American Crows are a familiar sight across the country, common everywhere except our hottest and driest deserts. While crows in folklore and fiction are often associated with trickery and death (a group of crows is, after all, called a “murder”), recent research has shed new light on just how intelligent and family-oriented these birds can be. So throw out any proconceived notions you might have about crows, and get to know one of America's cleverest birds a little better below.
1. Wondering what that big black bird is overhead? The American Crow is one of just two species of crow commonly seen in the mainland United States, the other being the Fish Crow. Until recently, there was a third species called the Northwestern Crow, but it was absorbed into the American Crow in 2020. Another species, the Tamaulipas Crow, is an infrequent winter visitor to the southern tip of Texas.
2. American Crows are easy to confuse with Fish Crows, as well as their other close relative, the Common Raven. Luckily, there are some tricks for telling them apart. The Fish Crow is slightly smaller, but the surest way to distinguish it from an American Crow is to listen for its distinctive nasal call. Fish Crows typically stick near water and are most common near the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, but they also can extend far inland along river valleys. Common Ravens are heftier, with a bigger beak, shaggier throat feathers, and a wedge-shaped tail. Listen for their croaking call.
3. If you still have a hard time telling these species apart, don’t beat yourself up too much—crows and ravens are all members of the same genus, Corvus. There are more than 40 different species in the genus, spread out across every continent except South America and Antarctica, as well as several Pacific islands. We typically refer to the big ones as “ravens” and the smaller ones as “crows,” but there’s no real genetic basis for the two categories.
4. Crows and ravens are some of the smartest animals in the world, with their intelligence considered on par with chimpanzees. The New Caledonian Crow is probably the most famous example of one sign of intelligence—tool use—but this behavior has been recorded in several other species of Corvus as well. Examples of tool use in American Crows include a captive individual dipping a cup in some water to moisten a container of dry food and a wild crow ripping off a splinter of wood from a fence to try to spear some prey in a hole.
5. Crows might be associated with carrion, but the crafty corvids are opportunistic eaters who use their intelligence to eat just about anything—from crops to other birds’ eggs—they can get their beaks on. American Crows have been seen digging pits to forage for clams, distracting river otters to steal fish, dropping nuts on hard surfaces to open them, and stealing pet food from outdoor dog dishes.
6. Crows’ penchant for crop thieving in particular has made them some enemies over the years. (Scarecrows and other figures meant to frighten crop-destroying birds go back centuries.) In the 1930s, there was even a brief attempt to eat away at their numbers by popularizing them as a dinner item. A man in Tulsa, Oklahoma hosted a series of “crow banquets” to prove how tasty the birds were, and apparently impressed the governor of Oklahoma so much that he established a “Statehouse Crow Meat Lovers Association.” Luckily for the crows, however, eating crow never really caught on—the fad faded by the early 1940s.
Awards7. That’s probably for the best, because crow communities can hold a grudge for generations. A team of researchers at the University of Washington ran an experiment where they captured American Crows in nets while wearing a caveman mask, then released them back onto campus. When the researchers later walked across campus wearing the same mask, the crows scolded and dive-bombed them. More than 10 years after capturing just seven crows, more than half of the crows on campus still raised the alarm at the sight of a caveman mask.
8. Recent research has also shown that crows are also known to hold “funerals" and "wakes." When an American Crow finds the dead body of another crow, it will call out to alert others in the area, who will gather and begin to make a ruckus themselves. Researchers think the behavior helps crow communities learn about potential threats (like those researchers in caveman masks), so that they know which locations and predators to avoid in the future.
9. This communal learning is possible because crows are particularly social and family-oriented birds. American Crows will form large flocks to forage at garbage dumps and farms during the day, and they roost in numbers ranging from hundreds to two million in the winter. They also form close family units of up to five generations. Yearlings and two-year-olds will even give their parents a hand with chick-rearing, helping to build the nest, keep it clean, and feed their mother while she’s sitting on the nest.
10. American Crows’ smarts and adaptability have served them well in the Anthropocene. They’ve been getting more numerous in recent decades, especially in urban centers. According to BirdLife International, their population has grown by nearly 20 percent each decade for the past 40 years. The total breeding population of the species is currently estimated to be 27 million.
Ravens have bigger, curvier beaks relative to crows. While both species have bristles at the base of the beak, the raven's are noticeably longer. Its throat feathers are also quite shaggy.
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Mix together your browned ground beef with your soup.
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Spread your ground beef mixture in a casserole crock pot or 4 quart crock pot.
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Lay your cheese slices evenly across the top.
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Place your tater tots on top.
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Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.
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If you want to brown up the top and your crock is oven safe, place your crock in your broiler on Hi for a couple minutes, watching constantly.
- You won’t use your entire bag of tater tots, but a 16 oz bag wouldn’t have covered the top in my casserole crock. So you can just have some extra tots in your freezer to enjoy later!
- As with any of our recipes, carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish.
- All slow cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline and should always be tested first in your own slow cooker and time adjusted as needed.
- You won’t use your entire bag of tater tots, but a 16 oz bag wouldn’t have covered the top in my casserole crock. So you can just have some extra tots in your freezer to enjoy later!
2011 – The United States ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
On September 20th, Pepperoni Pizza Day recognizes the most popular pizza ever created. The day celebrates the pizza enjoyed by young and old alike.
While pizza comes with many different toppings, pepperoni is the single most popular pizza. Whether you like your pizza Chicago Style or New York Style, thin and crispy or deep dish, top it with pepperoni!
According to legend, Raffaele Esposito created the first pizza in June of 1889. The Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, inspired the pizza maker so much, he created the pie-shaped delicacy. In the queen’s honor, he named it Pizza Margherita and topped the pizza with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. The colors represent the Italian flag.
Since then, pizza has evolved. It includes a multitude of toppings from anchovies and pineapple to sausage and bacon. However, pepperoni remains the most popular.
Italian-Americans developed the ever-popular topping through time-honored sausage-making techniques. Seasoned pork and beef sausage are smoked and cured. Once the product is ready to be sliced, it’s placed on a delicious pie and baked.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Enjoy a slice of Pepperoni Pizza at your favorite pizzeria. Invite friends and family to share their recipes and make your own at home. Either way, the meal will be fantastic! You can also give a shout-out to your favorite pizzeria or buy a gift card for another pizza celebration. And who doesn’t like breaking world records, especially when it involves pizza? Check out these 5 Amazing Pizza Records! Can you break one of them?
