American Crow

Corvus brachyrhnchos

Missouri's largest passerine is one of the most easily seen and recognized birds in the state. Crows nest wherever large trees are found, in forests, rural woodlots, parks and even suburban yards (Harrison 1975).

Code Frequency

Despite the American Crow's conspicuousness and their presumed prevalence in Missouri, Atlasers found it difficult to obtain breeding evidence. This may be because they forage distantly from nest sites and adopt a secretive behavior when near nests (Peterjohn and Rice 1991). They no doubt initiated breeding before most Atlasing efforts began, and some of the most obvious nesting behaviors might have been detected earlier in the season. As a result, breeding evidence beyond simple occurrence was observed in half the blocks, and actual confirmation of breeding in only 29 percent of the blocks. Most surprising, no evidence of breeding was recorded in 11.5 percent of the blocks.

Distribution

Reported in southern Pike County or the Mississippi Lowlands. The reasons for the American Crow's absence are uncertain except in the Mississippi Lowlands, where there may be fewer nest trees.

Average Number of Birds / 100 stops

Abundance

American Crow abundance was unexpectedly variable. Generally, they appeared more abundant in the more forested regions of the state, including the Ozark Border and Ozark natural divisions. There were relatively fewer

Reported in the Mississippi Lowlands, perhaps due to a lack of suitable nest sites and surprisingly, none were recorded on abundance surveys in the Big Rivers Natural Division.

Phenology

American Crow nesting activity at this latitude commences as early as March (Peterjohn and Rice 1991). Migrating individuals are expected through March (Robbins and Easterla 1992), which may have complicated the efforts of early-season Atlasers to determine which crows were breeders. Data suggest that fledging began in May and peaked in June. The late Atlas Project records of nest building suggest crows can have a protracted breeding season and may also be evidence of double-brooding, a characteristic of American Crows in the southern United States (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Notes

Atlasers obtained no evidence of Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism, a rare phenomenon with crows (Harrison 1975).

Breeding Evidence

Reported in 1,068 (88.5%) of 1,207 blocks

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