 Bird:
African White-necked Raven
(Corvus albicollis)
Range:
Eastern and southern Africa from Uganda and Kenya south
to Namaqualand and Cape Colony. Primarily a bird of
open mountainous country, including openings in mountain
forests. Also commonly found in towns, villages, and
camp sites in many habitat types. Usually, they are
based on mountains or cliffs for breeding and roosting.
Size:
Length: 18-24in (46-61cm); Wingspan: ?; Weight: ?
Diet:
Mainly locusts, grasshoppers, grubs, and other insects.
Also, tortoises and lizards, small mammals, carrion,
young bird eggs, maize, peanuts, and fruit. They also
scavenge human waste and roadkill.
Description:
They are raven sized, but with a shorter tail and a
deeper bill with a high, strongly-arched culmen and
deep nasal groove. The feathers immediately around the
base of the bill and eyes and the rictal bristles are
blackish. The rest of the head, upper part of the hind
neck, sides of the neck, throat, and breast are blackish
brown with a faint purplish gloss fading to dark brown.
The somewhat elongated feathers of the throat and upper
breast are strongly bifurcated. Some or most of the
feathers bordering the brownish areas of the neck and
breast may be fringed with white to form a delicately
laced and individually varying pattern on the bird.
Wholly or mostly white feathers may occur in this area.
There is a large and conspicuous white patch on the
hind neck. The rest of the plumage is deep black with
only a slight silvery or greenish iridescence in some
lights, fading to dull and slightly brownish black in
worn plumage. The iris is dark brown. The bill is black
with a white or yellowish white tip. The legs and feet
are black. The juvenile is duller, with very wolly textured
contour feathers on the underparts, and often with many
white or partly white feathers forming a band across
the lower breast.
Natural History:
These birds are usually seen in pairs, but large groups
may be seen feeding together. Their nests are made of
sticks, lined with softer materials, and are on a ledge
or in a recess of a cliff. They lay 3 - 5 bluish green,
pale green, or greenish white eggs which may be speckled
and/or spotted, mottled, and streaked with dark brown
and olive brown. Usually, the eggs have greyish, mauve,
or brownish mauve underlying markings. Their usual call
is a croak or a hoarse, throaty whisper.
Personal History:
Kira - Hatched and hand raised by NEI in April 1999.
Dutch and Toledo - Hatched and hand raised by NEI in
March 2001.
Statler - Hatched and hand raised by NEI in April 2001.
Dixon, Lexus, Poe, and Pickles - Hatched and hand raised
by NEI in February 2002.
Back
 Birds:
Pied Crow
(Corvus albus)
Range:
Africa south of the Sahara, from Senegal, Sudan, northern
Ethiopia and Somaliland southwards. Also in Madagascar,
the Comoro Islands, Assumption, Aldabra, Zanzibar, and
Pemba. Widespread but often local, rare or absent in
some of the dryer parts of southwest Africa and the
Congo Forest. Inhabits open country with scattered trees
and clearings in forests. Typically found in association
with man in cultivated or pastoral regions, and in and
about towns and villages.
Size:
Length: 46-50cm; Wingspan:?; Weight:?
Diet:
Eats insects and other invertebrates, small mammals,
small reptiles, eggs, young birds, grain, peanuts, oily
husks of palm nuts, carrion, and scraps of human food
where available. Also eats vegetable matter.
Description:
They are average crow size. They have well-developed,
broadly lanceolate hackled feathers on the throat and
front of the neck. The hind neck, upper mantle, lower
breast, and the sides of the upper breast are snow white.
The rest of the plumage is glossy black, the gloss being
purplish or bluish and most conspicuous on the throat,
wing coverts, and secondaries. The iris is dark brown
and the bill, legs, and feet are black. Juveniles are
duller and many of the feathers of the white areas often
have blackish tips or suffusions.
Natural History:
They are common in pairs or small groups, but are also
seen in large groups at feeding areas, communal roosts,
and sometimes soaring on thermals. They frequently mob
birds of prey. They nest in trees and, in some areas,
on the cross supports of telephone poles. The nests
are made of sticks and have a thick inner lining of
soft materials including fibers, hair, wool, torn up
rags, paper, or fibrous bark. They lay 3 - 6 pale blue
or greenish blue eggs which may be spotted, flecked,
or streaked with olive brown, purplish brown, and yellowish
brown. The eggs often have underlying lilac or grayish
markings. Both sexes build the nest, the female incubates
and broods the young, and the male feeds the female.
Incubation lasts approximately 18 - 19 days. The young
fledge in approximately 43 days and both parents feed
and care for the fledglings.
Personal History:
Harley, Piper, and Escrow - Born and hand raised by
NEI in 1998.
Simon, Garfunkle, Alvin, and Leah - Hand raised by NEI
in 2000.
Back
Top
|
