The crow’s full name is American crow, to distinguish it from the other crows found in North America. The only other crow we could possibly see in our area is the fish crow.
Its distribution is Eastern and Southern US, west along the Gulf Coast, then as far north as eastern Oklahoma. It’s slightly smaller than the American crow. The best way to identify it is by its call. The American crow’s call is several short, drawn-out “caws.”
The fish crow’s call is nasal and higher pitched. We’ve seen one fish crow at our place, and we identified it by size and call. Crows are large, chunky, black birds averaging 17 inches in length. They have large heads, short tails and fairly heavy, pointed bills. They are common across the continental US and tend to be more abundant in rural than urban settings.
Habitats include fields, woods, farms, suburbs and landfills. Crows usually feed on the ground and will eat almost anything.Young crows usually stay with their parents for a few years and help them raise the young. Currently, we have a group of 5 we see around the property, the parents and three siblings.
We have red-shouldered hawks and scissor-tailed flycatchers that nest on our property. Last summer crows killed three baby red-shouldered hawks and four baby scissor-tailed flycatchers. So, in my book, “a murder of crows” is a good plural name for them.
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