Kritter Korner

  The American Crow is a stocky black bird between 17 and 21 inches in length. They have a stout bill and a fan-shaped tail.  Their primary habitat is woodlands, farmlands and suburban areas.  They have been commonly seen in Riverview Park an the surrounding areas.  We have seen flocks of them in Union Dale Cemetery.

  The Crow lays 4 to 6 green eggs, spotted with dark brown, in a large mass of twigs and sticks lined with feathers, grass, and rootlets, and placed in a tree.  They breed from British Columbia east to Newfoundland and south to southern California, Gulf Cpast, and Florida.  They winter north to southern Canada.

  It is almost impossible to go into the countryside withgout seeing these birds along highways or flying overhead.  The Crow is intelligent, wary, virtually omnivorous and with a high reproductive capacity they become more and more numerous.

  Crows may gather in roosts of over half a million birdsand can become destructive to crops, although they consume large amounts of grasshoppers, cutworms and other harmful insects. You will often see them eating roadkill.

  Crows make interesting pets if obtained while quit young; some learn to mimic the human voice. They oftencarry off and hide bright objects.