[ Despite structural differences, the brains of corvids and great apes both evolved the ability to make geometrical measurements.
]
Empathy-consolation
Ravens are found to show bystander affiliation, and solicited bystander affiliation after aggressive conflicts. Most of the time, bystanders already sharing a valuable relationship with the victim are more likely to affiliate with the victim to alleviate the victim's distress ("consolation") as a representation of empathy
Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...
. Ravens are believed to be able to be sensitive to other's emotions.
Empathy-emotional contagion
Emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...
contagion refers to the emotional state matching between individuals. Adriaense et al. (2018) used a bias paradigm to quantify emotional valence, which along with emotional arousal, define emotions. They manipulated the positive and negative affective states in the demonstrator ravens, which showed significantly different responses to the two states: behaving pessimism to the negative states, and optimism to the positive states. Then, the researchers trained another observer raven to first observe the demonstrator's responses. The observer raven was then presented with ambiguous stimuli. The experiment results confirmed the existence of negative emotional contagions in ravens, while the positive emotional contagion remained unclear. Therefore, ravens are capable of both discerning the negative emotions in their conspecifics and showing signs of empathy.
Interspecific communications
Interspecific communications are evolutionarily beneficial for species living in the same environment. Facial expressions are the most widely used method to express emotions by humans. Tate et al. (2006) explored the issue of non-human mammals processing the visual cues from faces to achieve interspecific communication with humans. Researchers also examined the avian species' capabilities to interpret this non-verbal communication, and their extent of sensitivity to human emotions. Based on the experimental subject of American Crows' behavioral changes to varying human gazes and facial expressions, Clucas et al. (2013) identified that crows are able to change their behaviors to human emotions. They further suggested that the high intelligence of the crows enables them to adapt well to human-dominated environments.
Personality conformity
It is considered difficult to study emotions in animals when humans could not communicate with them. One way to identify animal personality
Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, ...
traits is to observe the consistency of the individual's behavior over time and circumstances. For group-living species, there are two opposing hypotheses regarding the assortment of personalities within a group: the social niche specialization hypothesis, and the conformity hypothesis. To test these two hypotheses, McCune et al. (2018) performed an experiment on the boldness of two species in Corvidae: the Mexican Jay and California Scrub-Jay. Their results confirmed the conformity hypothesis, supported by the significant differences in the group effects.
Social construction
The individual personality is both determined by genetics and shaped by social contexts. Miller et al. (2016) examined the role of the developmental and social environment in personality formation in common ravens and carrion crows, which are highly social corvids. The researchers highlighted the correlation between social contexts and an individual's consistent behavior over time (personality), by showing that conspecific presence promoted the behavioral similarities between individuals. Therefore, the researchers demonstrated that social contexts had a significant impact on the development of the raven's and crow's personalities.
Social complexity
The social complexity hypothesis suggests that living in a social group enhances the cognitive abilities of animals. Corvid ingenuity is represented through their feeding skills, memorization abilities, use of tools, and group behaviour. Living in large social groups has long been connected with high cognitive ability. To live in a large group, a member must be able to recognize individuals, and track the social position and foraging of other members over time. Members must also be able to distinguish between sex, age, reproductive status, and dominance, and to update this information constantly. It might be that social complexity corresponds to their high cognition, as well as contributing to the spread of information between members of the group.
Consciousness, culture-rudiments, and neurology
The Eurasian magpie is the only non-mammal species known to be able to recognize itself in a mirror test, although later research could not replicate this finding. Studies using very similar setups could not find such behaviour in other corvids (e.g., Carrion crows). Magpies have been observed taking part in elaborate grieving rituals, which have been likened to human funerals, including laying grass wreaths.[Animal emotions, wild justice and why they matter: Grieving magpies, a pissy baboon, and empathic elephants](_blank)
Emotion, Space and Society xxx (2009) 1–4, Marc Bekoff Marc Bekoff, at the University of Colorado, argues that it shows that they are capable of feeling complex emotions, including grief. Furthermore, carrion crows show a neuronal response that correlates with their perception
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
of a stimulus, which some scientists have argued to be an empirical marker of ( avian/corvid) sensory consciousness—the conscious perception of sensory input—in the crows which do not have a cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. The cerebral cortex mostly consists of the six-layered neocortex, with just 10% consisting o ...
