Nesting Site of House Crow: Tree Versus Light-Post—An Impact Assessment

Dutta, S. K.; Raut, S. K.

doi:10.1007/s12595-013-0060-9

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…With numerous studies carried out in Europe and North America since the beginning of the previous century, we found only nine and two studies on the colonization/invasion of a non-native corvid (House Crow) in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, respectively. In addition, some species have been the object of numerous management studies, especially the House Crow [ 10 , 125 , 162 , 164 , 171 ], the American Crow [ 124 , 165 , 172 ], the Eurasian Magpie [ 138 , 173 , 174 ] and, to a smaller extent, the Common Raven [ 76 , 156 ], the Hooded Crow [ 100 , 168 , 175 ] and the Rook [ 168 ]. Studies of management have reported on the use of different methods ranging from direct shooting [ 171 ], trapping [ 14 , 100 , 175 ], egg removal [ 164 ], poisoning [ 164 ], pruning roost trees [ 125 ], acoustic scaring of birds [ 124 , 176 ], dispersing roosts with lasers [ 165 ] and refuse management in cities [ 177 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The negative impact of human-made landscapes and infrastructures on wildlife has been detected in many studies [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. However, numerous studies have also described how certain species, such as corvids (e.g., crows, magpies), can benefit from these infrastructures, such as using buildings, poles and power lines as nesting sites [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. In addition, anthropogenic food resources and milder microclimate in cities might benefit many corvid species [ 1 , 2 , 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Corvids in Urban Environments: A Systematic Global Literature Review

Benmazouz

Jokimäki

Lengyel

et al. 2021

Animals

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Urbanization is one of the most prevalent drivers of biodiversity loss, yet few taxonomic groups are remarkably successful at adapting to urban environments. We systematically surveyed the global literature on the effects of urbanization on species of family Corvidae (crows, choughs, jackdaws, jays, magpies, nutcrackers, ravens, rooks, treepies) to assess the occurrence of corvids in urban environments and the factors affecting their success. We found a total of 424 primary research articles, and the number of articles has increased exponentially since the 1970s. Most studies were carried out in cities of Europe and North America (45.5% and 31.4%, respectively) and were directed on a single species (75.2). We found that 30 corvid species (23% of 133 total) regularly occur in urban environments. The majority (72%) of the studies reported positive effects of urbanization on corvids, with 85% of studies detecting population increases and 64% of studies detecting higher breeding success with urbanization. Of the factors proposed to explain corvids’ success (availability of nesting sites and food sources, low predation and persecution), food availability coupled with diet shifts emerged as the most important factors promoting Corvidae to live in urban settings. The breeding of corvids in urban environments was further associated with earlier nesting, similar or larger clutches, lower hatching but higher fledging success, reduced home range size and limited territoriality, increased tolerance towards humans and increasing frequency of conflicts with humans. Despite geographic and taxonomic biases in our literature sample, our review indicates that corvids show both flexibility in resource use and behavioral plasticity that enable them to exploit novel resources for nesting and feeding. Corvids can thus be urban exploiters of the large-scale modifications of ecosystems caused by urbanization.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corvids in Urban Environments: A Systematic Global Literature Review

Benmazouz

Jokimäki

Lengyel

et al. 2021

Animals

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“…Mauritius, Singapore, Kolkatta, etc. (Feare and Mungroo 1989;Soh, et al 2002;Dutta and Raut, 2013). Although in India, the house crow has its mythological importance, the presence of crows is not a nuisance except for a few places where they attack humans (Dutta & Raut 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nesting and distribution pattern of house crow (Corvus splendens) in Western Rajasthan, India

Jaipal

Singh

2023

The Scientific Temper

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The population of Indian house crow (Corvus splendens) has increased considerably in cities worldwide. In the recent past, there has been an increase in the population of house crows in the Thar Desert of western Rajasthan, India. A survey of 1004 km was conducted on roads connecting Jaisalmer-Jodhpur–Bikaner and Barmer districts. About 463 house crows were averagely sighted out of which on average, about 161 crows recorded sitting on the roads were feeding on accident-killed animals. The density of crows in the study area was 15.37 crow/sq km. A total of 489 nests were observed during the roadside survey, of which about 69.5% (340) were found on the Acacia tortilis. Almost all nests were located at a height of 20 to 40 ft. The nest height on A. tortilis ranged from 25 to 30 ft only and ranged from 25 to 40 ft on Azadirachta indica. The scenario of the desert has changed owing to developmental activities, which may further facilitate the population growth of crows in this part of the desert.

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“…There are several possible reasons, that are not necessarily mutually exclusive, affecting the population trends of corvids in urban areas. For example, low levels of predation [ 25 ], good availability of (artificial) food resources [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ] as well as an availability artificial nest sites [ 13 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ] may benefit corvids. However, some studies have indicated that hunting activities [ 17 , 34 ] and persecution [ 12 , 14 , 35 ] may have negative influences on corvids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Winter Population Trends of Corvids in Relation to Urbanization and Climate at Northern Latitudes

Jokimäki

Kaisanlahti‐Jokimäki

Suhonen

2022

Animals

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Corvids (crows, magpies, jays) live in a close association with humans, and therefore knowledge about their population status and changes will be an essential part of monitoring the quality of urban environments. Wintering bird populations can track habitat and climate changes more rapidly than breeding populations. We conducted a long-term (1991–2020) winter census of corvid species in 31 human settlements along a 920 km latitudinal gradient in Finland. We observed a total of five corvid species: the Eurasian Magpie (occurring in 114 surveys out of 122; total abundance 990 ind.), the Hooded Crow (in 96 surveys; 666 ind.), the Eurasian Jackdaw (in 51 surveys; 808 ind.), the Eurasian Jay (in 5 surveys; 6 ind.) and the Rook (in 1 survey; 1 ind.). Only the numbers of the Eurasian Jackdaw differed between the study winters, being greater at the end of the study period (2019/2020) than during the earlier winters (1991/1992 and 1999/2000). The average growth rate (λ) of the Eurasian Jackdaw increased during the study period, whereas no changes were observed in the cases of the Hooded Crow or the Eurasian Magpie. The growth rate of the Eurasian Jackdaw was greater than that observed in the Finnish bird-monitoring work, probably because our data came only from the core area of each human settlement. Even though the number of buildings and their cover increased in the study plots, and the winter temperature differed between winters, the average growth rate (λ) of corvid species did not significantly correlate with these variables. These results suggest that urban settlements are stable wintering environments for the generalist corvids. The between-species interactions were all positive, but non-significant. Despite the total number of winter-feeding sites being greater during the winter of 1991/92 than during the winter of 2019/2020, the changes in the numbers of feeding stations did not correlate with the growth rates of any corvid species. We assume that the Eurasian Jackdaw has benefitted from the decreased persecution, and probably also from large-scale climate warming that our study design was unable to take in to account. Our results indicated that wintering corvid populations succeed well in the human settlements in Finland. We recommend conducting long-term corvid research, also during breeding season, to understand more detailed causes of the population changes of corvids along an urban gradient. Without year-round long-term monitoring data, the conservation and management recommendations related to the corvid species in urban habitats may be misleading.

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Nesting Site of House Crow: Tree Versus Light-Post—An Impact Assessment

Cited by 6 publications

References 8 publications

Corvids in Urban Environments: A Systematic Global Literature Review

Corvids in Urban Environments: A Systematic Global Literature Review

Nesting and distribution pattern of house crow (Corvus splendens) in Western Rajasthan, India

Long-Term Winter Population Trends of Corvids in Relation to Urbanization and Climate at Northern Latitudes

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