At about in length, the Daurian jackdaw is about the same size as or slightly smaller than the western jackdaw, with the same proportions and identical habits. The principal difference lies in the plumage; many but not all adults have large areas of creamy white on the lower parts extending up around the neck as a broad collar. The head, throat, wings, and tail are glossy black and the ear coverts are grizzled grey. Darker adults and young birds resemble western jackdaws, though Daurian jackdaws have black irises, unlike the distinctive grey-white irises of the Eurasian jackdaw. The only other pied corvid species inhabiting the same region is the Chinese collared crow (Corvus torquatus), but as this is a much larger bird (about the same size or slightly larger than the carrion crow), confusion is unlikely to occur.
