![]() It belongs to the family of Corvidae, which is a type of perching songbird common in nature. Crows are considered one of the worlds smartest animals!Ĭorvus hawaiiensis, which derives from the Latin words for raven, is the scientific name for the Hawaiian crow.The word Alala in Hawaiian is associated with chants, cries, and messages.It is part of the same genus as crows, ravens, and rooks. Despite the harshness of its call, the crow is considered to be a type of songbird.Once venerated by the native Hawaiians, the crow was thought to be an aumakua, meaning a family guardian spirit.Now conservationists are attempting to coax the crow back to life. But the intrusion of outside threats in the 19th and 20th centuries brought the species to the brink of extinction. With few natural threats and abundant sources of food, the species once thrived in its forest habitat. Resourceful and intelligent, social and gregarious, the Hawaiian crow - also known as the Alala - is well-adapted to the hot climates of the lush Pacific island for which it’s named. Now the imperiled species is extinct in the wild. I would absolutely encourage making papier-mâché birds as a way to learn about their shapes and sizes (you all might have more patience with the project than I did).The raucous cries of the Hawaiian crow once filled the forests of Hawaii. I’m not done with the crows, by any means, but having this crow with me now feels like a milestone as I learn about them and has become a friend in the process. This crow has seen me at all times of the day and night, has seen me through spurts of creativity and impatience, and has listened to me shuffle through every song in my Spotify library about a million times. We’ve spent a lot of time together me and this crow. Maybe a little bit about their personality too. I’m watching the crows out my window now while I write about my papier-mâché creation and I have a much more accurate interpretation of their size. Click through the slideshow below to see my process. My crow is made of two wire hangers, half of an old Cran-Raspberry Juice bottle, a balloon, some granola bar boxes, painter’s tape, layers of newspaper & paper towels, Elmer’s glue & hot glue and wings cut out of scrap paper and painted over black. Knowing that I wouldn’t have access to holding a crow anytime soon, this is the closest I could get. Overall though, I’m pretty proud of my size accuracy. While on the taller side, my crow is also on the lighter side-the average crow weighs between 11.2 and 21.9 oz, but my crow’s weight could not be registered by my bathroom scale. Their length ranges from 40-53 cm which puts my crow on the taller side hitting 51 cm when I measure from the tip of its tail to right before its bill. ![]() Crows’ wingspans vary in length from 85-100 cm. The first materials I knew I wanted to use were wire hangers to create the wings (thank you to my coworker Sarah for her contribution!). However, I don’t think it was until I started this papier-mâché project did I really understand what “crow-sized” meant. One of these size options is “crow-sized”. In the app, step 3 of 5 in the bird ID process is to estimate the size of your sighting. Like many birders, my go-to birding app is Merlin Bird ID. Over the past couple of years I’ve had the opportunities to participate in bird banding events and have gotten to hold Saw-Whet Owls, Blue Jays, various Sparrows, and Black-Capped Chickadees. As I’ve taken myself on this journey of learning about crows in their entirety I’ve been thinking a lot about the size of birds. It’s been weeks in the making…and my crow is finished.
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