Corvidae: Crows, Jays, and Magpies
The corvids are a large family of robust songbirds, represented by such familiar species as the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica), Common Raven (Corvus corax), American Crow (C. brachyrhynchos), and House Crow (C. splendens), which are near-universally known among the human populations who share their geographies.
Corvids inhabit all the continents (except Antarctica), most island groups, and almost all terrestrial habitats on the planet—from polar and alpine tundra to the Sahara and Mojave deserts, and every kind of forest, grassland, wetland, and wasteland. Disproportionate shares of the family’s diversity belong to Asia and Middle America, both of which have many secretive and localized forest-dwelling species.
The curiosity and intelligence of corvids is widely admired, and has resulted in prominent roles in many cultural traditions, often as incarnations of human or divine spirits. The Common Raven, in particular, has figured in the myths and legends of Europeans and indigenous groups throughout North America, and has been popularized variously as a trickster demigod, as the harbinger of doom in one of the world’s best-known poems (The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe), and for safeguarding the British monarchy (by not abandoning the Tower of London)—setting a standard of versatility that few non-human species could dream of meeting.
Taxonomy
The species-level taxonomy of the corvids has undergone extensive revisions since the 1980s, with many open questions remaining and future revisions highly likely. For example, the familiar Magpie or Black-billed Magpie has been reclassified as six species, and additional splits seem likely. In North America, what was formerly known as the Scrub Jay is now regarded as either four or five species. Analogously, across the pond, the Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) is known to be internally diverse and might be more appropriately reclassified as eight species, give or take a few.
As currently understood, the Corvidae comprise somewhere in the range of 132 to 160 species, in six subfamily-level lineages:
Pyrrhocoracinae: Choughs (2 to 3 species)
Crypsirininae: Treepies (11 to 12 species)
Cissinae: Green- and blue-magpies (9 to 11 species)
Perisoreinae: Boreal jays (5 to 8 species)
Cyanocoracinae: American jays (39 to 46 species)
Corvinae: Crows and Eurasian jays (66 to 80 species)
Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
“Red-billed Chough” (P. p. pyrrhocorax)
“Ethiopian Chough” (P. p. baileyi)
Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
Ratchet-tailed Treepie (Temnurus temnurus)
Black Magpie (Platysmurus leucopterus)
“Malay Black-Magpie” (P. l. leucopterus)
“Bornean Black-Magpie” (P. l. aterrimus)
Racket-tailed Treepie (Crypsirina temia)
Hooded Treepie (Crypsirina cucullate)
Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda)
Sumatran Treepie (Dendrocitta occipitalis)
Bornean Treepie (Dendrocitta cinerascens)
Gray Treepie (Dendrocitta formosae)
White-bellied Treepie (Dendrocitta leucogastra)
Collared Treepie (Dendrocitta frontalis)
Andaman Treepie (Dendrocitta bayleii)
Common Green-Magpie (Cissa chinensis)
“Common Green-Magpie” (C. c. chinensis)
“Yellow-crowned Green-Magpie” (C. c. margaritae)
Indochinese Green-Magpie (Cissa hypoleuca)
Bornean Green-Magpie (Cissa jefferyi)
Javan Green-Magpie (Cissa thalassina)
Sri Lanka Blue-Magpie (Urocissa ornate)
Taiwan Blue-Magpie (Urocissa caerulea)
Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie (Urocissa flavirostris)
Red-billed Blue-Magpie (Urocissa erythroryncha)
White-winged Magpie (Urocissa whiteheadi)
“Black-tailed Magpie” (U. w. xanthomelana)
“Gray-tailed Magpie” (U. w. whiteheadi)
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus)
“Azure-winged Magpie” (C. c. cyanus)
“Japanese Magpie” (C. c. japonica)
Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki)
Siberian Jay (Perisoreus infaustus)
Sichuan Jay (Perisoreus internigrans)
Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)
“Canada Jay” (P. c. canadensis)
“Rocky Mountain Jay” (P. c. capitalis)
“Pacific Jay” (P. c. obscurus)
White-throated Jay (Cyanolyca mirabilis)
Dwarf Jay (Cyanolyca nanus)
Black-throated Jay (Cyanolyca pumilo)
Silvery-throated Jay (Cyanolyca argentigula)
Azure-hooded Jay (Cyanolyca cucullata)
Beautiful Jay (Cyanolyca pulchra)
Black-collared Jay (Cyanolyca armillata)
“Black-collared Jay” (C. a. armillata)
“Quindio Jay” (C. a. quindiuna)
Turquoise Jay (Cyanolyca turcosa)
White-collared Jay (Cyanolyca viridicyanus)
Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus)
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
“Steller’s Jay” (C. s. stelleri)
“Diademed Jay” (C. s. diademata)
“Crowned Jay” (C. s. coronata)
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
Unicolored Jay (Aphelocoma unicolor)
Transvolcanic Jay (Aphelocoma ultramarina)
