House Crows fishing

House Crow (Corvus splendens) are scavengers. They hang around rubbish dumps and anywhere where there are scraps of food to forage on. Basically omnivorous, they eat anything from grains, fruits, flower nectar to kitchen scraps. Insects are a regular food, taken on the wing or from exposed perches.

Being scavengers do not mean that they are not efficient hunters. They regularly raid bird nests to take the eggs and chicks. They have been reported to have caught a rat and also a bat.

They also regularly fish in shallow waters or even dive into slightly deeper waters, albeit awkwardly, as shown in the image above by Dr Jonathan WK Cheah.

Reference:
Madge, S. & H. Burn (1999). Crows and Jays. Christopher Helm, London.

5 Responses

  1. Twitter Trackbacks for Bird Ecology Study Group » House Crows fishing [talfrynature.com] on Topsy.com

    […] Bird Ecology Study Group » House Crows fishing besgroup.talfrynature.com/2010/09/24/house-crows-fishing/ – view page – cached House Crow (Corvus splendens) are scavengers. They hang around rubbish dumps and anywhere where there are scraps of food to forage on. Basically omnivorous, they eat anything from grains, fruits, flower nectar to kitchen scraps. Insects are a regular food, taken on the wing or from exposed Tweets about this link […]

  2. Trevor Andersen

    Dear Dr Jonathan WK Cheah

    This intelligent Passerine has once again surprised me in their valiant effort to remove food from a water course. Any slight miscalculation would prove fatal over this expanse of water. Cane Toads were introduced into Australia in 1935 to eat French’s Cane Beetle and the Greyback Cane Beetle with disastrous consequences. This intelligent passerine has taken advantage of the cane toad by turning their body over to access their intestines.

  3. Vijay Singh

    Dear Dr. Jonathan,

    Always heard that crows has IQ of a 5 year old human child. This weekend I witnessed that crows at Okhla Bird Sanctury, Noida India, have learnt the art of fishing seeing other water birds in their vaciniy . Sharing link of mg FB where I posted a pic of a crow with a fish catch.

    Regards,
    Vijay Singh

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