I don't know if anyone has observed that on my short visit the Hooded crow in question appears to be a male and the carrion crow that I saw hanging around with him was a female, so anything is possible.
Once a crow gets a mate, they will develop an inseparable bond to each other. Watch this space!!!
If anyone is interested in seeing what a hybrid looks like, I have attached a picture from Lossiemouth in October 2012 where after photographing a Hooded crow (male) he called his mate to him which happened to be a carrion crow (female). And believe it or not, as if it was pre-arranged- their hybrid ofspring landed between them. How ironic is that!!!
Now I have always had a passion for corvids and recently the Hooded Crow is making a weekly entrance into my notebooks, I cannot get bored of this beauty, and it has now crossed my mind that this bird seems very settled, I have seen joggers screaming kids on bikes and barking dogs under the tree, while this beast just sits and preens, so whats to stop this bird staying and breeding with our local crows, could end up with some hybrids later this year, what do you think ?
Crows by Mark Cocker is an excellent book on corvids for anyone interested in this family .
Keep Birding
Up in Galloway where my caravan is there are a few Hoodies which have probably come over from either Ireland or Isle Of Man, both of which are visible from The Mull of Galloway. These birds freely hybridise with the local Carrion Crow population which outnumber them several thousand to one.Not only do we get first crosses but as these crosses breed with the Carrion Crows they get "watered down"so each generation of hybrid start to look less like its Hoodie parent and more like Carrion Crows.I'm sure if the bird stays there will be a good chance of these crosses at the end of the breeding season.
Now I have always had a passion for corvids and recently the Hooded Crow is making a weekly entrance into my notebooks, I cannot get bored of this beauty, and it has now crossed my mind that this bird seems very settled, I have seen joggers screaming kids on bikes and barking dogs under the tree, while this beast just sits and preens, so whats to stop this bird staying and breeding with our local crows, could end up with some hybrids later this year, what do you think ?
Crows by Mark Cocker is an excellent book on corvids for anyone interested in this family .
