows, only more so. Ravens also soar for extended periods, unlike crows, which rarely fly more than a few seconds without flapping their wings.
  The average life span of the American crow in the wild is 7–8 years. Captive birds are known to have lived up to 30 years.
caption: The skull of an American crow
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