Friday, 25 February 2011
Hooded Crow - Galway Bay
Unlike many, I'm quite a fan of crows. Yesterday's post of a hybrid reminded me that I took some shots of a pure Hooded Crow at Galway Bay in December. From field views, I had always assumed that a Hoodie has clear grey uppertail coverts - but it seems not, instead they are dark centred. Maybe this increases the apparent length of the bird's tail, or makes it more difficult for other birds to judge the Hoodie's size?
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2 comments:
Nice shot of rump; per BWP black blotches are standard on upper tail but not allowed on undertail. Yet there are apparently birds like this* in Sweden (e.g. 2 in 50**) - whether it is Hoodie variation or influence of distant hybrid ancestors is not known, and perhaps the two are the same thing anyway?
* http://www.artportalen.se/birds/gallery_imageinfo.asp?imageid=196103
** http://www.flickr.com/groups/hybridbirds/discuss/72157601790596685/
Interesting links, thanks. That first Swedish pic is taken near Malmo, so that is very close to Carrion Crows in Denmark, and may well be within the hybrid zone, though am not sure on that.
I have a picture of a Carrion Crow and Hooded Crow courtship taken in Ireland - I'll post that up soon.
Geoff
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