The house crow, or Indian crow, is one of approximately 46 to 50 species in the genus Corvus.
All these birds are more or less black, some with a colorful shimmer, or some grey or white areas. There are also some very colorful birds under the 135 species of birds in the family Corvidae, for example the Blue Jay, or the Green Magpie. C. splendens is native to the Indian subcontinent, including e.g. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives.
The similar appearance of the members of the genus Corvus is as confusing as their common names. There are crows, ravens, rooks, and the closely related jackdaws, which are now considered a subgenus (Coloeus). Both raven and crows are Corvus species, with the nine largest species being called ravens. It’s just different common names.
In the Maldives C. splendens is a very common bird, and native. Species of crows and ravens are often further divided into subspecies, and ours is either C. splendens maledivicus, or protegatus, depending on the source. This species can be found in many countries of South Asia, and it has traveled further since humans started traveling. Africa struggles most with huge colonies e.g. in Zanzibar. Australia managed to erase them. In Europe, the Netherlands and Ireland have a few pairs and are closely watching their breeding success.
On the first ‘International Invasive Bird Conference’ in 2008 (in Fremantle, Western Australia) C. splendens was one of three main topics. The other two were Maynas and starlings. Not less than eight countries reported their issues with these birds. Australia, Yemen, Zanzibar, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Tanzania, Djibouti, and the Netherlands were subject to reports, with some original titles like “One million birds later” (Tanzania). According to that sense of humor they could as well call the conference “Shooting in your own foot, and next steps”, or “Sabotage and whom to blame”. Some countries deliberately introduced the house crow for pest, and/ or waste management. They mostly travelled on ships around the globe, so a new common name could be ship crow. According to Ryall (2015) they are breeding in 28 countries outside their native range, and individuals have been seen in 23 more countries.
Worldostats.com estimates the global population of C. splendens as high as 150 million individuals. Number two on that list is C. brachyrhynchos, the American crow, with 80 million crows. India is with a total number of 200 to 300 million crows even further infront of no 2, the USA, with 40 to 60 million crows.
The voice call of crows is specific to the species. Their description is a bit odd. I got this from birdlife.org.au.
The call of C. splendens is a short repeated ‘caw-caw-caw’.
Australian raven – drawn out ‘aah aah aaah aaaaahhh’ with the last note longer.
Little raven – hard, harsh, short, deep ‘car car car’.
Little crow – ranges from a harsh ‘hark-hark-hark-hark’ to a more raven like ‘ah-ah-aaaah’.
Forest raven – deep ‘korr korr korr’.
I can absolutely hear the ‘caw’, but they also make other sounds as well.
Interestingly the house crow comes with a parasite, which is an unpopular bird itself. The Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) parasites approximately 5% of all C. splendens nests in India. Their early, loud call in the morning make them at least in the Maldives an unwelcome bird. The cuckoos, where the koel belongs to, often have preferred target species. Much of their behavior is adjusted to make sure the egg is well taken care of by the host. It is quite fascinating that a koel was able to trick the smart crows to raise their nestlings. Adult crows seem to hate koels, but still they would raise the nestlings in their nest. I witnessed a young koel (probably the subspecies E. s. scolopaceus), a fledgling, begging his crow parents for food (a shrill ‘eeeeeh’). Another crow attacked the young koel, while the parents event protected their parasite. See the second picture below, the koel is infront of the attacking crow. I wonder if they recognise the koel at some point. Mother live is indeed blind!
Another fact is popular at the moment. Crows hold a grudge for 17 years! That is a generalization of the facts. Let me sort it out. Father of the underlying science is Professor John Mark Marzluff from the University of Washington. He’s an expert for birds, and especially crows, and has done numerous studies. His TED talk on YouTube gives a great overview. The grudge thing was found during studies in Seattle on Corvus brachyrhynchos. With a length of 40 – 50cm they are a little larger than C. splendens. Their call is also described as ‘caw’. The paper ‘Lasting recognition of threatening people by wild American crows’ was published in 2009. In that paper the grudge holding period was said to be at least 2.7 years. They caught, marked, and released crows. That’s what they hold the grudge on. In a simple description of the test, the trappers wore masks, a ‘dangerous face’, and the crows would recognise that mask ever since.
In October 2024 Marzluff gave an interview for the New York Times. It seems only there he reported a so far unpublished result. After 17 years crows in Seattle stopped harassing people wearing the mask used in the studies before. What I find even more remarkable, and he says that in the interview, the crows passed that ‘grudge’ from one generation to the next. Crows who never got trapped warned others, and scolded the ‘dangerous face’.
I hope this memory works also for positive experiences. Maybe crows are your friend for generations, over 17 years, when you are nice to them?
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