Rabenkrähe La Rioja

The carrion crow is an omnivore and one of the best-known cultural followers of central Europe. It inhabits woodland, half-open farmland, the Feldflur, parks and cemeteries, village edges, and increasingly the cores of cities. Its diet ranges from insects and other invertebrates through carrion, seeds, fruits, and agricultural produce to eggs, chicks, and young animals. Surplus food is hidden under leaves, bark, or in shallow ground caches, the so-called Caching, and revisited later.

Carrion crows count among the most intelligent birds known. They solve complex tasks, use tools, memorise people and vehicles, and pass experience along within the family and the flock. A well-known trick is placing hard food on roads so passing vehicles crack it open. Outside the breeding season they are very social and gather at traditional roosts and pre-roost assemblies, while during the breeding season they are territorial and defend their patch energetically against other crows and birds of prey.

In shoots with a small-game stock the Rabenkrähe plays a substantial role as a predator. It searches hedges, field margins, and meadows systematically for clutches and chicks and puts pressure on ground-nesting birds such as grey partridge, pheasant, lapwing, Eurasian curlew, and other meadow birds. Young hares, leverets in their forms, and sickly animals are also taken. In farming it causes damage on maize and cereal sowings, on plastic foil and irrigation hoses, and in orchards, which underpins the case for managed hunting from both a wildlife and a land-use perspective.

The classic hunt is mostly with the shotgun. At the Krähenhütte, a camouflaged hide, or from a mobile blind, decoys and matching calls exploit the crow's habit of flying in to investigate fellow birds. Careful concealment, a decoy spread placed with attention to the wind, and quiet behaviour on the stand are essential. Ambush and stalking hunts on baits, sowings, and harvest stubble, and taking crows opportunistically during small-game days, are also common. Calm, well-trained retrieving dogs with sufficient drive on winged crows are a real asset. The Deutscher Jagdverband, in its practical guide on corvid hunting, recommends a well-prepared, ethically conducted Rabenvogeljagd as part of sustainable small-game management.

For a clean identification, telling the carrion crow apart from the hooded crow, the Nebelkrähe (Corvus cornix), is decisive. The carrion crow is entirely glossy black, while the hooded crow shows a clearly two-toned body with light grey back, breast, and belly and black head, throat, wings, and tail. Their ranges are largely separated: the carrion crow occupies mostly western and southern Germany and large parts of western Europe, the hooded crow mostly eastern and north-eastern Europe. In Germany the contact zone runs roughly along the Elbe, and in that band hybrids with irregular grey-and-black patterns appear regularly and need to be taken into account during identification and bag reporting.