Rook

We visited Ireland in July 2024 and saw rooks a number of times. I did not have my camera. My photos are all by cellphone. 

This rook was photographed on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny, Ireland, on July 5. 

Photographed the same day near the Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary.

At the dock waiting for our boat to tour the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, on July 13. 

Illustration of ssp. frugilegus, the western rook, from Birds of the World. 

Birds of the World describes the rook as a "small-headed, short-legged crow with low-slung belly, loose tibia feathering ('baggy shorts') and tapered pointed bill. [The] nominate race is wholly black, highly glossed with bluish and purplish ...most evident on [the] wing;...distinctive bare whitish area on chin and lores extending to bill base...; iris dark brown; bill dusky toward tip, becoming whiter towards base (making nostrils apparent, enhanced by absence of nasal bristles); legs dark slate-gray." There are two subspecies. The western rook, the nominate ssp. frugilegus, which I saw, is found from western Europe to southern Russia and extreme northwestern China. The eastern rook, ssp. pastinator, is found from central Siberia and northern Mongolia eastwards across the rest of Asia. Rooks nest collectively in the tops of tall trees and the groups of nests are known as rookeries. 

Range from Birds of the World.