Sex: Female
Birthday: June 4, 2015
Lucy came to Zoo Idaho from Idaho Fish and Game after the crow was badly injured by its family unit and recovered in Idaho Falls. Originally, we thought that Lucy was a leucitic (genetic mutation which inhibits melanin pigments and causes the animal to be white/partially white) American Crow, but later learned that her white color came from her being malnourished. Her black color returned when she was healed and properly fed.
Sex: Female
Birthday: April 1, 2015
Crash was brought to Zoo Idaho from Idaho Fish and Game after she was hit by a car. Crash came in with a fracture to her left radius and ulna. The brake healed but she is considered only partially flighted because of this she is a non-releasable crow.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Corvus
Species: Corvus brachyrhynchos
Least Concern
Protected
American crows are widely distributed over much of North America. Crows in the northern parts of their range migrate southward and generally winter south of the Canada-US border.
American crows are relatively large uniformly black birds. They have a heavy straight black bill, black feet and legs, brown eyes, and the nasal openings are covered with stiff bristle-like feathers. The tail is either rounded or squared at the tip. Both sexes are similar with the female being slightly smaller.
Weight: 0.7–1.3 lbs (316–575 g)
Length: 1.4–1.7 ft (43–53 cm)
Wingspan: 2.8–3.3 ft (85–100 cm)
Opportunistic feeder where the diet primarily consists of invertebrates. The diet does include seeds, fruit, amphibians, reptiles, small birds and mammals, carrion, fish, crabs, and gastropods.
14 years in the wild and slightly longer in captivity.
American crows are monogamous cooperative breeders. The mated pair form large families from several breeding seasons that remain together for many years. The family assists in rearing and defending the area’s new nestlings. Most do not leave the area to breed for up to five years. Nesting and incubation can start as early as April with three-six eggs laid and hatched after 18 days. The young are fledged around 36 days after hatching.
American crows are highly social birds. In addition to the large family groups crows form winter roosts sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands. American crows work together to harass and drive off predators, known as mobbing. They are extremely intelligent and are excellent problem solvers, function in large social groups, and capable of finding and using unusual food sources. American crows are highly vocal and unlike other songbirds, male and female have the same songs. They have a complex system of caws that include loud repetitive caws, shorter sharp caws for alerts, longer territorial caws, double caws calling groups together, and a large variety of soft calls used in the family groups and as greeting signals.
There are no major threats to the American Crow.
