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House Crow Corvus splendens Scientific name definitions

Steve Madge
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated April 12, 2016

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Field Identification

40–43 cm; 245–371 g. A relatively small (size not apparent in the field), rather slim-bodied, somewhat "leggy" crow with comparatively long, prominent, slightly arched bill enhanced by short "pinched" forecrown. Nominate race is mostly blackish-slate, blacker and more glossed on face , forecrown, chin and throat; nape to mantle, side of neck and side of breast medium-grey, shading into blackish-grey on lower underparts, and glossy blackish on back, rump and uppertail-coverts; upperwing and tail glossy black; iris dark brown; bill and legs black. Sexes similar. Juvenile is similar to adult but duller, without gloss on black parts of plumage. Races differ mainly in colour saturation (all intergrading): <em>zugmayeri</em> is palest, with nape almost whitish-grey; <em>protegatus</em> is much darker, with less contrast between nape and body; insolens is darkest of all, with even less contrast in plumage (could be confused with smaller races of C. macrorhynchos).

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Perhaps close to, and an early offshoot of, the “C. macrorhynchos complex”, as suggested by head-and-bill shape; overlaps with members of that group, but ecologically somewhat separated. Races zugmayeri and protegatus intergrade with nominate in India. Birds from Maldive Is described as race maledivicus, but characters suggest ancestry of mixed races, and perhaps introduced on the islands long ago; probably best treated within protegatus. Four subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

Introduced and feral populations around the world (USA, Europe, E Africa, Middle East, Indian Ocean islands, E & SE Asia, Australia) (1, 2).


SUBSPECIES

Corvus splendens zugmayeri Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SE Iran and C and S Pakistan E to NW and NC India.

SUBSPECIES

Corvus splendens splendens Scientific name definitions

Distribution

most of peninsular India (excluding NW part and coastal Kerala) and Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and SW Myanmar.

SUBSPECIES

Corvus splendens protegatus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SW India (S from N Kerala and W Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka and, perhaps introduced, Laccadive Is and Maldive Is.

SUBSPECIES

Corvus splendens maledivicus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Laccadive and Maldive islands

SUBSPECIES

Corvus splendens insolens Scientific name definitions

Distribution

S Tibet, S Yunnan, Myanmar (including Tenasserim), formerly also SW Thailand.

Hybridization

Hybrid Records and Media Contributed to eBird

  • House x Fish Crow (hybrid) Corvus splendens x ossifragus

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Always found in association with man, in variety of tropical and subtropical habitats. Abundant about human habitation of all types, from city-centre parks to railway stations, sprawling slums and coastal villages. Chiefly a lowland species, but has spread into several hill stations in Himalayas, mainly below 1600 m, but reported at 2100 m in Darjeeling and 2900 m in Sikkim. With increasing military activity in W Himalayas, occasional individuals have appeared around military bases to as high as 4240 m in Ladakh.

Movement

Resident. Short-distance movements not uncommon.

Diet and Foraging

Omnivorous scavenger, feeding on all manner of crops, invertebrates , vertebrates . Main diet composed of discards and scraps foraged from rubbish dumps, abattoirs and street debris, also street markets and in fishing villages. Eats almost anything, from all kinds of places, ranging from foraging in flowering trees (for nectar) to scavenging for offal; feeds on carrion of all kinds, from dead fish to human corpses on tideline or riverside. Will take fish and insects from water, almost plunge-diving to do so, and undertakes ungainly aerial sallies to take flying ants (Formicidae). Takes eggs and nestlings of many bird species, including larger ones such as herons and egrets (Ardeidae), where it can cause havoc in nesting colonies; likewise with colonies of weavers (Ploceidae), where this crow's agility allows it to gain access to nest-chambers. Attracted to livestock, feeding among feet of cattle, where it steals food items from attendant Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis); also rides on backs and necks of large mammals, not only taking ticks (Ixodoidea) and other parasites, but also pecking at open sores. Kills small rodents  , and reports of attacks even on human babies, monkeys and cats; kills newborn domestic animals. Does great damage to crops, pulling up seedlings by roots and taking grain and rice from stores. Enters houses to scavenge food. Bold and aggressive by nature, with sociable scavenging habits, but also very wary of humans, in Egypt feeding mostly very early in mornings, spending most of the day at rest, hidden in tree or palm foliage (thus avoiding close contact with man); in most of range, however, displays little fear of man. Always alert, and constantly wary, nervously wing-flicking as it walks or hops on ground. Forms massive roosts , gathering on rooftops in noisy parties prior to flying off towards main roost, where hundreds or thousands may converge, together with large numbers of parakeets (Psittacidae) and mynas (Sturnidae) in plantations or mangroves; just before dawn, flies back to favoured foraging grounds.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Very vocal. Usual call a flat and toneless, dry "kaaan-kaaan", softer than that of Indian forms of C. macrorhynchos; also has variety of shorter, nasal calls; notes can be rather plaintive but always dry; calls of race insolens said to be higher in pitch than those of nominate.

