Hooded crow
As a hooded crow you would remember the face of the person who once chased you – and tell the rest of your neighbourhood about it.
Grey waistcoat, black hood
The hooded crow, Corvus cornix, is the common crow of eastern and northern Europe, including Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Its body is ash grey, with black head, throat, wings and tail. In western Europe it is replaced by the all-black carrion crow, and where the two meet they hybridise along a narrow zone. You would be about 45–50 cm long, at home in cities, farmland, forest edges, villages and along roads, where traffic delivers a steady supply of roadkill.
Hooded crows are omnivores and opportunists: insects, worms, grain, eggs and nestlings, small mammals, carrion, fish scraps, bin contents and anything picnickers leave behind. They cache surplus food and remember where they hid it.
Brains in a bird’s skull
Crows belong to the corvid family, among the most intelligent birds. Corvids solve multi-step puzzles, use tools in experiments and can plan ahead. Research on American crows showed they recognise individual human faces for years and scold people who previously threatened them, and that other crows learn the grudge too. Hooded crows have been filmed dropping shellfish onto hard surfaces and pulling up fishing lines left in ice holes.
Family, roosts and old age
Pairs are typically long-term and defend a territory in the breeding season, building a stick nest high in a tree or on a pylon. The female lays about four to six eggs and incubates for around 18–20 days; young may stay with their parents for months. In winter, crows gather in large communal roosts, often in city parks, together with rooks and jackdaws. Goshawks and eagle-owls are among the few predators of adults; wild crows can live well over ten years.
