Crow or Raven - What’s the Difference?
1. Beak
What Does the Beak Look Like?
The easiest way to tell these birds apart is to look at their beaks. Some have a short or pointy beak, the others thick and bent.
Jackdaw: Short and Pointy
Rook: Long, Pointy, Slightly Bent
It is particularly difficult to tell rooks and carrion crows apart because they are about the same size and have similar colored plumage. However, there is a simple trick for identification: the carrion crow has a uniformly black beak. The base of the beak is light gray in the rook.
Carrion Crow: Thick, Bent at the End
Hooded Crow: Thick, Bent at the End
Common Raven: Large, Bends Downwards
Ravens Don’t Have Yellow Beaks
It is always claimed that birds in the crow family have yellow beaks. This is probably down to a confusion involving the blackbird. They are not ravens or crows, but a kind of thrush. Birds like the Alpine chough (yellow beak) and the red-billed chough (red beak) are not really “ravens and crows”, but part of the wider crow family.
- Table of Contents
- 0. Introduction
- 1. Beak
- 2. Plumage
- 3. Size, Call and Summary With All Differences