Breeding

Season varies according to location, in India as a whole favoured months Apr–Jun, at start of wet season, but younger birds (15–16 months of age) often begin nesting in Oct–Nov; in S, peak in Mar–May in Kerala and May–Aug in Sri Lanka; peak months Oct–Jan on Zanzibar, Oct at Port Sudan, and Apr–May in Kuwait and S Israel; sometimes double-brooded, e.g. in Kenya. Monogamous, with long-term pair-bond, but many individuals are somewhat promiscuous. Solitary nester. Both sexes collect nest material  , but normally only female builds, an untidy stick nest generally lined with soft materials gathered from rubbish tips, but stick  frame often augmented with metal and wire  (including e.g. spectacle frames, coat-hangers, sheet metal, bicycle pedals), and sometimes entire nest made from wire and then often unlined (and can weigh as much as 25 kg), in some cases single large wire nest used by more than one pair; generally placed high in fork of large tree, especially banyan (Ficus) or mango (Mangifera), but in desert regions often resorts to mangroves and stands of tamarisks (Tamarix), and nests also on ledges on buildings, electricity poles and streetlamps. Clutch on average 4 eggs  ; incubation  probably by female alone, although some claims that male relieves female for short spells, period 16–17 days; chicks fed by both parents, nestling period 21–28 days. Nests parasitized by Western Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Abundant throughout native range; perhaps even more abundant at certain sites where long introduced, either intentionally or by ship-assisted passage. One at Khost in S Afghanistan in 1964 the only record for that country. Race insolens formerly extended to SW Thailand, but now only a vagrant there. Introduced populations now commonplace at growing number of towns and ports flanking shores of Indian Ocean and beyond; although some were introduced (e.g. Mombasa and Zanzibar, in E Africa), most originated from ship-borne "stowaways". Once established, colonies spread through towns and into villages, in more arid regions the spread being checked only by absence of human settlements and by desert conditions. Many colonies have reached "pest" proportions, with eradication plans set in motion. In Middle East, colonies exist in SW Iran (Bushire), Kuwait, Saudi Arabia (Jedda, Yanbu), Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman (Muscat), Yemen (Aden N to Hodeidah, a few sites E to Ghaydah), Jordan (Aqaba) and Israel (Eilat); in E Africa from Egypt (chiefly Suez, but also along Red Sea coast), Sudan (chiefly Port Sudan), Djibouti, Eritrea (Assab, Massawa), Somalia (Berbera, Raas Caseyr), Kenya (all along coast, some even Nairobi), Tanzania (chiefly Zanzibar, Pemba, Dar es Salaam), Mozambique (chiefly Inhaca I, also Maputo), South Africa (chiefly Durban, Cape Town); also islands in Indian Ocean, including Seychelles (controlled, but probably still on Mahe and Praslin), Mauritius, Laccadive Is (Kalpeni, Amini and Androth, with later reports from Kadmat and recently introduced Minicoy); in SE Asia on Andaman Is (Port Blair), Peninsular Malaysia (almost throughout lowland W coast, inland to Kulim) and Singapore; recently reported from Sumatra and N Borneo; in Australia has arrived several times, chiefly Perth and Victoria, but shot before becoming established, although individuals reported Melbourne for several years. Reported in ones and twos from other, more temperate, parts of world, including Hong Kong, Japan (Hokkaido), USA (New Jersey, South Carolina, Florida), Gibraltar, Morocco (Tangiers), France (Lille, Lyon), Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Netherlands (Hoek van Holland: first two in 1994, population grew up to c. 35 bird, but an eradication program left few birds by Apr 2015 (3) ), Ireland (Waterford, Co. Cork (4) ) and even Brazil (near Rio de Janeiro) and Chile (Punta Arenas); in Hong Kong a substantial increase in numbers of this species has occurred, a flock of 100–200 individuals having established itself in C urban Kowloon. It is widely believed that introduced populations of this crow present considerable problems to humans and native wildlife. In addition to causing ecological damage, it has inflicted economic damage by preying on chicks and eggs of domestic poultry and eating crops such as maize (Zea mays) and sorghum (Sorghum vulgare), and can become a nuisance to people and present a threat to tourist amenities in some regions. It is known to carry a number of human pathogens, including at least eight human enteric diseases (serotypes of Salmonella, Plesiomonas, enteropathic Escherichia coli, Shigella and Aeromonas hydrophila), among others (e.g. possibly cholera). Lack of natural predators prevents limitation of this corvid's numbers, and its unsavoury diet and close proximity to humans suggest that human health could be at risk. Control is being attempted in various countries (Aden, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa) by trapping, poisoning and destroying nests; in Tanzania, a highly successful eradication programme operating in Dar-es-Salaam and environs, which had destroyed some 1·2 million individuals, collapsed in 2013 due to problems over funding (3). Australia has a shoot-on-sight policy, which would, it is hoped, prevent the potential destruction of that country's endemic avifauna should this corvid become established there. On Socotra, this species arrived in 1996 and built up a breeding population of more than ten pairs, deemed to pose a threat to the island's native biodiversity; after numerous attempts to trap the crows failed, an imaginative scheme to control their numbers was successful, children being paid a reward for bringing a nest containing young to the Socotra Archipelago Conservation and Development Programme; the last crows were killed by a marksman in spring 2009 (5). In complete contrast, evidence from India, within the species' natural range, suggests that the amount of insects, particularly grasshoppers and locusts (Orthoptera), that these crows consume outweighs the damage that they cause to growing crops. A population of 15 individuals was discovered in Madagascar, near the harbour of Toamasina, in Jan 2014 (6), but attempts are being made to eradicate it (3).

Distribution of the House Crow - Range Map
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Distribution of the House Crow

Recommended Citation

Madge, S. (2020). House Crow (Corvus splendens), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.houcro1.01
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