A crow that forages in open farmland and grassland. In Japan, the smooth profile from bill to forehead is a useful identifying feature.
Its bill and forehead form a smooth profile.
Carrion crows crack the hard shells of Japanese walnuts and eat the contents. Some drop walnuts onto roads, wait on wires or other perches, and feed after cars break the shells.
A study published in 2019 investigated automobile-assisted nut cracking in residential Hakodate, Hokkaido. Researchers patrolled on foot or by bicycle on 43 days between 5 October and 19 December 2016. They recorded 65 nut-based behavioural sequences involving automobile use at twelve locations.
A frequent method was dropping walnuts from wires or other elevated positions onto roads. Sometimes a crow subsequently walked over and adjusted the walnut’s position. Ten sequences combined dropping for impact with automobile-assisted cracking. Other crows sometimes took walnuts before or after they broke. Opening these hard shells involved a succession of placing, waiting and retrieving movements.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Managing accessible food waste is part of coexistence with crows living near people. In guidance updated in January 2026, Matsudo City, Chiba, Japan, states that nests causing no damage need not be removed. It encourages appropriate waste management and coexistence by reducing conditions that attract crows. It also advises against feeding them, since repeated food provision can attract birds and contribute to noise and droppings problems.