Rooks ? Crows?

[lynnholgate]

Hi everyone from your newest member!

This may sound a silly question from someone who has lived in the countryside for many years, but what (if any) is the difference between rooks and crows.

I have always called the large black birds which frequent our garden as ''Crows' recently my friend referred to them as 'Rooks'. Or are they the same birds with different names?

Thanks

LYNN

[Helen]

Hi Lynn, welcome to the forum.

Rooks (Coruvs frugilegus) and carrion crow (Corvus corone corone) are different but it is easy to "mix them up".

One of the physical differences is the bill. A rook has a greyish white bare skin at the base of the bill.

But a young rook doesn't have this skin and can look like a crow. The difference is the bill, the crows bill is more "blunt" as opposed to the "pointed" bill of the rook.

Rooks also breed in colonies (or rookeries), building their nests close together.

There is also another crow called the "Hooded crow" (Corvus corone cornix), but they have a grey and black plumage and are not as widespread as the carrion crow.

Hope this helps!
Regards

[nightshade]

The rough guide is a lot of crows are usually rooks
crows usually travel solo or in pairs,rooks flock

[wildone]

Hi Unfortunately the bird haven't read the manual. I often see many crows feeding on the same field in close proximity to each other.Wildone

[nightshade]

rough guide

[lynnholgate]

Thanks for your responses. I THINK I have established that my garden visitors are actually crows.

LYNN

[sarah m]

Hi - I have just joined as I wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar experience of crows. Yesterday in Richmond Park a crow swooped down and picked up a young gosling from right in front of its parents who desperately tried to scare stop it. It flew off low as the gosling was quite large. I tried to go after it to get it to drop the gosling but it kept dropping to the ground to attack the gosling and then flew off again as soon as I got close. It was hopeless and quite disturbing to see and it left a trail of bloodied feathers. The mother goose was clearly very distressed and spent some time searching for the gosling. I appreciate this is nature but I have since looked up the behaviour of these birds and they have even been known to attack and kill new born lambs and pets. They may be intelligent but they are clearly often vicious too. Something to bear in mind.

BTW a farmer once told me the way to tell rooks and crows apart is
"a crow in a crowd is a rook
a rook on its own is a crow"

Sarah M

[Tam]

Theres always the jackdaws too consider aswell

[Kayleigh]

Hi lynnholgate and welcome to the site..

They also say their name

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by sarah m

Hi - I have just joined as I wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar experience of crows. Yesterday in Richmond Park a crow swooped down and picked up a young gosling from right in front of its parents who desperately tried to scare stop it. It flew off low as the gosling was quite large. I tried to go after it to get it to drop the gosling but it kept dropping to the ground to attack the gosling and then flew off again as soon as I got close. It was hopeless and quite disturbing to see and it left a trail of bloodied feathers. The mother goose was clearly very distressed and spent some time searching for the gosling. I appreciate this is nature but I have since looked up the behaviour of these birds and they have even been known to attack and kill new born lambs and pets. They may be intelligent but they are clearly often vicious too. Something to bear in mind.

BTW a farmer once told me the way to tell rooks and crows apart is
"a crow in a crowd is a rook
a rook on its own is a crow"

Sarah M

Crows will take goslings given the chance.

In London it's not uncommon to see c100 Crows together in open spaces where we don't generally have Rooks apart from the occasional flyover.