Rook: how to recognise it
A bird of Europe, Asia and Oceania. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © esdena · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Corvus frugilegus
- Family
- Crows, Jays, and Magpies
- Size
- About 45 cm
- Habitat
- Farmland with tall trees, villages and roadsides
- Found in
- Europe, Asia and Oceania
The key marks
Black crow with a bare, greyish-white face at the bill base, a peaked crown and 'baggy trousers' of loose thigh feathers. Carrion Crow has a fully feathered, thicker bill and a flat crown.
Voice
A flat, cawing 'kaah', more nasal than a crow.
Good to know
Rooks nest together in noisy colonies called rookeries, high in the treetops.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Carrion Crow. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in farmland with tall trees, villages and roadsides. It is especially common in Kyrgyzstan and Poland. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.