Photo: Guido
Band
| Greek Name: | korônê [ German: Nebelkrähe] | |
| Description: | Pale ash-grey body and nape with black head, throat, wings, and tail. L 47 cm. | |
| Habitat: | Forest edges, groves, river valleys, but also in mountainous areas up to 2000m (Switzerland). | |
|
Behaviour: |
Flies with powerful, but rather slow wingstrokes. At all times, both single birds, pairs, and flocks can be observed. Food consists mostly of invertebrates and cereal grain. Several different calls, most prominent "an abrupt, deep, rasping croak, 'kaarr', 'krarrr', or 'kawrh'." (Cramp 8.173) | |
| Ancient Associations: |
Renowned for its longevity, cp. Aristophanes Birds 609; Hesiod Fragm. 304 Merkelbach-West. Idiomatic curse: es corakas (go to the crows, i.e., go to hell), refers to the crows as carrion birds feeding off executed criminals. | |
| Sources: |
Stanley Cramp et al., (edd.), Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic, vol. VIII, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. | |