Hooded crow or hybrid (Scotland) (1 Viewer)

I was at Musselburgh (East coast of Scotland) this weekend and got excited when I thought I had seen a hooded crow. A local birder said that there is a hybrid population in the area so I wanted to get an opinion on this bird. I have more photos if needed. Thanks!

For me its not a pure Hoodie-there is quite a lot of black along the back edge of the mantle and a lot of black on the belly

The dark on the flank, vent and sides of the belly certainly suggest hybrid

sarahlouise84

These hybrid birds are not that uncommon in and around Edinburgh. I have seen over a dozen different birds this year including the bird that you photographed this weekend at Musselburgh. Here's a shot of it from March 2011. I have shots of a variety of Edinburgh hybrid crows elsewhere on my blog - click on the "Hooded Crow" tab or the "hybrid" tab and you'll see some of them, though I have not ever gathered all the shots together. Whether any of these birds are first generation hybrids or not is not known, or whether there are just some Hoodie genes in the local population that surface in one in 100 birds...

Geoff

I was told by a local birder in the Highlands that anything east of and below a line from Inverness to Glasgow is almost always an hybrid.

Thanks all, it's great to have that information. I have not seen many hooded crows (Ireland/ West coast of Scotland) and for some reason had not considered hybrids before this sighting. I've seen duck and geese hybrids before which are interesting but otherwise my hybrid sightings have been limited. Thanks for all your help.