I’m pretty confident. Criteria depend on how close I am to the bird, but include beak shape, presence or absence of iridescence, tail shape, and eye color (crows have dark eyes—light eyes indicate a grackle).

Yes! Grackles usually have longer tails, slimmer beaks, and smaller heads than crows do,  male Red winged blackbirds have a patch of red and yellow/orange on their wings, crows do not. Brewer's blackbird seems to be smaller than crows, and have lighter eyes, also smaller and slimmer beaks! Brown-headed Cowbirds have a lighter head than crows. Ravens have shaggier neck feathers, slimmer wing feathers, diamond tails in flight, and are slightly bigger than crows, with a slimmer head and longer beak! The most efficient way I've been able to tell the difference between crows and other birds the most is checking the beak, eyes, and neck. Or, a crow in flight, wings and tail.

The identification of crows is based on a combination of behavioral traits, size, and, importantly, their geographic location. These factors together play a crucial role in accurately distinguishing between different species.

I think behavior and where they are hanging out helps. There are a lot of Brewer's blackbirds around Lake Tahoe and they are not only smaller and have a yellow eye, but they like spending time in/around bushes more than the ravens and crows.

I'm reasonably confident now in my ability to distinguish crows from ravens in convenient still photographs. Since ravens don't normally occur where I live, I don't have ready opportunities to practice differentiating them in the wild.

The icterids (blackbirds) are considerably smaller than crows, although size can be harder to determine from a bird in flight. Blackbirds sometimes gather in huge flocks, in far greater numbers than your usual murder of crows. Grackles have that distinctive beady yellow eye. Male Red-winged Blackbirds, while chatty like crows, speak their unmistakable "conk-a-ree!" vocalization and show off their handsome red and yellow epaulettes. Female RWBL's aren't even black, so that immediately rules them out of contention for confusion with crows.

Confident with ravens, fairly confident with other birds. Eye color and beak shape helps a lot with blackbirds.

It is easier for me to tell the difference between crows and other "blackbirds," but this course sharpened my identification skills for ravens and crows. The "bird with 3 points" trick, and then checking eye shape and the long neck feathers, helps me remember how to tell the difference.

I am quite confident with my ids.  Eye colour, lack of any other colour in the plumage than black and their behaviour are the things I look for, as well as listening for their calls.

I look for the color of the eye and shape of the beak to distinguish between crows and grackles.

I can usually tell by color, for example, grackles are usually a shiny dark blue, brown headed cowbirds have a brown head, red winged blackbirds have red or yellow patches on their wings.

I'm very confident in distinguishing American Crows. Mostly, the eye color and beak shape is the largest indicator. If these aren't helpful, then the wing pattern or tail length can tell you. Crows tend to be in loose flocks of 3-10.  Ravens are usually in pairs, and Blackbirds are in large groups. Habitat can be another clue.

Yes, I am confident that I can distinguish a crow from a raven and other blackbirds. Looking at their features to tell the difference.  Can also tell by the crows call they have a different call from the raven and other blackbirds.  Size is a good indicator, and crows don't have brown heads like the brown headed cowbird or a red / yellow patch on the wing like the red winged blackbird.

Yes, I am confident I can identify a crow versus other birds that share some features. If I can hear the bird(s), I can tell with certainty if it is a crow or not. Crows don't have a similar call as Grackles or Blackbirds. Size is another good identifier. While the Grackles can be larger, Crows are stockier. Additionally, the American Crow is all black and not iridescent like Grackles, nor does it have color on the wings like Red-winged Blackbirds, and Crows' heads are all black as opposed to the Brown-headed Cowbirds. Their eyes are black, except for young Crows.

Now I am fairly confident, course was really good.  I wished it had been longer actually.  The photography was excellent and presenter was very professional.  I liked learning about the research and tagging of the individual birds.

I’m fairly confident.

The distinction between ravens and American crows can be tricky especially in images where it's hard to get a notion of relative size. On a related topic: in the introduction to the course you ask why people might like/dislike crows. Part of my apprehension and interest is related to the frequently negative image of crows in popular culture -- in films, for instance, they are sometimes portrayed as frightening, menacing or related to grief and death. This, and the fact that they are such intelligent animals, capable of making tools and impressive communication. It's an intriguing contrast!

Yes, I am gaining more confidence in distinguishing crows from other "blackbirds" as I have noticed that crows have brown scleras whereas Grackles have yellow scleras.  Moreover, I can distinguish the crows from ravens by how noticing the differences between their beaks and their wings and tail.  Ravens tend to have more arched beaks and more pointy wings and tails compared to crows.

Quite confident! Other helpful distinctions for me: crows typically have very dark eyes while lookalikes often have bright yellow eyes. For grackles specifically, if you see them in real like they are often VERY iridescent, it's quite striking. Crows can be iridescent too, but for me grackles are much more noticeably so.

I'm fairly confident. Other clues that can be used is whether you are in the range of the look alike bird.

nothing to add

Thanks to this course I at least have a few "markers"to look for - very helpful! I live on the edge of a wooded park so sitting on my porch I usually hear them before I see them. The course hasn't touched on it (yst?), but their calls are very different to my ear.

I do feel very confident with crows vs blackbirds. We don't typically get grackles here so that helps. Over the last year or two I've been practicing distinguishing crows from ravens and have gotten so much more confident in that, but still have trouble occasionally if there's just one bird sitting by itself at a bad angle. The differences I've noticed over time were confirmed by this course which was fun!

I am mostly proficient, but from some angles, it is a little tricky. All of these birds appear very different from the crow, except the raven, which we have already covered. For the other birds, you can see eye color, tail, beak shape, build, etc. I think it helps me more to think of the crow’s tail shape as a wedge because in some shots the raven tail looks more round to me than diamond. Also, I realize that from certain angles, a crow’s neck feathers, tail, and beak can be a little bit ambiguous, so all of these in combination are worth looking at.

To remember the different tail shape of crow versus raven, the word 'raven' has a 'v'!