. A related study shows that the birds' pallium's neuroarchitecture is reminiscent of the mammalian cortex.
Tool use, memory, and complex rational thought
There are also specific examples of corvid cleverness. One carrion crow was documented cracking nuts by placing them on a crosswalk, letting the passing cars crack the shell, waiting for the light to turn red, and then safely retrieving the contents. A group of crows in England took turns lifting garbage bin lids while their companions collected food.
Members of the corvid family have been known to watch other birds, remember where they hide their food, then return once the owner leaves. Corvids also move their food around between hiding places to avoid thievery—but only if they have previously been thieves themselves (that is, they remember previous relevant social contexts, use their own experience of having been a thief to predict the behavior of a pilferer, and can determine the safest course to protect their caches from being pilfered). Studies to assess similar cognitive abilities in apes have been inconclusive.
The ability to hide food requires highly accurate spatial memories. Corvids have been recorded to recall their food's hiding places up to nine months later. It is suggested that vertical landmarks (like trees) are used to remember locations. There has also been evidence that California scrub jays, which store perishable foods, not only remember where they stored their food, but for how long. This has been compared to episodic memory
Episodic memory is the memory of everyday events (such as times, location geography, associated emotions, and other contextual information) that can be explicitly stated or conjured. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred ...
, previously thought unique to humans.
New Caledonian crows (''Corvus moneduloides'') are notable for their highly developed tool fabrication. They make angling tools of twigs and leaves trimmed into hooks, and then subsequently use the hooks to pull insect larvae from tree holes. Tools are engineered according to task, and apparently, also to learned preferences. Recent studies revealed abilities to solve complicated problems, which suggested high levels of innovation of a complex nature. Other corvids that have been observed using tools include: the American crow, blue jay, and green jay. Researchers have discovered that New Caledonian crows don't just use single objects as tools—they can also construct novel compound tools through assemblage of otherwise non-functional elements. Diversity in tool design among corvids suggests cultural variation. Again, great apes are the only other animals known to use tools in such a fashion.
Clark's nutcrackers and jackdaws were compared in a 2002 study based on geometric rule learning. The corvids, along with a domestic pigeon
The domestic pigeon (''Columba livia domestica'' or ''Columba livia'' ''forma'' ''domestica'') is a pigeon subspecies that was derived from the rock dove (also called the rock pigeon). The rock pigeon is the world's oldest domesticated bird. ...
, had to locate a target between two landmarks, while distances and landmarks were altered. The nutcrackers were more accurate in their searches than the jackdaws and pigeons.[
]
Implications and specific comparisons with other animals
The scarecrow
A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesle ...
is an archetypal scare tactic in the agricultural business. However, due to corvids' quick wit, scarecrows are soon ignored, and used as perches. Despite farmers' efforts to rid themselves of corvid pests, their attempts have only expanded corvid territories, and strengthened their numbers.
Contrary to earlier teleological classifications, in which they were seen as "highest" songbirds due to their intelligence, current systematics might place corvids—based on their total number of physical characteristics, instead of just their brains (which are the most developed of birds)—in the lower middle of the passerine evolutionary tree, dependent on which subgroup is chosen as the most derived. As per one observer:
The other major group of highly intelligent birds of the order Psittaciformes (which includes 'true' parrots, cockatoos, and New Zealand parrot
The New Zealand parrot family, Strigopidae,Nestoridae and Strigopidae are described in the same article, Bonaparte, C.L. (1849) ''Conspectus Systematis Ornithologiae''. Therefore, under rules of the ICZN, the first reviser determines priority, ...
s) is not closely related to corvids.
A study found that four-months-old ravens can have physical and social cognitive skills similar to that of adult great apes, and concluded that the “dynamic of the different influences that, during ontogeny, contributes to adult cognition” is required for the study of cognition.[ Available unde]
CC BY 4.0
Disease
Corvids are reservoirs (carriers) for the West Nile virus in the United States. They are infected by mosquitoes (the vectors), primarily of the '' Culex'' species. Crows and ravens are quickly killed by this disease, so their deaths are an early-warning system when West Nile virus arrives in an area (as are horses and other bird-species deaths). One of the first signs that West Nile virus first arrived in the US in 1999 was the death of crows in New York.
