Cape Crow
Corvus capensis
All-black crow with an unusually slender bill. Found in a wide variety of open country habitats, including desert, dry savanna, montane grassland, and cultivation. Usually in pairs or small flocks; feeds by walking along the ground. Common call is a typical of crows: a gruff caw. Also gives variable rasping and bubbling vocalizations. The slim bill separates it from all other crows in its range. Lacks the gray neck and breast of House Crow.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Corvus capensis
- Authority
- Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Corvidae
- Genus
- Corvus
Range and habitat
This species occurs in two large separate regions of the African continent. One form ranges from the Cape at the southern tip of Africa north to southern Angola and across to the east coast of Mozambique. The other population occurs in a large area from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya in central East Africa. The more northern population is on average slightly smaller than the southern. It inhabits open grassland, moorland, and agricultural areas with some trees or woodland in the vicinity for nesting. It seems to thrive especially in agricultural areas.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
It eats grain and other seeds, and invertebrates, which it digs for with powerful downward stabs of its long bill. It opens maize kernels before they are fully ripe, bulbs and fleshy roots of certain plants, frogs and small reptiles, and fruits and berries. It takes the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds and has been known to kill birds up to a pound in weight (especially domestic poultry). It turns over the droppings of herbivorous mammals for insects.<p>Nesting is almost always in trees, usually near the top, but has been known to nest in shrubs infrequently. Usually, three or four eggs are incubated about 18–19 days and hatchlings are fledged by around 38 days. Typically, only three nestlings survive.<p>The voice is described as a krrah.....krrah.....krrah or a quicker kah-kah-kah. It also makes very loud, liquid bubbling sounds that carry quite a distance; it also gives throaty chuckles. Some evidence indicates that vocal mimicry is practised, too.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver
Bubalornis niger
A large, chunky, thickset weaver. The male is chocolate-brown with red legs and a hefty vermilion bill; the female and juvenile are paler and streaky underneath, with paler bills. In flight the species shows striking white wing patches. Family groups prefer dry woodlands with large trees that hold their sprawling and messy communal nests. Buffalo-Weavers forage on the ground in small to large groups, often in association with starlings and other birds, searching for insects, seeds, and fruit. Their odd electronic-sounding vocalizations often draw attention to them. The similar White-billed Buffalo-Weaver does not have a red or pinkish-orange bill.
Indochinese Blue Flycatcher
Cyornis sumatrensis
Attractive long-tailed flycatcher with an orange throat and breast. Male is ocean blue above, with a darker face and brighter orange on the underparts. Female is brownish overall, but with some blue tinting on the head and back; some females may appear blue-gray; also note her faint eyering. Both sexes have white lower bellies and blue tails. Can be easily confused with other Cyornis flycatchers, but note present species’ extensively orange throat, roughly even division of orange and white on the underparts, and bluish gray-brown coloration of the female. Primarily a lowland species, but also ranges into foothills; favors open dry forests, forest edges, and scrub; very locally in coastal forests and mangroves. Song is a variable series of clear, pleasant, rising and falling whistles. Call is a dry, smacking “chit, chit”, often given in short bursts.
Buff-breasted Earthcreeper
Upucerthia validirostris
Fairly common in the Andes, from scrubby valleys in higher foothills up to high elevation puna plains, rocky slopes, and bogs. Usually seen as singles or pairs, feeding on the ground near cover or singing from a prominent rock or post. Distinctive in most of range with a long arched bill and rather plain buffy brown plumage overall. Easily confused with the very similar White-throated Earthcreeper on the west slope of the Andes. The two species often occur together, but Buff-breasted Earthcreepers are plainer and more uniform overall with a less distinct pale eyebrow and a different song.
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