Crow Feather Identification: Crow, Raven or Grackle?

A crow feather is black from tip to base, with no pattern, and shows a gloss only when light hits it at an angle. Audubon describes the American Crow as entirely black, with broad, fingered, rounded wings and a relatively short, square-tipped tail. Feather Identifier, a feather-ID guide, describes the gloss as blue-violet to greenish and notes that the same feather can look glossy or matte depending on the light.

Size is the next check. Audubon gives the American Crow 16-21 in in length with a 34-39 in wingspan. Feather Identifier puts crow primaries at about 12-18 cm; the Feather Atlas from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls 8-16 cm medium and 16-24 cm large, so a crow wing feather sits across those two classes.

Ravens are much bigger. Audubon gives the Common Raven 22 in to 2 ft 3 in in length and a wingspan of 3 ft 10 in to 3 ft 11 in, and Mass Audubon puts it near the size of a Red-tailed Hawk while the crow is almost as large as a chicken. For feathers that means:

• Length: Feather Identifier says raven primaries reach 20 cm and more, longer than a crow's 12-18 cm. It also warns the ranges overlap, so a black feather of middling length proves nothing on its own.
• Tail feathers: Audubon explains that a raven's middle tail feathers are longer, so the open tail is wedge-shaped, while a crow's tail feathers are basically all the same length, so it opens like a fan. A single raven central tail feather is long, while the crow's tail feathers are closer in length to each other.
• Throat feathers: Audubon calls the raven's throat feathers shaggy, and Feather Identifier says they are longer and more pointed than a crow's. A long, pointed black body feather is more likely raven.
• Place: Audubon says the raven was driven from much of its eastern range and is now coming back, while Mass Audubon calls crows common throughout Massachusetts. In most towns and suburbs, a black feather is far more likely to be a crow's.

• Common Grackle: Mass Audubon says it is robin-sized, with iridescent blue and rainbow-colored feathers, especially on the head, and a long tail that often looks keel-shaped. Its feathers are much smaller than a crow's and more colorful in the light.
• Fish Crow: Found Feathers, a feather-study site, asks whether molted feathers of these very similar crows can be identified to species and concludes that it is often difficult to do so with confidence. Mass Audubon says the two are told apart in life by voice: the Fish Crow's caw is more nasal. Where only one crow species lives, the location answers the question.
• Turkey Vulture: a much bigger dark bird. Audubon describes black wing linings against gray flight feathers, so a large feather that is black on part and silvery-gray on part is worth checking against vulture scans.

The Feather Atlas has scans of wing and tail feathers from many North American species, arranged by group, so compare yours side by side with the crow, raven and grackle scans.

Not in the United States without a permit. The Animal Legal & Historical Center names the American Crow among the common birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the USFWS says possession of migratory bird feathers must be authorized. Found Feathers explains that picked-up feathers are included because a molted feather cannot be told from one taken from a poached bird.

Photograph the feather with a ruler and leave it. Found Feathers lists the feathers that are legal to collect: introduced species such as House Sparrow, European Starling and Rock Pigeon, and domestic poultry.

Crow feathers are not rare. Mass Audubon calls crows common throughout Massachusetts, Audubon lists the American Crow in almost every region of the US and Canada, and every crow replaces its feathers. The Urban Nature Enthusiast, a naturalist blog, describes crows molting after nesting, when a year of wear has turned the glossy blue-black feathers dull, with shades of sepia and gray. A faded, brownish black feather is often an old one that was just replaced.

The Feather Atlas is free to browse, but its FAQ says the USFWS does not identify feathers from photos. To get a photo identified, post it with the location in a birding group, or use an app. BirdLens can suggest the species from a photo.

For black feathers the photo needs more than usual:

• A ruler along the whole feather, since length is the main crow-or-raven clue.
• One frame in raking light to show whether the gloss is greenish-violet or a rainbow sheen.
• The whole feather laid flat, so its shape and position on the bird can be judged.

More general steps are on the feather identification page.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.