Relationship with humans
Several different corvids, particularly ravens, have occasionally served as pets, although they are not able to speak as readily as parrots, and are not suited to a caged environment.
It is illegal to own corvids, or any other migratory bird, without a permit in North America, due to the Migratory Bird Act.
Humans have been able to coexist with many members of the Corvidae family throughout history, most notably crows and ravens (see: “Role in myth and culture” section below). These positive interactions have extended into modern times.
Role in myth and culture
Folklore often represents corvids as clever, and even mystical, animals. Some Native Americans, such as the Haida
Haida may refer to:
Places
* Haida, an old name for Nový Bor
* Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands
* Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia
Ships
* , a ...
, believed that a raven created the earth, and despite being a trickster spirit, ravens were popular on totems, credited with creating man, and considered responsible for placing the Sun in the sky.
Due to their carrion diet, the Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
peoples strongly associated corvids with war, death, and the battlefield; their great intelligence meant that they were often considered messengers, or manifestations of the gods, such as Bendigeidfran (Welsh for “Blessed Crow”) or the Irish Morrigan (Middle Irish for “Great Queen”), both who were underworld deities
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...
that may be related to the later Arthurian Fisher King. The Welsh '' Dream of Rhonabwy'' illustrates well the association of ravens with war. In many parts of Britain, gatherings of crows, or more often magpies, are counted using the divination rhyme: “''one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.”'' Another rhyme is: “''one for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a funeral, four for a birth, five for heaven, six for hell, and seven for the Devil, his own sel.”'' Cornish superstition holds that when a lone magpie is encountered, it must be loudly greeted with respect.
Various Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
highly revered the raven, and the raven was often depicted as a motif on shields or other war gear in Anglo-Saxon art, such as the Sutton Hoo burial, and Vendel period
In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period ( sv, Vendeltiden; 540–790 AD) appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. This is a period wit ...
art. The major deity, Odin, was so commonly associated with ravens throughout history that he gained the kenning “Raven God,” and the raven banner was the flag of various Viking Age
The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...
Scandinavian chieftains. Odin was also attended by Hugin and Munin, two ravens who flew all over the world, and whispered information they acquired into his ears.[ The Valravn sometimes appeared in modern Scandinavian folklore. On a shield and purse lid excavated among the Sutton Hoo treasures, imagery of stylised corvids with scrolled beaks are meticulously detailed in the decorative enamel work. The corvid symbolism reflected their common totemic status to the Anglo-Saxons, whose pre-Christian indigenous beliefs were of the same origin as that of the aforementioned Vikings.
The sixth century BCE Greek scribe Aesop featured corvids as intelligent antagonists in many fables. Later, in western literature, popularized by American poet ]Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
's work " The Raven", the common raven
The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least ...
becomes a symbol of the main character's descent into madness.
The children's book '' Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH'' and its animated film adaptation features a protagonist crow named Jeremy.
Status and conservation
Unlike many other bird families, corvid fitness and reproduction, especially with many crows, has increased due to human development. The survival and reproductive success of certain crows and ravens is assisted by their close relationship with humans.
Human development provides additional resources by clearing land, creating shrublands rich in berries and insects. When the cleared land naturally replenishes, jays and crows use the young dense trees for nesting sites. Ravens typically use larger trees in denser forest.
Despite the fact that most corvids are not threatened (many even increasing due to human activity) a few species are in danger. For example, the destruction of the Southeast Asian rainforest is endangering mixed-species feeding flocks with members from the family Corvidae.[ Also, since its semiarid scrubland ]habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
is an endangered ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...
, the Florida scrub jay has a small and declining population.[ A number of island species, which are more vulnerable to introduced species and habitat loss, have been driven to extinction, such as the New Zealand raven, or are threatened, like the Mariana crow.
The American crow population of the United States has grown over the years. It is possible that the American crow, due to humans increasing suitable habitat, will cause Northwestern crows and ]fish crow
The fish crow (''Corvus ossifragus'') is a species of crow associated with wetland habitats in the eastern and southeastern United States.
