RSPB Spotlight Crows

RSPB Spotlight Crows is packed with eye-catching, informative colour photos and features succinct, detailed text written by a knowledgeable naturalist.

In Spotlight Crows, Mike Unwin looks at the biology and ecology of all eight UK corvids and investigates why these birds have become deeply embedded in our culture, from children''s rhymes and Norse mythology to Shakespeare''s plays and the poems of Edgar Allen Poe.

Most of the UK''s crow species--carrion crow, hooded crow, rook, jackdaw, raven, chough, magpie and jay--are very familiar birds to urban householder and countryside dweller alike. Together they make up the Corvidae family, and they have been deeply intertwined in our lives and culture since prehistoric times.

However, familiarity often breeds contempt, and crows--also known as corvids--have long attracted a bad press. Reviled as raiders of crops, feeders on carrion, thieves of jewelry and bullies of smaller birds, crows have ofte