The Pied Crow (Corvus albus) is a widely distributed African bird species in the crow genus.
Structurally, the Pied Crow is better thought of as a small crow-sized Raven, especially as it can hybridise with the Somali Crow (Dwarf Raven) where their ranges meet in the Horn of Africa. Its behaviour, though, is more typical of the Eurasian Carrion Crows
Description:
Height: about 18 inches .Corvus albus has black feathers with a distinctive white breast and collar. The bill is black with a white or yellow-white tip. The iris is dark brown and the legs and feet are black. Both sexes look alike. The juvenile pied crow looks much like the adult, but is duller in color, with very wooly-textured contour
feathers on its under parts, and often with many white or partly-white feathers forming a band across the
lower breast. Lifespan: In the Wild 6-10 years; In Captivity: up to 20 years. The pied crow is a highly social bird, commonly found in pairs or small groups. They sometimes gathering large flocks of hundreds of birds and will circle high on the thermals (high, warm winds).
Breeding:
Pied crows can breed throughout the year. Both sexes help build the nest which are made of sticks and
lined with soft materials including fibers, hair, wool, rags, paper or fibrous bark. The nest is placed either
in trees or niches in rocks or on the cross supports of telephone poles. The female incubates the 3-6 greenish-blue eggs, and the male hunts for food and feeds her during the 18-
19 day incubation period. Both parents care for and feed the young, which fledge in approximately 43 days.
Diet:
In the Wild: insects, maize, peanuts, fruit, seeds, carrion, small mammals, bird eggs, tortoises, lizards,
mollusks, and sometimes humans’ garbage
Captivity: insects (crickets, superworms, mealworms), ground meat,eggs of other birds, rodents
mixed vegetables, pigeon pellets, and apples.