Taxonomy and etymology
The fish crow was given its binomial name by the Scottish ornithologist Alexan ...
s to decline.[
]
Species
FAMILY CORVIDAE
* Choughs
**Genus '' Pyrrhocorax''
*** Alpine chough, ''Pyrrhocorax graculus''
*** Red-billed chough, ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''
* Treepies
**Genus '' Crypsirina''
*** Hooded treepie, ''Crypsirina cucullata''
*** Racket-tailed treepie, ''Crypsirina temia''
**Genus '' Dendrocitta''
*** Andaman treepie, ''Dendrocitta bayleyi''
*** Bornean treepie, ''Dendrocitta cinerascens''
*** Grey treepie, ''Dendrocitta formosae''
*** Collared treepie, ''Dendrocitta frontalis''
*** White-bellied treepie, ''Dendrocitta leucogastra''
*** Sumatran treepie, ''Dendrocitta occipitalis''
*** Rufous treepie, ''Dendrocitta vagabunda''
**Genus '' Platysmurus''
*** Malayan black magpie, ''Platysmurus leucopterus''
*** Bornean black magpie, ''Platysmurus aterrimus''
**Genus '' Temnurus''
*** Ratchet-tailed treepie, ''Temnurus temnurus''
*Oriental magpies
**Genus '' Cissa''
*** Common green magpie, ''Cissa chinensis''
*** Indochinese green magpie, ''Cissa hypoleuca''
*** Javan green magpie, ''Cissa thalassina''
*** Bornean green magpie, ''Cissa jefferyi''
**Genus '' Urocissa''
*** Taiwan blue magpie, ''Urocissa caerulea''
*** Red-billed blue magpie, ''Urocissa erythrorhyncha''
*** Yellow-billed blue magpie, ''Urocissa flavirostris''
*** Sri Lanka blue magpie, ''Urocissa ornata''
*** White-winged magpie, ''Urocissa whiteheadi''
*Old World jays
**Genus '' Garrulus''
*** Eurasian jay, ''Garrulus glandarius''
*** Black-headed jay, ''Garrulus lanceolatus''
*** Lidth's jay, ''Garrulus lidthi''
**Genus '' Podoces'' – ground jays
*** Xinjiang ground jay, ''Podoces biddulphi''
*** Mongolian ground jay, ''Podoces hendersoni''
*** Turkestan ground jay, ''Podoces panderi''
*** Iranian ground jay, ''Podoces pleskei''
*Piapiac
**Genus '' Ptilostomus''
*** Piapiac, ''Ptilostomus afer''
*Stresemann's bushcrow
**Genus '' Zavattariornis''
*** Stresemann's bushcrow, ''Zavattariornis stresemanni''
* Nutcrackers
**Genus '' Nucifraga''
*** Spotted nutcracker, ''Nucifraga caryocatactes''
*** Kashmir nutcracker, ''Nucifraga multipunctata''
*** Clark's nutcracker, ''Nucifraga columbiana''
*Holarctic magpies
**Genus '' Pica''
***Black-billed magpie
The black-billed magpie (''Pica hudsonia''), also known as the American magpie, is a bird in the corvid family found in the western half of North America. It is black and white, with black areas on the wings and tail showing iridescent hints o ...
, ''Pica hudsonia''
*** Yellow-billed magpie, ''Pica nuttalli''
*** Eurasian magpie, ''Pica pica''
**** Korean magpie, ''Pica (pica) serica''
**Genus '' Cyanopica''
*** Azure-winged magpie, ''Cyanopica cyanus''
*** Iberian magpie, ''Cyanopica cooki''
*True crows ( crows, ravens, jackdaws and rooks
Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to:
Games
*Rook (chess), a piece in chess
*Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game
Military
*Sukhoi Su-25
The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' (russian: � ...
