American Crow Supersp #33 Corvus brachyrhynchos Brehm        Field Guide IDs: NG-318; G-226; P-206; PW-165; AE-pl 579; AW-pl 625; AM(II)-318 Nest Location Nest Type Eggs & Mating System Dev. & Parental Care Primary & 2ndary Diet.. Foraging Strategy FM? I: 18 DAYS ALTRICIAL SHRUB 0 - 70 feet MF+ 4-6 (3-9) MONOG? (COOP) F: 28-35 DAYS MF+ BREEDING: Woodland, farmland, orchards, and tidal flats; riparian woodland in arid regions. 1 brood, 2 in s. DISPLAYS: Courtship: males wheel and dive in flight pursuit of female; in tree or on ground, male spreads wings and tail, fluffs body feathers and bows several times to female while singing "rattling" song. Pair perch together, preen and bill. Male occ performs song-flight. NEST: In conif or decid tree, shrub, rarely on ground; of branches, twigs, and bark, lined with shredded bark, moss, grass, feathers, hair, leaves. Built in 5 - 13 days. EGGS: Bluish-green to olive green, marked with browns, grays. 1.6" (41 mm). DIET: Insects, other invertebrates, carrion, small vertebrates, bird eggs, nestlings; seeds, esp corn, fruit, nuts. Ejects pellets. CONSERVATION: In winter partially migratory within N.A. Rare cowbird host. Damage to poultry, game, songbirds, and variety of crops has led to extensive control efforts, often using dynamite, directed at fall and winter roosts killing tens of thousands per roost. NOTES: Occ breed cooperatively with yearling helpers; usu breed in small colonies in w. Female fed during incubation. Break mollusk shells by dropping onto rocks from above. Immense winter roosts of up to hundreds of thousands. STANFORD. NOTES: Uncommon resident throughout campus, foraging on a wide variety of food items (fruits, small animals, and human refuse). Populations have increased in the Stanford area over the past few decades. ESSAYS: Decline of Eastern Songbirds; Eye Color; Cooperative Breeding; Pellets; Communal Roosting REFERENCES: Goodwin, 1976; Kilham, 1984; Knight et al., 1987.