Anything but Common: The Hidden Life of the American Crow

Feel confident, also recognizing eye color is distinct compared to other birds is helpful.

If I were to see a raven, I'm pretty sure I'd get it wrong! Mainly because I have no experience with ravens. But I do well distinguishing crows from other birds. Grackles have those big yellow eyes. Also crows are much larger than other blackbirds. From a distance, I can always tell a crow in flight. There's a certain quality to the movement of the wings, it's hard to put into words, but I see it, I just know.

I am confident about my ability to distinguish crows from grackles, blackbirds, and cowbirds, but less so from the raven.

Agree.  Dark Eye is the best.   However head shaper plus beak are also differentiators.

the dark eye color often helped me distinguish, as well as the brownish cap for the cowbird, the midnight blue highlights for some grackles and the red wings of the blackbird, and in the field, I am getting to know some of the red winged blackbirds calls. I do see beak shape and tail shape differences, but have not obsorbed well enough for those to truly help me distinguish in the field - especially if no comparison available. As well I think I would get tripped up by the Brewer Blackbird. However, I expect the crow's call would be a good tip-off!

Blackbirds are small, and you can see their pupils. Crows are larger , have broader bills, and have dark eyes.

Blackbirds are small, and you can see their pupils, crows are larger , have broader bills, and have dark eyes.

Not so good with flying crows and ravens. But there are no ravens around here. Lots of grackles, but they are easy to identify.

I'm confident that I can identify crows.

I am very confident that I can tell crows and ravens and, yes, the "blackbirds" apart. Crows are party birds. They do loops in the air and are very noisy; they also have rounded tails and shorter neck feathers than ravens. Grackles have long tail feathers and, sometimes, yellow eyes. Ravens, however, have diamond-shaped tails and longer neck feathers than crows. I hope these tips help! (:

I am confident.

Yes, I am.

I find that grackles fly very different. They fly as if their tail is too heavy for them, so they fly with their tail noticeably lower than their head, whereas crows fly more like a raptor, flat and straight.

I find another difference is their behavior. Other black colored birds are less observant.

I noticed that a crow's feathers seem to be really dark black whereas some of the other birds have an iridescent sheen to their feathers.  Like other mentioned, I too noticed the black eye.  I did get tricked one time though relying on this feature!

Where I live I believe we only have crows and ravens; it can be hard to tell them apart in flight. I am not sure if this is correct, but if I see a pair, I assume they are ravens and if there are more than two, then I assume they are crows. I also listen to the sounds they make to determine which is which.

I live in Alaska and Minnesota, have both, confident in ID. However, had not been as aware of the grackle's eyes before!

Yup I mainly look for the shape of the bill and the shape of the tail.

confident I can identify the crow.

When I started this segment of the course and looked at the line up of other blackbirds, I realized just how much I knew because several are frequently sighted where I live in Northern New York.  I have to focus real closely when the birds are in flight, however.  A still shot is rather safe to look at and then make a decision.  Live action crows can be another story.  But I keep trying.  It's getting better!

I did practice many times using the identification quizzes.  Sometimes, the beaks were what help me id the crow or raven. I have seen enough red-winged blackbirds, grackles, and cowbirds it is not too difficult to distinguish between them.  But now that I have stated this I'll be eating "crow."

I have terrible time telling ravens and crows apart in flight.

Size and markings especially. Crows and Ravens have dark eyes. Grackles have longer thinner legs and have a peculiar " head bob" as they walk. Also just by listening to the birds calls.

Look at the eyes. Crows eyes are dark.

I found it easy to distinguish a crow from grackle, red wing blackbird and cow bird - eyes and colors - but the tail still confuses me, as I look for the round V’s. the sharp tail feathers and find I'm often wrong,