)
**Genus '' Corvus''
***''Australian and Melanesian'' species
**** Little crow, ''Corvus bennetti''
**** Australian raven, ''Corvus coronoides''
**** Bismarck crow, ''Corvus insularis''
**** Brown-headed crow, ''Corvus fuscicapillus''
**** Bougainville crow, ''Corvus meeki''
**** Little raven, ''Corvus mellori''
**** New Caledonian crow, ''Corvus moneduloides''
****Torresian crow
The Torresian crow (''Corvus orru''), also called the Australian crow or Papuan crow, is a passerine bird in the crow family native to the north and west of Australia and nearby islands in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The species has a bla ...
, ''Corvus orru''
**** Forest raven, ''Corvus tasmanicus''
***** Relict raven, ''Corvus (tasmanicus) boreus''
**** Grey crow, ''Corvus tristis''
**** Long-billed crow, ''Corvus validus''
**** White-billed crow, ''Corvus woodfordi''
***''Pacific island'' species
**** Alalā (Hawaiian crow), ''Corvus hawaiiensis'' (formerly ''Corvus tropicus'') ( extinct in the wild)
**** Mariana crow, ''Corvus kubaryi''
***''Tropical Asian'' species
**** Daurian jackdaw, ''Corvus dauuricus''
**** Slender-billed crow, ''Corvus enca''
**** Palawan crow, ''Corvus pusillus''
**** Flores crow, ''Corvus florensis''
****Large-billed crow
The large-billed crow (''Corvus macrorhynchos''), formerly referred to widely as the jungle crow, is a widespread Asian species of crow. It is very adaptable and is able to survive on a wide range of food sources, making it capable of colonizing ...
, ''Corvus macrorhynchos''
**** Eastern jungle crow, ''Corvus levaillantii''
****Indian jungle crow
The Indian jungle crow (''Corvus culminatus'') is a species of crow found across the Indian Subcontinent south of the Himalayas. It is very common and readily distinguished from the house crow (''Corvus splendens''), which has a grey neck. In the ...
, ''Corvus culminatus''
****House crow
The house crow (''Corvus splendens''), also known as the Indian, greynecked, Ceylon or Colombo crow, is a common bird of the crow family that is of Asian origin but now found in many parts of the world, where they arrived assisted by shipping. ...
, ''Corvus splendens''
**** Collared crow, ''Corvus torquatus''
**** Piping crow, ''Corvus typicus''
**** Banggai crow, ''Corvus unicolor''
***''Eurasian and North African'' species
**** Hooded crow, ''Corvus cornix''
***** Mesopotamian crow, ''Corvus (cornix) capellanus''
**** Carrion crow (western carrion crow), ''Corvus corone''
***** Eastern carrion crow, ''Corvus (corone) orientalis''
**** Rook, ''Corvus frugilegus''
**** Western jackdaw, ''Corvus monedula''
**** Fan-tailed raven, ''Corvus rhipidurus''
**** Brown-necked raven, ''Corvus ruficollis''
***''Holarctic'' species
****Common raven
The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least ...
, ''Corvus corax'' (see also next section)
***** Pied raven, ''Corvus corax varius'' morpha ''leucophaeus'' (an extinct color variant)
***''North and Central American'' species
**** American crow, ''Corvus brachyrhynchos''
***** Northwestern crow, ''Corvus brachyrhynchos caurinus''
**** Chihuahuan raven, ''Corvus cryptoleucus''
**** Tamaulipas crow, ''Corvus imparatus''
**** Jamaican crow, ''Corvus jamaicensis''
**** White-necked crow, ''Corvus leucognaphalus''
**** Cuban crow, ''Corvus nasicus''
****Fish crow
The fish crow (''Corvus ossifragus'') is a species of crow associated with wetland habitats in the eastern and southeastern United States.
Taxonomy and etymology
The fish crow was given its binomial name by the Scottish ornithologist Alexan ...
, ''Corvus ossifragus''
****Palm crow
The palm crow (''Corvus palmarum'') is a relatively small corvid that occurs on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola ( Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Cuba, where it was formerly very frequent, but is now reduced in population.
Taxonomy
T ...
