About Corvids
Crows belong to a family of birds known as the Corvidae.
There are eight species of British corvid, these are:
- the carrion crow (corvus corone),
- the hooded crow (corvus corone cornix),
- the rook (corvus frugilegus),
- the raven (corvus corax),
- the jackdaw (corvus monedula),
- the chough (pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax),
- the magpie (pica pica), and
- the jay (garrulus glandarius).
Of course, there are many other species of corvid from all around the world - over 650 in fact!
We only deal with the British species here at Corvid Aid, although we have cared for a pair of purplish jays in the past. If you are interested in learning more about the corvidae family in its entirety, we would recommend reading a copy of Crows & Jays by Steve Madge and Hilary Burn. The book deals with crows of all sizes and colours; and is full of lots of useful information about corvid habits and identification.
We hope to add details about other British corvids’ behaviour to this section eventually, but for now we will just concentrate on the carrion crow, as this is the species we come into contact with most commonly and also - our favourite!