Friday, June 26, 2020

Bird Watching - Large-billed Crow

Large-billed Crow



A glossy jet black crow with daggerlike bill with curved top. Entirely black with a variable amount of glossiness. sexes alike. It is very common and readily distinguished from the house crow, which has a grey neck. It is less gregarious and sociable than the House Crow, but will roost with other birds.

Local Names : Kala Kowwa (Hindi)
                     Andan Kakai / Karung kakai (Tamil)
                     Bali kakka / Tonnan kakka (Malayalam)

Scientific Name : Corvus macrorhynchos 
                          macrorhynchos (Ancient Greek for "large beak") 


Occurs in a wide range of habitats including woodlands, urban landscapes, agricultural fields, and open scrub forests.




Extremely versatile in its feeding,They feed on a wide range of items and will attempt to feed on anything appearing edible, alive or dead, plant or animal. Like house crows its omnivorus and highly destructive to eggs and chicks of other birds including domestic poultry, and to young of small mammals.


Nest and eggs like the House crow's ; latter slightly larger. both sexes shares parental duties. Nests frequently parasitized by koel. The nest is a platform of twigs, usually high up on a tree. The nest is built in a fork of a tree, and is a shallow cup of sticks, sometimes neat and well made, sometimes sketchy and ragged; it is lined with grass roots, wool, rags, vegetable fibre, and similar materials. Some nests have been found to be built partly or exclusively of wire



References
The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali)
Wikipedia

Pictures:
Thoovampallil house, Chettikulangara, Kerala(2019)

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The two common species of crows in Kerala are the house crow and the Large-billed crow formerly known as jungle crow. The jungle crow is infrequent in central Kerala and more abundant in the Travancore and Malabar belts.

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