, ''Corvus palmarum''
**** Sinaloa crow, ''Corvus sinaloae''
**** Western raven, ''Corvus (corax) sinuatus''
***''Tropical African'' species
**** White-necked raven, ''Corvus albicollis''
**** Pied crow, ''Corvus albus''
**** Cape crow, ''Corvus capensis''
**** Thick-billed raven, ''Corvus crassirostris''
**** Somali crow (dwarf raven), ''Corvus edithae''
*Boreal jays
**Genus '' Perisoreus''
***Canada jay
The Canada jay (''Perisoreus canadensis''), also known as the gray jay, grey jay, camp robber, or whisky jack, is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae. It is found in boreal forests of North America north to the tree line, and in the Ro ...
, ''Perisoreus canadensis''
*** Siberian jay, ''Perisoreus infaustus''
*** Sichuan jay, ''Perisoreus internigrans''
*New World jays
**Genus '' Aphelocoma'' – scrub-jays
*** California scrub jay, ''Aphelocoma californica''
*** Island scrub jay, ''Aphelocoma insularis''
*** Woodhouse's scrub jay, ''Aphelocoma woodhouseii''
*** Florida scrub jay, ''Aphelocoma coerulescens''
*** Mexican jay, ''Aphelocoma wollweberi''
*** Transvolcanic jay, ''Aphelocoma ultramarina''
*** Unicolored jay, ''Aphelocoma unicolor''
**Genus '' Calocitta'' – magpie-jays
*** Black-throated magpie-jay, ''Calocitta colliei''
*** White-throated magpie-jay, ''Calocitta formosa''
**Genus '' Cyanocitta''
*** Blue jay, ''Cyanocitta cristata''
***Steller's jay
Steller's jay (''Cyanocitta stelleri'') is a bird native to western North America and the mountains of Central America, closely related to the blue jay found in eastern North America. It is also known as the long-crested jay, mountain jay, and p ...
, ''Cyanocitta stelleri''
**Genus '' Cyanocorax''
*** Black-chested jay, ''Cyanocorax affinis''
*** Purplish-backed jay, ''Cyanocorax beecheii''
*** Azure jay, ''Cyanocorax caeruleus''
*** Cayenne jay, ''Cyanocorax cayanus''
*** Plush-crested jay, ''Cyanocorax chrysops''
*** Curl-crested jay, ''Cyanocorax cristatellus''
*** Purplish jay, ''Cyanocorax cyanomelas''
*** White-naped jay, ''Cyanocorax cyanopogon''
*** Tufted jay, ''Cyanocorax dickeyi''
*** Azure-naped jay, ''Cyanocorax heilprini''
*** Bushy-crested jay, ''Cyanocorax melanocyaneus''
*** White-tailed jay, ''Cyanocorax mystacalis''
*** San Blas jay, ''Cyanocorax sanblasianus''
*** Violaceous jay, ''Cyanocorax violaceus''
*** Green jay, ''Cyanocorax luxuosus''
*** Inca jay, ''Cyanocorax yncas''
*** Yucatan jay, ''Cyanocorax yucatanicus''
**Genus '' Psilorhinus''
*** Brown jay, ''Psilorhinus morio''
**Genus '' Cyanolyca''
*** Silvery-throated jay, ''Cyanolyca argentigula''
*** Black-collared jay, ''Cyanolyca armillata''
*** Azure-hooded jay, ''Cyanolyca cucullata''
*** White-throated jay, ''Cyanolyca mirabilis''
*** Dwarf jay, ''Cyanolyca nana''
*** Beautiful jay, ''Cyanolyca pulchra''
*** Black-throated jay, ''Cyanolyca pumilo''
*** Turquoise jay, ''Cyanolyca turcosa''
*** White-collared jay, ''Cyanolyca viridicyana''
**Genus '' Gymnorhinus''
*** Pinyon jay, ''Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus''
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
* Charles Sibley & Jon Edward Ahlquist (1991): ''Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution''. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. .
External links
Corvidae videos
on the Internet Bird Collection
corvids.de – Corvids-Literature-Database
Corvid Corner
A site about the Corvidae
AvesNoir
A site about corvids in art, culture, and literature.
Rooks reveal remarkable tool use
Clever New Caledonian crows can use three tools
Talking Eurasian magpie ''Pica pica''
Rare crow shows a talent for tool use
{{authority control
Bird families
Extant Miocene first appearances