Mexican Jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi)
“Arizona Jay” (A. w. wollweberi)
“Couch’s Jay” (A. w. couchii)
“San Luís Potosí Jay” (A. w. potosina)
Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii)
“Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay” (A. a. woodhouseii)
“Sumichrast’s Scrub-Jay” (A. a. sumichrasti)
California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Island Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma insularis)
Black-throated Magpie-Jay (Calocitta colliei)
White-throated Magpie-Jay (Calocitta formosa)
Brown Jay (Psilorhinus morio)
Azure Jay (Psilorhinus caeruleus)
Violaceous Jay (Psilorhinus violaceus)
Purplish Jay (Psilorhinus cyanomelas)
Curl-crested Jay (Psilorhinus cristatellus)
Green Jay (Cyanocorax luxuosus)
Inca Jay (Cyanocorax yncas)
White-tailed Jay (Cyanocorax mystacalis)
Bushy-crested Jay (Cyanocorax melanocyaneus)
Yucatán Jay (Cyanocorax yucatanicus)
San Blas Jay (Cyanocorax sanblasianus)
Purplish-backed Jay (Cyanocorax beecheii)
Tufted Jay (Cyanocorax dickeyi)
Black-chested Jay (Cyanocorax affinis)
Azure-naped Jay (Cyanocorax heilprini)
“Azure-naped Jay” (C. h. heilprini)
“Campina Jay” (C. h. hafferi)
Cayenne Jay (Cyanocorax cayanus)
Plush-crested Jay (Cyanocorax chrysops)
White-naped Jay (Cyanocorax cyanopogon)
Stresemann’s Bushcrow (Zavattariornis stresemanni)
Piapiac (Ptilostomus afer)
Henderson’s Ground-Jay (Podoces hendersoni)
Biddulph’s Ground-Jay (Podoces biddulphi)
Pander’s Ground-Jay (Podoces panderi)
Pleske’s Ground-Jay (Podoces pleskei)
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
“Eurasian Jay” (G. g. glandarius)
“Black-capped Jay” (G. g. atricapillus)
“Black-crowned Jay” (G. g. cervicalis)
“Iranian Jay” (G. g. hyrcanus)
“Brandt’s Jay” (G. g. brandtii)
“Himalayan Jay” (G. g. bispecularis)
“White-faced Jay” (G. g. leucotis)
“Japanese Jay” (G. g. japonicus)
Black-headed Jay (Garrulus lanceolatus)
Lidth’s Jay (Garrulus lidthi)
Maghreb Magpie (Pica mauritanica)
Asir Magpie (Pica asirensis)
Black-rumped Magpie (Pica bottanensis)
Oriental Magpie (Pica serica)
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica)
“Spanish Magpie” (P. p. melanotos)
“Eurasian Magpie” (P. p. pica)
“Kamchatka Magpie” (P. p. camtschatica)
Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia)
Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli)
Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana)
Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes)
“Northern Spotted Nutcracker” (N. c. caryocatactes)
“Southern Spotted Nutcracker” (N. c. hemispila)
Kashmir Nutcracker (Nucifraga multipunctata)
Western Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula)
Daurian Jackdaw (Coloeus dauuricus)
White-necked Crow (Corvus leucognaphalus)
Jamaican Crow (Corvus jamaicensis)
Cuban Palm Crow (Corvus minutus)
Hispaniolan Palm Crow (Corvus palmarum)
Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus)
Sinaloa Crow (Corvus sinaloae)
Tamaulipas Crow (Corvus imparatus)
Cape Crow (Corvus capensis)
Rook (Corvus frugilegus)
“Western Rook” (C. f. frugilegus)
“Eastern Rook” (C. f. pastinator)
Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis)
Thick-billed Raven (Corvus crassirostris)
White-necked Raven (Corvus albicollis)
Chihuahuan Raven (Corvus cryptoleucus)
Fan-tailed Raven (Corvus rhipidurus)
Brown-necked Raven (Corvus ruficollis)
Pied Crow (Corvus albus)
Somali Crow (Corvus edithae)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Collared Crow (Corvus torquatus)
Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
“Carrion Crow” (C. c. corone)
“Oriental Crow” (C. c. orientalis)
Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)
“Hooded Crow” (C. c. cornix)
“Mesopotamian Crow” (C. c. capellanus)
Flores Crow (Corvus florensis)
House Crow (Corvus splendens)
Mariana Crow (Corvus kubaryi)
Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
Indian Jungle Crow (Corvus culminatus)
Eastern Jungle Crow (Corvus levaillantii)
Slender-billed Crow (Corvus enca)
“Sierra Madre Crow” (C. e. sierramadrensis)
“Slender-billed Crow” (C. e. enca)
Piping Crow (Corvus typicus)
Banggai Crow (Corvus unicolor)
Long-billed Crow (Corvus validus)
New Caledonian Crow (Corvus moneduloides)
Bougainville Crow (Corvus meeki)
White-billed Crow (Corvus woodfordi)
Violet Crow (Corvus violaceus)
Brown-headed Crow (Corvus fuscicapillus)
Gray Crow (Corvus tristis)
Little Crow (Corvus bennetti)
Bismarck Crow (Corvus insularis)
Torresian Crow (Corvus orru)
Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides)
Little Raven (Corvus mellori)
Forest Raven (Corvus tasmanicus)
References
Boyd, J.H., 2018. Taxonomy in Flux: Corvida III: Corvoidea. http://jboyd.net/Taxo/List19.html. (Posted June 6, 2018. Accessed January 10, 2021.)
Roberson, D. 2018. Bird Families of the World: Crows, Jays & Allies, Corvidae. http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/corvids.html. (Posted December 24, 2018. Accessed January 10, 2021.)