Welcome to the Birds of a Feather Discovery page!

Hi kids! Birds are fascinating creatures – especially crows!

Check out all the great information we have below

Amaze your friends with your knowledge!

You’ll be on your way to becoming an ornithologist (that’s a bird expert!)

FUN FACTS

Crows are extremely intelligent birds.

Crows have the problem-solving ability of a seven-year-old child.
They have the largest brain of all birds except for parrots.
They have been observed using sticks or wire to get food that is out of their reach.
Crows have been known to hide food away, sometimes moving the food two or three times, but always remembering where it was hidden.
They are capable of decision-making as a group.

Crows are sometimes referred to as Flying Monkeys.

Crows hold funerals for their dead.

Crows and ravens are different species of the same genus, Corvid.

crow vs raven

Crows are generally smaller than ravens.

The smallest crow is Mexico’s Dwarf Jay, it weighs only 40 grams (1.4 ounces, about the weight of 2 slices of bread) and grows no more than 21.5 centimeters (8.5 inches) in length.

The largest crow is Ethiopia’s Thick-billed Raven which weighs 1500 grams (3.13 lbs) and measures 65 centimeters (2.13 feet) in length.

Considered songbirds due to their vast range of melodies, crows have been known to vocalize their feelings when they are hungry or threatened.

A group of crows is called a murder of crows.

A group of ravens is called a conspiracy of ravens, although it is always proper to call a group of any bird species a flock of birds. These curious terms of venery date back to the Middle Ages where they appear in an appendix to the Book of Saint Albans first published in 1486. Some of Ojie’s other favorite bird groups are a parliament of owls, a gaggle of geese, a chain of bobolinks, a confusion of guinea fowl, a bellow of bullfinches, a charm of goldfinches, a siege of herons, an ostentation of peacocks, a huddle of penguins, a murmuration of starlings, and an exaltation of larks.

A group of ravens are resident at the Tower of London.

A superstition holds that “if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall, and Britain with it.” Needless to say, no soothsayer could have foretold of Harry, Maegan, and Oprah.

Birds are the only living dinosaurs.

They evolved from the 150 million-year-old Archaeopteryx and have many features in common with the dinosaurs, including the presence of a wishbone, the structure of hands and feet, and S-shaped necks. An asteroid impact on planet Earth 66 million years ago led to a mass extinction of all the dinosaurs except one group of birds. All living birds are descended from this group. Archaeopteryx lithographica (Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin)

In 2013 a newly discovered fossil, Aurornis xui, was declared an ancestor to Archaeopteryx, and predates Archaeopteryx by 10 million years.

Thierry Hubin/RSNB

Originally, feathers were not involved in flight, but rather probably evolved for insulation or communication.

The origin of bird flight is still being debated by scientists. There are two basic theories: The “From The Trees Down” theory claims that birds simply glided down from the trees before acquiring the body modifications for true powered flight. The “From The Ground Up” theory claims birds’ ancestors were small, fast predatory dinosaurs in which feathers — developed for other reasons — provided lift to their scurrying about.

There are four basic types of wing shapes. Each evolved to emphasize agility, speed, gliding, or soaring.