bird Science:See your neighborhood

See your neighborhood

People often complain about the noise she woke up in the morning, usually an extended family of crows begin their day. American crows are the most common of the cooperative breeding bird in North America. A family unit usually includes a mother and father and "some children" are hatched in the previous year, and can take up to 15 species of birds! They included silly, young, and a son and a daughter of adults. Sometimes these children are to remain with their parents for more than five years. In addition to the nuclear family, groups of crows sometimes extended family members such as grandchildren, brothers, and half-brother of the mother and father. We have also seen crows "accept" the neighbor kids are not used.
A pair of American Crows raise their nestlings are usually supported by the children from the previous year. This drawing of a pair of ravens and two helpers fed nestlings were made based on a photograph of Kevin McGowan.

Once the group on the way to your local family, kids happy to see play together and learn from the older birds. You can use the family feud and fight, war with the neighbors, and most human courtship. If you regularly offer food remains in the vicinity of your bird table, the local crows may spend part of your family start to his right, where you can see them. Here are some actions should be checked, during the season.

March and April: Crows courting and building nests. The same "mother" and father "and they usually stay together as a couple are open all year round, two of the blackest, brightest birds in their group. In the early stages of reproduction, they are usually very close together , the parents of each train, she flew to her flight, boarding and next to her on their branches. If a man end up with her, her father would fly over storm and put himself between them. war and conflict family is at the highest this season, especially when another adult male interested in the courtyard of the mother.

This is also a good time to an age determined. In contrast to adults, usually dull brown instead of glossy yearlings. Her hair looked too broken you may be wondering how they fly.

see, the first season for the implementation of crows sticks. You can usually follow their nest tree, usually near the top of a high needles. You will know when they are near-perfect team, when they get soft lining materials, such as seeing a dog or deer hair. In many areas, crows began building the snow began to melt. Children can get doused in a little while last snow sitting on your team.

April: Tune in a sound, new pitched crow that we whine "sound it makes when the meeting .. Dad and help those who "regularly fly to her with food. After the eggs hatch, Papa and also contributed food to the nestlings. Lady Bird was the only one incubation and brooding the nestlings.

June and July: This is usually the noisiest time of year for the crows. The young birds leave the nest in the trees and although they are not too far from the first. They make loud "begging" calls for her parents and old maids. After a few weeks, the chicks follow their parents, begging, on the ground. You can sometimes look a harried parents tools to eat something (a worm that Roadkill chunks, bread crust, etc.) in their big mouth. Note that the young birds "in the red mouth. This will change to black when they mature.

Juvenile birds spend more time playing. You can see how they struggle or pull each other's tails.

September: In early fall, many crows begin to leave their territories to forage elsewhere. You can become rich in grain fields, coastal resorts and forests columns acorns, beechnuts, and others. Watch especially for youth gangs: the big corporations of the new chicks and yearlings collected food in a neighborhood. This is also the time of the year when the Ravens begin their repertoire of practice. Can a sitting alone on a branch, the juxtaposition of all sorts of funny noises.

Winter: In winter months in latitudes much, everyone was surprised to see huge flocks of crows gathering on the golf course, fields, landfills and other places. These birds are from the far north to spend the winter, and also the local residents. Most people go home for at least part of the day on their territories, but spent time with the large flocks and quarters, too. The bustle of the crow in the poultry industry does include loud, but fun experience for the crow. If you happen to a crow with a wing tag in your view offline, be sure to let biologists at the Cornell Laboratory of birds that Crow! It could have one of the crows us, and we always like to know where the birds of our final. For more information, visit www.birds.cornell.edu / crows / crowinfo.htm.

Andrea Townsend is a member of the doctoral program at Fuller Evolutionary Biology at Cornell Lab of Birds.