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Rook (bird)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                      iRook

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Passeriformes
   Family:  Corvidae
   Genus:   Corvus
   Species: C. frugilegus

                                Binomial name

   Corvus frugilegus
   Linnaeus, 1758
   Rook range
   Rook range

   The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) is a member of the passerine order of
   birds and the crow family. The species name frugilegus is Latin for
   "food-gathering".

   This species is similar in size (45–47 cm in length) or slightly
   smaller than the Carrion Crow with black feathers often showing a blue
   or bluish-purple sheen in bright sunlight. The feathers on the head,
   neck and shoulders are particularly dense and silky. The legs and feet
   are black and the bill grey-black.

   Rooks are distinguished from similar members of the crow family by the
   bare grey-white skin around the base of the adult's bill in front of
   the eyes. The feathering around the legs also look shaggier and laxer
   than the congeneric Carrion Crow. The juvenile is superficially more
   similar to the Crow because it lacks the bare patch at the base of the
   bill, but it loses the facial feathers after about six months.

Distribution and habitat

   Though resident in Great Britain and much of north and central Europe,
   vagrant to Iceland and northern Scandinavia, it also occurs as an
   eastern race in Asia where it differs in being very slightly smaller on
   average, and having a somewhat more fully feathered face. In the north
   of its range the species has a tendency to move south during autumn
   though more southern populations are apt to range sporadically also.
   The bird has been introduced to New Zealand though it is very
   localised. It is considered a pest there and it is being eradicated.

Behaviour

Diet

   Food is predominantly earthworms and insect larvae, which the bird
   finds by probing the ground with its strong bill. It also eats
   cultivated cereal grain, smaller amounts of fruit, small mammals such
   as voles, acorns and the eggs of ground-nesting birds. In urban sites,
   human food scraps are taken from rubbish dumps and streets, usually in
   the early hours when it is relatively quiet. It has also been seen
   along the seashore, feeding on insects, crustaceans and suitable food
   flotsam.

Nesting

   Nesting is always colonial, usually in the very tops of the trees.
   Branches and twigs are broken off trees (very rarely picked up off the
   ground), though as many are likely to be stolen from nearby nests as
   are collected from trees. Eggs are usually 3–5 in number, can appear by
   the end of February or early March and are incubated for 16–18 days.
   Both adults feed the young, which are fledged by the 32nd or 33rd day.

   In autumn, the young birds of the summer collect together with unpaired
   birds of previous seasons into large flocks. It is during the autumn
   that spectacular aerial displays can be seen by adult birds that seem
   to delight in the autumn gales.

Voice

   The voice, though similar to that of the Carrion Crow, is usually
   described as a "kaah-kaah-kaah" while the bird fans its tail and bows
   on each caw. Solitary birds often "sing" apparently to themselves
   uttering strange clicks, wheezes and almost human sounding notes.

Popular culture

   Like many other members of the Corvidae family, the rook features
   prominently in folklore. Traditionally, rooks are said to be able to
   forecast weather and to sense the approach of death. If a rookery — the
   colonial nesting area of rooks — were to be abandoned, it is said bring
   bad fortune for the family that owned the land. Another folktale holds
   that rooks are responsible for escorting the souls of the virtuous dead
   to heaven. William Butler Yeats may be making reference to the latter
   tale in his poem The Cold Heaven.

   The literary term coined to describe a group of rooks is "a
   parliament".

Gallery

   Rooks
   Enlarge
   Rooks

Sound link

     * Rooks calling

Image links

     * Rook in profile
     * Skull of Rook

Video links

     * Rook videos on the Internet Bird Collection

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_%28bird%29"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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