Jackdaws are two species of bird in the genus ''Coloeus'' closely related to, but generally smaller than,

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...

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raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

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Corvus ''Corvus'' is a widely distributed genus of passerine birds ranging from medium-sized to large-sized in the family Corvidae. It includes species commonly known as crows, ravens, and rooks. The species commonly encountered in Europe are the car ...

''). They have a blackish crown, wings, and tail, with the rest of their plumage paler.Madge & Burn (1994) 136–138. The word ''Coloeus'' is

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

, from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

for jackdaws: ' (). They come from Asia, Europe, Africa and Siberia (the one not in Asia?).

Taxonomy

While some authors consider ''Coloeus'' a subgenus of ''Corvus'', others have classified ''Coloeus'' as a distinct genus in the family Corvidae. Following '' Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide'', the

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

has also reassigned the two Jackdaw species from the genus ''Corvus'' to the genus ''Coloeus''.

Species

The eastern species is smaller than the western jackdaw, and in eastern adults, the pale areas of the plumage are almost white, whereas in the western bird, these areas are pale grey. The iris is pale in western jackdaw and dark in Daurian jackdaw. The two species are otherwise very similar in shape, calls, and behaviour. There is an argument for lumping the subgenus members as one species, but they do not interbreed where their ranges meet in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Taxonomy

Species

References

Further reading