Archipelago Wildlife Library

Hooded Crows make loud and hoarse, “krraa kraa” and “caw” croakings ⁽¹⁾. Calls are usually repeated three or more times ⁽³⁾ and are more open and rolling than those of the Carrion Crow ⁽¹⁾. They frequently use hard, indignant calls to advertise presence of threatening raptor species ⁽²⁾.

Corvus cornix are social birds, gathering in flocks outside of the breeding season during the day and forming communal roosts at night ⁽⁶⁾. They can also be seen in mixed-species flocks with Jackdaws (C. monedula) and Rooks (C. frugilegus) ⁽⁷⁾. During the breeding season Hooded Crows set up breeding territories; outside of breeding season, some individuals continue to defend territories and food sources ⁽⁶⁾. The largest flocks are formed during the winter. Support for the hypothesis that communal roosting increases foraging efficiency has been found in Hooded Crows, where crows ignorant of a food source follow knowledgeable roost-mates, gaining information from their con-specifics ⁽⁶⁾. Hooded Crows can be fierce protectors of their nests and offspring, occasionally engaging in mobbing behaviour. They are vigilant and shy birds, and with good reason ⁽²⁾ , because as with other corvids, they have been heavily persecuted by man. This could, in part, account for some of the gaps in their distribution ⁽⁷⁾.

Hooded Crows inhabit boreal, temperate, and subtropical forests, temperate grasslands and shrublands, wetlands, mountain areas, coastlines and beaches, cliffs, offshore islands, arable land, rural and urban areas where large trees are present ⁽⁷⁾.

In order to breed, Hooded Crows must first establish a breeding territory, which is usually accomplished when they are several years old ⁽⁸⁾. The breeding season is from March to July, with one brood of four or six eggs ⁽¹⁾, though clutch size has been found to vary from two to nine eggs ⁽⁹⁾. A large solitary nest out of sticks is constructed in a tree or bush. An inner layer is made with dry grass and bark, and often contains fur, down, and feathers ⁽¹⁰⁾. Hooded Crows usually keep their established territories and remain with the same mate ⁽⁸⁾.

Hooded Crows occur in Italy, Scandinavia and eastern Europe to central Siberia, and southwards to Iraq ^{(3) (11)}. They are present in Ireland and northern Scotland but are absent from the rest of Britain.

Hooded Crow populations from the northerly regions migrate south in October and November ⁽¹⁾.

Hooded Crows are opportunistic feeders with a varied diet, taking invertebrates of all kinds, grain, scraps and carrion ⁽¹⁾.  They will predate on other birds’ eggs, such as the Red-back Shrike’s (Lanius collurio), which breeds in Europe and winters in Africa.  Their predation on the eggs and young of other species has caused conservation concern.

The Pine Marten (Martes martes), the Goshawk (Accipiter gentiles), the Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo), the Domestic Cat (Felis catus), and other crows themselves are the main predators of Hooded Crow’s nests ⁽⁹⁾.  The Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) is a specialized brood parasite of crows and other corvids. A parasitised nest may suffer lower reproductive success, as the host’s eggs can be destroyed during laying and host chicks may starve to death if the cuckoo hatches earlier and out competes them for food ⁽¹⁰⁾.

Although Corvus cornix is listed as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.  Forty-four other species of Corvus are listed also ⁽¹²⁾.

Description written by Maite Guignard and Adam Millington (2009)

1)      Hume. R. (2002) RSPB Complete Birds of Britain and Europe, Dorling Kindersley, London

2)      Mullarney. K., Svensson. L., Zetterstrom. D., and Grant. P. (1999) Collins Bird Guide,             Harper Collins Publishers, London

3)      Perrins. C. (1987) Collins New Generation Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, Collins, London

4)      Parkin. D. T. (2003) Birding and DNA: species for the new millenium, Bird Study, 50: 223- 242

5)      Biological Library (2009) Hooded Crow [online] Available

http://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id44406/ [date accessed: 03/10/2009]

6)      Sonerud. G.A., Smedshaug. C.A., and Bråthen. O. (2001) Ignorant hooded crows follow knowledgeable roost-mates to food: support for the information centre hypothesis, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 268: 827-831

7)      Handrinos. G., and Akriotis. T. (1997) The Birds of Greece, Christopher Helm Ltd., London

8)      John Loman (1998) The Hooded Crow [online] Available:

http://www.zoo.ekol.lu.se/people/jon/kraaka.htm#subj [date accessed: 22/06/2009]

9)      Wozniak. P., and Kosciusko. L. (2003) Breeding biology of the Hooded Crow Corvus corone cornix in Marta river valley (W Poland), Acta Ornithology, 38: 143–150

10)  Canestrari. D., Marcos. D.B., and Baglione. V. (2009) Cooperative breeding in carrion crows reduces the rate of brood parasitism by great spotted cuckoos, Animal Behaviour, 77: 1337–1344

11)  Haring. E., Gamauf. A., Kryukov. A. (2007) Phylogeographic patterns in widespread corvid birds, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 45: 840–862

12)  IUCN (2008) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [online] Available:

http://www.iucnredlist.org [date accessed: 23/04/2009]