On a recent visit to a country church, I saw four pairs of our smallest member of the crow family, taking advantage of the church tower as a location for nesting sites. the jackdaw in common with the rook and carrion crow has primarily a glossy black plumage. However, these jaunty birds can be distinguished by thier prominent grey coloured nape.

At close quarters observation will reveal that the bird’s eyes are also pale grey and in certain light can appear blue. the beak is short and strong and the legs are dark. These adaptable corvines will also take advantage of other man-made structures such as ledges on buildings and bridges. They are also notorious for choosing older chhimneys, which are often blocked by the amount of twigs employed to construct the nest, which is then lined by mud covered by hair, fur, wool or grass.

The average clutch contains four eggs that hatch after about 17 days. The nestlings are cared for by the female for the first couple of weeks while the food is supplied by the male. As they develop and the demand for food becomes much greater, both parents turn providers. the young will fledge at four to five weeks and on leaving the nest they have only a very short tail, making them appear dumpy. At this early stage in thier lives they lack the grey nape patch of their parents on whom they will continue to depend upon for sebveral more weeks. By August most juveniles will have become fully independent.

Adult jackdaws have a varied diet which includes fruit, soil invertebrates, seeds, carrion, scraps, birds eggs and the nestlings of other species. The common name is said by some to be immitive of thier loud “chack”  calls, but others believe it is a corruption of the French name for the bird Jaques d’or.

There may be debate over the derivation of the bird’s common name but there is no dispute concerning thier current population status. It is one of a few species whose numbers have doubled over the last 30 years to an estimated 650,000 pairs. This increase can be attributed to the bird’s adaptability. It does not rely on specialised habitat for food in the way many other species of the feathered fraternity do.

Jackdaws in common with thier woodland relatives the jay and magpie are on the increase in our region, a fact that will not be welcomed by gamekeepers and many farmers.

Image via Wikipedia