The Corvidae bird family includes crows, jays, magpies, and ravens, and all these birds have tails covered with feathers, which help them to survive in different environments.
Do Crows Have Tails? Crows have tails, and they use it to adjust their flight, social interaction, balance their bodies, recognize other fellows, mating signs, and warn predators. The average tail size of crows ranges from 14 to 20 inches, and females have short tails compared to males.
All birds have tails with variable lengths, depending on the specie and the ecological niches.
Why do crows have tails?
They have tails, and this body part helps them perform different activities and survive in changing environments. Its length and shape can differ from other birds, but they all use it for the same purpose.
Adjust their flight
Birds use their wings and tails to fly in the air and adjust their movements under different air pressure. They move forward and change the direction of flight in the air using their body parts.
They spread the feathers on the tail and move upside-down or roll in the air. Its shape helps them attain a balanced and controlled flight.
They adjust their flight with the air pressure and flow using their feather at the backside of the body. They change the body angle with air and control their flight direction and speed.
They can control the air pressure around their body by spreading the feather and taking sharp turns while stabilizing the body in the air.
Social interaction
Crows are intelligent and like to communicate with other birds and humans due to their social nature.
They use different methods to deliver their messages to other group members and interact about many things in their surroundings.
They can make vocal sounds, flick their tails, and spread the backside feather to communicate with other group fellows.
They make visual displays to make other members understand the potential danger or information about the food sources.
They show territorial behavior in mating and breeding season towards the predators by spreading their wings and moving their tails to scare the invader.
Balance their bodies
Tails play a vital role in balancing their bodies while flying and sitting on the tree tops. It helps them counterbalance their bodies when they sit on the electrical wires extending from transformers.
The wires have less width, and these birds use their paws and backside body parts to adjust their position and sit stably.
It also helps them to attain equilibrium and balance their weight when making sharp movements and losing stability.
It balances their bodies when walking on the ground, sitting on thin tree branches, and altering their direction of motion without losing their balance.
Recognize other fellows
Crows can recognize the group fellows or family members from their tails and feathers because different bird species have different tail shapes and feathers on their bodies.
They show excitement when they recognize the family member by moving their tails and making cawing sounds. These birds use visual displays to identify different species.
Each species have different body color, size, feathers thickness, and tail length, and they identify the group fellow or specie member from these traits and features.
They have long-term memory and memorize the fellows for a long time because they are aware of the signal the group member is giving in a specific way, such as moving the tail in a particular way.
Mating signs
These birds use different signals to attract the female, such as cooing in soft voices, spreading their feather, and singing mating songs.
The reproductive organs of these birds are located under the tail, and the female fellow opens its wings when it is ready to mate.
Cloaca is the reproductive organ under the tail side, and male crows approach this body organ of the female bird.
The male crow can spread its feather to impress the female when the breeding season arrives, and these signs show the bird is healthy and genetically able to mate.
Flick tails to warn predators
They use different signs and body organs to warn predators that they have seen them around their territory.
Their body language and high-pitched cawing warn the predator and other birds to leave their territory and stay away from these eggs and stored food.
They flick their tails to alarm other group fellows about the threats around their nesting places. They hide in suitable places when observing large predators and do not make sharp sounds.
Crows warn other group members about these predators and share the necessary information about the threatening situation using their body language.
Can crows survive without a tail?
All crow species have tails by birth, but they lose their tail or feathers due to different reasons, such as the predator can attack them because this body part is closer to the predators.
These birds can survive without a tail, but they can face some problems in flight and landing safely on the ground or tree top.
They find it difficult to control their flight and air pressure on their bodies if they lose the backside of their body.
The predators try to catch the prey from the backside, and the bird loses its tail in the struggle to run away and save its life. It can lose some of its feathers in stressful situations or injuries to other body parts.
Moreover, an accident or injury can cause the bird to lose its tail, but these birds do not inherently lack tail feathers, as it is one of the most significant body parts.
They can survive without this body part and live a normal and healthy life as far as the environment is safe and predation risks are fewer.
Can crows regrow their tail feathers?
Feathers on bird bodies are essential to control their body temperature and protect sensitive organs from predators. They keep the body temperature normal in winter and do not allow direct sunlight on sensitive skin.
Crows can lose feathers due to many reasons, such as stress, predation, and disease.
They can regrow the feather as long as the follicles are not damaged during the attack or accident because the chances of feathers growing back are more if follicles are present on their skin.
The feather can regrow if they get a healthy diet with more protein and avoid stressful situations.
Loss of a few feathers does not affect the bird’s flight, but they cannot adjust their movements in the air and alter their motion if they lose many feathers from their body.
Do crows have long tails?
Different bird species have different tail lengths, depending on the age, specie, and environment. An average tail length of a crow ranges between 14 to 20 inches.
The baby crow has a small length, such as it undergoes molting and develops a tail with age and time.
Their babies have a short body length without many feathers and keep growing until it reaches sexual maturity and breeding age.
The female crows have shorter body lengths compared to male fellows, such as their tail size can range between 12-17 inches.
These birds can have better flight control and balance their motion if they have longer tails with more feathers. They can survive better with thick feathers in changing climates.
Do crows have straight tails?
They have a straight tail with curved tips, and the feathers on the backside look like a fan when they take a flight in the air.
Its shape differs from other birds in the Corvidae family, and you can distinguish between ravens and crows from their tail shape and feathers.
It is flat at the bottom and curved from the top tip, which causes increased air pressure underneath the feathers and low air pressure on the top.
You can notice a clear difference in their feather on the backside when flying because it is difficult to observe the differences when they are sitting together.
Related Articles:
