my trousers are not baggy. they are generous.
Rook says
Bird 4 of 30 · video, 09:17
Rook
Corvus frugilegus
The sociable black one: pale bare face, baggy feathered thighs and a rookery full of neighbours.
- Large, 452.3 g
- Stays all year
- High in a tree
- On the ground or lawn
About the rook
Marks and dots
Tap a numbered dot, or a name in the list.
Bare whitish skin on the face and at the base of the bill.
Loose thigh feathers make a baggy-trouser outline.
Young rooks are all black, with no pale bare face.
A distinctive higher forehead than a crow's.
From egg to adult
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Egg
Eggs3–4 eggs≠BTOthe video says 3–6 eggs
Hatch after15–16 days BTO
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Chick in the nest
In the nest forabout 30 days video, BTO agrees
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Young bird
Young rooks are all black, so they lack the bare face, but their forehead is noticeably higher than a crow's.
Switch the drawing above to Young for its marks.
Adult
Bare whitish face, baggy thighs
Broods a year1 brood BTO
BTO averages: 16 days incubating the eggs, then 34 days in the nest. Averages across nest records, so the figures above can differ a little.
At the table
- wireworms, leatherjackets and grubs
- scraps from supermarket bins
Groups work the soil, and newly ploughed fields are especially good: wireworms, leatherjackets and other insects and grubs. In towns they have become good at searching supermarket car-park bins, though they seldom visit waste tips.
Through the year
Rook: around Jan to Dec; autumn flying displays, Sep to Nov.
What to know about the rook
Eight short notes in our own words. Each chip says what the note stands on, and links to its row in the table below.
What to look for
The tell is the bare whitish skin on the face and the base of the bill. Loose feathers on the thighs give a baggy-trouser look.
Male and female
The video does not say whether male and female rooks look different.
not in the video
The young
Young rooks are all black, so they lack the bare face, but their forehead is noticeably higher than a crow's.
Nest
Colony nesters, in rookeries high in the trees. The nests are conspicuous, and each pair goes back to the same nest year after year.
Feeding
Groups work the soil, and newly ploughed fields are especially good: wireworms, leatherjackets and other insects and grubs. In towns they have become good at searching supermarket car-park bins, though they seldom visit waste tips.
Staying or leaving
In the countryside rooks keep a traditional lifestyle. Urban rooks are now doing quite well from scavenging. BTO calls the rook a resident.
In the garden
Very sociable birds. In autumn they put on spectacular flying displays that seem to have nothing to do with breeding.
Sources and checks
Where every fact about the rook came from
17 claims about the rook: 4 checked, 8 from the video only,1 differ, 4 from a source only. How the grades work
| Claim, in our words | Video time | Grade | What the source says |
|---|---|---|---|
| A rook has bare whitish skin on its face and at the base of the bill. | 09:20 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05BTO says the rook can be told by its bare-skinned face. |
| Loose feathers on the thighs give rooks a baggy-trouser look. | 09:36 | video only | |
| Young rooks are all black but have a distinctively higher forehead than a crow. | 09:28 | video only | |
| The rook's caw is much harsher than the crow's call. | 09:41 | video only | |
| Rooks nest in colonies, in rookeries. | 09:50 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05BTO calls rooks colonial nesters that build within a metre or two of their neighbours. |
| The rookeries are high up in the trees. | 09:52 | video only | |
| Groups work the soil, newly ploughed fields especially, for wireworms, leatherjackets and other insects and larvae. | 09:54 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05BTO says rooks feed in flocks on farmland, seeking seeds, roots and soil invertebrates. |
| Urban rooks scavenge successfully, searching waste bins around supermarket car parks, though rarely visiting waste tips. | 10:26 | video only | |
| In rural areas rooks still follow a traditional lifestyle. | 09:46 | video only | |
| BTO calls the rook a resident species found across the UK. | source only | source only | BTO, read 2026-10-05BTO's introduction to the species. |
| Rooks are very sociable, and individual pairs return to the same nest year after year. | 10:05 | video only | |
| Spectacular autumn flying displays seem unconnected to breeding. | 10:14 | video only | |
| A nest holds three to six eggs.video: 3–6 eggs | 10:19 | ≠differs | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 3–4 eggs (BTO typical)outside BTO's typical range of 3–4, though inside the 2–7 BTO has observed |
| The young fledge about a month after hatching.video: about 30 days | 10:22 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 32–34 days (BTO typical)the narrator said 'about'; 10% either side (27–33) reaches BTO's typical 32–34 |
| Adult weight, from ringing records: 452.3 g, adult average. | source only | source only | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 452.3 g, adult average |
| Typical broods in a year: 1 brood (BTO typical). | source only | source only | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 1 brood (BTO typical) |
| Incubation takes 15–16 days (BTO typical). | source only | source only | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 15–16 days (BTO typical) |
Written in our own words after “British Birds in your Garden” by The Great British Channel, where the rook starts at 09:17.Numbers are checked against the BTO's page for the rook, read on 5 October 2026. We are not connected to the channel or to the BTO.
More birbs: 30 so far, and more to come
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