{{Short description|Two species of bird}} {{Other uses|Jackdaw (disambiguation)}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = | image = Western_Jackdaw_and_Daurian_Jackdaw.jpg | image_caption = Left to right: Daurian jackdaw (''Coloeus dauuricus'') and western jackdaw (''C. monedula'') | taxon = Coloeus | authority = Kaup, 1829<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/skizzirteentwick01kaup#page/114/mode/2up/|page=114 |title=Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und natürliches System der europäischen Thierwelt : Erster Theil welcher die Vogelsäugethiere und Vögel nebst Andeutung der Entstehung der letzteren aus Amphibien enthält| author=Kaup, J. J. | publisher=Carl Wilhelm Leste |place=Darmstadt und Leipzig| year=1829}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''C. dauuricus'' *''C. monedula'' }}
'''Jackdaws''' are two species of bird in the genus '''''Coloeus''''' closely related to, but generally smaller than, crows and ravens (''Corvus''). They have a blackish crown, wings, and tail, with the rest of their plumage paler.<ref name = madge2>Madge & Burn (1994) 136–138.</ref> The word ''Coloeus'' is Neo-Latin, from the Ancient Greek for jackdaws: ''{{transliteration|grc|koloiós}}'' ({{lang|grc|κολοιός}}).<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Cancik|editor1-first=Hubert|editor2-last=Schneider|editor2-first=Helmuth|title=Brill's New Pauly|date=2006|publisher=Brill|chapter=Crow|quote=the jackdaw ({{lang|grc|κολοιός}}/ ''{{transliteration|grc|koloiós}}'', {{lang|grc|βωμωλόχος}}/ ''{{transliteration|grc|bōmōlóchos}}'', Lat. ''{{lang|la|monedula}}'' or ''{{lang|la|graculus}}''.)}}</ref><ref>Aristophanes. Complete Plays of Aristophanes (p. 265). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.</ref> In ''The Birds'' by Aristophanes, Euelpides speaks to his jackdaw in the first line of the play.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Roland W. | author-link=Roland W. Brown | title=Composition of Scientific Words : A manual of methods and a lexicon of materials for the practice of logotechnics |year=1977 |orig-year=1st Pub. 1954 |publisher=Smithsonian Institutional Press | location=Washington, D.C. | isbn=978-0-87474-286-2 | oclc=4495758 |via=Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/compositionofsci00brow |access-date=27 August 2025 |page=219}}</ref> They come from Asia, Europe, Africa, and Siberia.
==Taxonomy== While some authors consider ''Coloeus'' a subgenus of ''Corvus'', others have classified ''Coloeus'' as a distinct genus in the family Corvidae.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Phylogeographic patterns in widespread corvid birds |year=2007 |last1=Haring |first1=E. |last2=Gamauf |first2=A. |last3=Kryukov |first3=A. |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=840–862 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2007.06.016 |pmid=17920300}}</ref> Following ''Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide'',<ref>{{cite book |title=Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide |first=Pamela C. |last=Rasmussen |first2=John C. |last2=Anderton |publisher=Lynx Edicions |year=2005 |isbn=978-84-87334-67-2}}</ref> the International Ornithological Congress has also reassigned the two jackdaw species from the genus ''Corvus'' to the genus ''Coloeus''.<ref>{{cite web |editor1=Gill, F. |editor2=Donsker, D. |work=IOC World Bird List (version 2.8) |title=Vireos, Crows & Allies |url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/n-vireos.html |access-date=June 10, 2011 |archive-date=September 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917184945/http://www.worldbirdnames.org/n-vireos.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Species===
{{Species table |genus=Coloeus |authority-name=Kaup |authority-year=1829 |species-count=two|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}
{{Species table/row |name=western jackdaw |binomial=Coloeus monedula |image=File:Галка (Corvus monedula), Царицыно.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes |range= breeds in Europe, northern Asia and Northern Africa<ref name = madge2/> |range-image=File:Corvus monedula distribution de.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }}
{{Species table/row |name=Daurian jackdaw |binomial=Coloeus dauuricus |image=File:Coloeus dauuricus, adult, Izumi, Kagoshima, Japan 3.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Pallas|authority-year=1776 |authority-not-original=yes |range= from China and eastern Siberia to Japan |range-image=File:Corvus dauricus map.jpg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }} {{Species table/end}} The eastern species is smaller than the western, and in eastern adults, the pale areas of the plumage are almost white, whereas in the western bird, these areas are pale grey. The iris is pale in western jackdaw and dark in Daurian jackdaw. The two species are otherwise very similar in shape, calls, and behaviour. An argument has been made for lumping the two as one species, but they do not interbreed where their ranges meet in Mongolia.<ref name = madge2/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book | last = Madge | first = Steve |author2=Burn, Hilary |title = Crows and Jays: A Guide to the Crows, Jays and Magpies of the World | year = 1994 | publisher = A & C Black | isbn = 0-7136-3999-7}} {{Corvides|Co.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1234846}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Coloeus Category:Birds of Eurasia Category:Taxa named by Johann Jakob Kaup