From Opus

Photo by alkumaheerd
The bird linked is of race pallescens and was photographed in N Iran (Golestan NP)

Alternative name: Mesopotamian Crow (capellanus)

Corvus cornix

[edit] Identification

48-452cm.

• Glossy black head, throat, wings, tail and thigh feathers
• Gray "vest"
• Black bill and legs
• Iris dark brown

Juveniles have duller plumage with bluish or greyish eyes and, initially, a red mouth.

Hooded Crow in flight
Photo by Macswede
Solberga, Stockholm, Sweden, April 2009

[edit] Distribution

Europe, and western Asia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Mesopotamian Crow
Photo by Jos Stratford
Iran, December 2011

This species was formerly considered conspecific with Carrion Crow.
Four subspecies accepted:

• C. c. cornix - Northern Europe to Yenisey Valley, Ukraine, Corsica and southern Italy
• C. c. sharpii - Mainland Italy to Yugoslavia, Asia Minor, northern Iran and Kazakhstan
• C. c. pallescens - Coastal southern Turkey to Levant, northern Iraq and Egypt
• C. c. capellanus - Marshlands of southern Iraq and the extreme south-west of Iran

Mesopotamian Crow (C.c. capellanus)
This is the most distinctive of these subspecies, the typical greys of a Hooded Crow replaced by a near white, giving the bird a morphological resemblance to Pied Crow of Africa. Geographically isolated from Hooded Crow, the latter widespread in northern and central Iran, most authorities still consider it a subspecies of Hooded Crow, but it is recognised in limited quarters as a species in its own right.

[edit] Habitat

Found almost anywhere from coast to moorland, even city centres.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

Includes molluscs and crabs, the eggs of gulls, cormorants and other birds

[edit] Breeding

They build a bulky stick nest, placed in a tall tree, but cliff ledges, old buildings and pylons may be used. 4-6 brown-speckled blue eggs are incubated for 17-19 days by the female alone, who is fed by the male. The young fledge after 32-36 days.

[edit] External Links