One of the most wide-ranging birds in the world, it also occupies a great variety of habitats from mountain tops to deserts. Ths huge bird often soars on its wide wings like a hawk high overhead. Usually found in pairs but occasionally small flocks will form in the winter. A pair will sometimes take over abandoned nests of hawks and owls, but it is always a massive structure built of twigs and branches. The nest is usually placed high in a dead tree but in cities they will use buildings. Common Ravens eat considerable carrion, but they will also eat fruits, insects and small animals.
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A small relative of the more wide spread Common Raven, the Chihuahuan Raven occurs in the arid grasslands and desert areas of the southwest. Its huge stick nest is usually conspicuously placed on a telephone pole or lone tree. It breeds mid summer at the start of the rains, and during the winter forms huge flocks. It feeds on almost any animal material it encounters, including carrion and garbage.
Wide ranging across much of North America, the American Crow occurs in many types of open habitat from city parks, farmland, and tidal flats to woodlands. It is, however, absent from much of the lower desert in the southwest. Crows also eat a wide variety of food including insects, lizards, fruit, nuts, carrion and most notoriously the eggs and nestlings of other birds.