House Crow Corvus splendens - some photos and notes

House Crow Corvus splendens

Safa Park, Dubai
November 2010

The House Crow was distributed from Iran and Pakistan through India to Burma and southern China. It is now also found as an introduced species in many coastal areas of east Africa and the Middle East. Most of these populations started with ship-borne "stowaways" rather than being deliberately introduced. They are always found in association with man and are omnivorous.

In most areas they are regarded as a pest. Not only do they eat crops such as maize and sorghum, they prey on chicks and eggs of birds including domestic poultry, and are known to carry a number of diseases that are dangerous to humans.

The sub-species found in the United Arab Emirates is C. s. zugmayeri which is much paler than the other subspecies.

The call is rather more highly pitched than the calls of most of its close relatives.

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