Hooded Crow

Remember the passage in Wild America where James Fisher admits to missing one thing about England? It’s the corvids: America, he mused, was lacking in great noisy social crows.

Fisher was talking about Rooks, of course, but whenever I’m in Europe admiring that continent’s diversity of crows and jays and magpies, I always think of that line. Tuscany earlier this month gave us lots of occasion to appreciate one crow I don’t see very often: Hooded Crow, the pied nominate race of the species that also includes the Carrion Crow.

Unlike their basic black cousins–decided country birds over most of their range–Hooded Crows in central Italy appear to be quite tolerant, pacing around in towns and on beaches, high in the mountains and in lowland villages. I can guarantee (rare word and carefully used in a birder’s vocabulary!) that this appealing species will be among the first to greet us in Rome next May–and may well be the last to wave goodbye when we fly out from Pisa.