Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Western Jackdaw

The western jackdaw, also known as the Eurasian jackdaw (Coloeus monedula), is a member of the crow family found in Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. It has four subspecies which mainly vary by coloration on the nape and head. 
Jackdaw
It is mainly black, with a gray nape (back of the head), cheeks and neck, and pale gray irises. The underparts are slate gray. The legs and short stout bill are black and rictal bristles (stiff hair-like feathers) covering parts of the upper bill. The subspecies C. m. monedula, the nominate subspecies, is found in southern Scandinavia, portions of Denmark, Eastern Germany and Poland, south across eastern central Europe, to northwestern Romania, northern Serbia and Slovenia. It has a pale nape, a dark throat, a light gray partial collar, a purple sheen on the crown, forehead and secondaries, and a green-blue sheen on the throat, primaries and tail. 

Rictal bristles on the upper bill. 
I saw it a number of times and asked several guides about it and was told it looked like some kind of crow. The photos I took were at Auschwitz, outside of Krakow, Poland. It was quite friendly as we fed it bread crumbs from sandwiches we were eating for lunch. I don't recall all of the places I saw it as bird spotting was not something I was focused on. 
I was using a point and shoot and the photos are not as clear as I would like. 

1 comment:

  1. If you have to be a blackbird, be seven shades of black, right?

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