Jackdaw

Quick Take

• Jackdaws may be able to do something most birds can't, and that something involves recognizing you personally. Their intelligence explained →
• Their scientific name is literally a reference to theft, and the story behind it is stranger than it sounds. Origins of the name →
• Jackdaw pairs bond for life, yet their colonies are built almost entirely on a foundation that defies typical animal social logic. How their bonds form →
• A jackdaw nest can hatch chicks at very different times, and for the last ones born, that timing can be fatal. Asynchronous hatching details →

There are two recognized species of jackdaw: the western or Eurasian jackdaw, which can be found almost anywhere between Western Europe, western Asia, and western North Africa, and the Daurian jackdaw, which calls eastern Asia home. As members of the Corvid (crow) family, they are highly intelligent and sociable. The corvid family as a whole ranks among the few groups of tool users in the entire animal kingdom. They hold an important symbolic role in many cultures, and they are attracted to shiny trinkets, which is probably why they are often caricatured in stories as thieves.

The jackdaw’s name comes from the word “jack,” which may mean “small” or refer to its characteristic call, and “daw,” which is a native English name for the bird. However, some say “jack” comes from the jackdaw’s call that sounds like a hard “tchack.”

Classification and Scientific Name

The scientific name of the western or Eurasian jackdaw species is Coloeus monedula. Monedula is derived from a Latin word meaning money, in reference to the jackdaw’s penchant for stealing shiny trinkets. This species is found in Great Britain, western Europe, Scandinavia, northern Asia, and northern Africa. There are four subspecies: the Nordic, Western Eurasian, Eastern Eurasian, and Algerian jackdaws.

The scientific name of the Daurian jackdaw is C. dauuricus. It can be found in southeastern Siberia, Mongolia, northern China, and southeastern Tibet, wintering south to southern China. The name comes from the Dauria region of eastern Russia.

Appearance

The jackdaw is the smallest crow in the UK, and the eastern jackdaw is slightly larger than the western one. They measure about 13 to 15 inches in length and around 8.5 ounces in weight.

While sporting a familiar crow-like dark plumage, the western jackdaw is most easily identified by its pale white or grey iris and the light grey nape (the back of the head and neck). The eastern species’ adults have white feathers at the nape, and the iris is dark.

Juveniles tend to have dull plumage with brown irises and take time to achieve their adult form. They also have strong black beaks and black legs.

This bird has an annual molting season in the summer and autumn when it replaces its entire plumage. Its feathers will start turning gray with age.

Behavior

The basis of the jackdaw’s “society” is the mating pair, which usually bonds for life. Together, the pair roosts and feeds in even larger colonies, sometimes consisting of many thousands of birds. While the colony members are almost completely unrelated to each other, they do work together to find food and resources. If one member of the colony has found an ample source of food, then it will sometimes alert other members about the location as well.

These birds make several sounds to communicate with each other. The most common is the familiar jack or chak greeting for which they are named. They also have alarm calls, mating calls, and roosting calls. The Daurian jackdaw has a more nasal sound.

As members of the Corvidae family, jackdaws are thought to be some of the most intelligent animals on the planet. They can use tools, solve problems, and perhaps even recognize individual human faces.

While the jackdaw should not be kept as a pet, this bird can be tamed and even taught various tricks. One of the most interesting facts is that it has the remarkable ability to mimic human voices.

Habitat

Both species of jackdaw are normally found in farmlands, open woodlands, cliffs, and even urban habitats. Most jackdaws stay in the same place all year round, but the northernmost populations do migrate south for the winter. They can be seen flying in massive formations during the late autumn months.

Diet

This bird is a scavenging omnivore. Large colonies can be seen foraging along the ground, sometimes side by side with crows and rooks.

The jackdaw’s diet largely consists of seeds, fruits, and small invertebrates like insects, snails, and spiders. If it happens to come across abandoned carrion or untended bird eggs, then it will make a quick meal of those as well. It also has a habit of raiding garbage bins, landfill sites, and gardens.

Reproduction, Young, and Molting

jackdaws will nest in almost any kind of cavity roughly equal to their body length, including tree holes, chimneys, cliffs, attics, and buildings. The nest itself consists of an outer section lined with larger sticks and an inner section lined with wool or hair.

A male and female bird will form a strong monogamous bond, often pairing for life. During the annual mating season from April to July, the female will produce a brood of four to six eggs. She is responsible for most of the incubation duties, while the father is responsible for foraging all of the food.

The eggs hatch asynchronously (meaning at different times) in the general order in which they were laid. Sometimes the first chick will have already begun to fledge after about a month, while the last chick is only just beginning to emerge from its egg. However, if food is running particularly low, then the final chicks might be left to die.

This bird has an average lifespan of about five years in the wild, but it can be cut short by predators, disease, and starvation.

Predators and Threats

Highly adaptable and versatile, this bird faces few threats in its natural habitat apart from predators. It is preyed upon by birds of prey, stoats, weasels, polecats, wild and domesticated cats, and rodents. Many of these predators will steal eggs whenever they spy an opportunity, but some will prey upon the adults as well. Jackdaws will cry out for help and mob predators to drive them away.

Population and Conservation Status

It is estimated that there are somewhere between 40 million and 85 million mature individual Eurasian jackdaws in the wild. The population of the Daurian is smaller but still significant. The IUCN Red List considers both the Eurasian and Daurian jackdaws to be species of least concern.