Hooded Crow

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Hooded Crow, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	No
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	WBD(II*)

The BOU Records Committee took the decision in 2002 to treat Hooded Crow and Carrion Crow as separate species (Parkin et al. 2003). This split is not recognised in BirdLife International's conservation listings. In the UK, Hooded Crows occur in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and in Scotland, mainly west and north of the Great Glen. Retrospective analysis of BBS trends is simple because observers have always recorded Hooded Crows (coded HC) separately from Carrion Crows and from intermediates (coded HB). Intermediate forms between Carrion and Hooded, which predominate in a band across western Scotland and occur less frequently elsewhere in the UK, are not included in either species' BBS index. BBS data suggest that moderate decrease in Hooded Crows has occurred in Scotland, but that this has been countered by a steep increase in Northern Ireland. Hooded Crows had increased markedly in Ireland since 1924 (Hutchinson 1989). The 2007-11 Atlas records little change in the distribution of Hooded Crows but show further incursion of Carrion Crows into northwest Scotland and eastern Ireland (Balmer et al. 2013). There has been an increase among Hooded and Carrion Crows, taken together, across Europe since 1980 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).

UK breeding population

No population change in UK (1995–2020)

Hooded Crows replaces Carrion Crows in Ireland and most of north and west Scotland. In the eastern part of their Scottish range, Hooded Crows overlap with the Carrion Crows and hybrids are common in a narrow hybrid zone which had been shifting north and west as Carrion Crows gained ground in the lowlands.

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Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	841
% occupied in breeding season	28
No. occupied in winter	936
% occupied in winter	31

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Most frequent in

Bog

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

Hooded Crow is recorded throughout the year.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing

10 years 0 months 5 days (set in 2017)

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	F
Field Codes	2-letter: HC | 5-letter code: HOOCR | Euring: 15673

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

There is little good evidence available regarding the drivers of the breeding population change in this species in the UK.

Further information on causes of change

No further information is available.

Information about conservation actions

Numbers are stable or increasing, hence the Hooded Crow is not a species of concern and no conservation actions are currently required.

As is the case with Carrion Crow, Hooded Crows have been blamed for the declines of other species such as songbirds and waders, leading to calls to control numbers, and legal control of crows still occurs on shooting estates.