THE CROW - PART 3
THE CROW PART3 Dearfriends, I amcontinuing more about the crow in this part of the posting. Most of theinformation are compilation from websites. I wish all members aHAPPY PONGAL Sincerely, Gopalakrishnan 13-1-2022. 17. Varietiesof crow. In thecrow family called “CORVIDAE” thereare about 40 varieties of crows. Some are very small, some medium and some very large.I have read from one of the mails of our member Mr. Srinivasan about the largesize of American crow. I have read from wikipedia in Australia crows are very small. The crowis a year round species. This means irrespective of season’s crows will be seenflying here and there. Crow is considered as one of the intelligent among living beings ( animals, birds etc). 18. Coloured crows. If we askany child the colour of the crow, answer would be BLACK. But there are crows with brown head in new Guinea, crows with white neck in Dominican republic. There isa variety called fish crowand another called Palmcrow. Fish crows are found in US Coasts, Palm crow is found in Cuba. In newGuinea there are also fully grey crows. White billed ( Tamil translaton- alaku)crows are available in Soloman islands. The crows generally available in Indiaare called house crow. As I toldearlier, we cannot domesticate the crow, but how it is called house crow then?Answer is given in next posting. 19 Blue crow-Azure jay The AzureJay or blue crow is a passeri form birdof the crow family Corvidae. It is found in the Atlantic Forest, especially with Araucariaangustifolia, in south-eastern Brazil far eastern Paraguay and farnorth-eastern Argentina. Itis the state bird of Paraná. It has atotal length of approximately 40 cm, and its plumage is intensely blue with acontrasting black head and upper chest. Males and females are similar, althoughthe females typically are smaller. It feedsextensively on the nut-like seeds but it is not strictly limited to this, sinceit also feeds on insects and fruits. As other corvids, Azure Jays are highlyintelligent. Their communication is complex, consisting of at least 14 distinctvocalizations. They form groups of 4 to 15 individuals that are well organizedin hierarchies. These groups remain stable for up to two generations. 20 Fossil records Theearliest corvid (crow family) fossils date to the mid-Miocene, about 17MILLION YEARS ago; Miocorvus and Miopica of France may be ancestral to crows 21 Morphology Corvids(Birds of crow family) are large to very large passerines with a robust build, stronglegs and all species except the Pinyon Jay have nostrils covered by bristle-likefeathers. Many corvids of temperate zones have mainlyblack or blue coloured plumage; however, some are pied blackand white, some have a blue-purple iridescence and many tropical species arebrightly coloured. Thesexes are very similar in color and size. Corvids have strong, stout bills andlarge wingspans. The family includes the largest members of the passerine order. The smallest corvid is the Dwarf Jay (Aphelocomanana), at 40 g and 21.5 cm. The largest corvids are the Common Raven (Corvus corax) and the Thick-billed Raven (Corvus crassirostris),both of which regularly exceed 1400 grams and 65 cm (26 inches). Speciescan be identified based on size, shape, and geography; however, some,especially theAustralian crows, are best identified by their raucous calls. 22.Ecology Corvids occur in most climaticzones. Most are sedentary and do not migrate significantly. However, during a shortage of food, eruptive migration can occur. Whenspecies are migratory, they will form large flocks in the fall (around August inthe northernhemisphere)and travel south. One reason for the success ofcrows, compared to ravens, is their ability to OVERLAP BREEDING TERRITORY. During breeding season, crowswere shown to overlap breeding territory six times as much as ravens. Thisinvasion of breeding ranges allowed a related increase in local populationdensity. 23 Food and feeding Corvidsare highly opportunistic foragers. The natural diet of many corvid species isomnivorous, consisting of invertebrates, nestlings, small mammals, berries, fruits, seeds, and carrion. However, some corvids,especially the crows, have adapted well to human conditions and have come torely on anthropogenic foods. Theincrease in available anthropogenic food sources is contributing to populationincrease in some corvid species. ome corvids are predators of other birds.During the wintering months, corvids typically form foraging flocks.However, some crows also eatmany agricultural pests including cutworms, wireworms, grasshoppers, andharmful weeds. Some corvids will eat carrion,and since they lack a specialized beak for tearing into flesh, they must wait until animalsare opened, whether by other predators or as roadkill. 24. Reproduction Respected members , there was a mail to me from amember that they do notunite in open- special to
THE CROW PART 3
THE CROWPART 3 Dearfriends, I amreally happy over the large number of responses I have received about myposting about crow part 1. Let me continue, with some more interesting thingsand a beginning about the species ofcrows in this posting. Sincerely, Gopalakrishnan 20-2-2011. Reposted on 21-2-2021 after editing andupdating. R. Gopala Krishnan (Continued from part 2) 13. The Jackal and crow. To tellchildren another story. Once a crow was getting fed with neiappam(sweet fried in ghee)by a kid. The crow will take a bit, go to a tree branch, eat and again come forbit of neiappam. A jackalwas there below the tree branch. It desired to get neiappam. It told kakkawhile bringing neiappam in the beak “Your voice is very sweet. Why can’t you caw?The kakka fell on the mukashtuthi (Praising). It made a caw. Bit of neiappamfell down. Jackal comfortably ate it. Kakkaagain went, got neiappam bit. Jackal said- your singing was so sweet. I stillwant to hear. The story repeated. Jackal ate that bit also.Kakka once againwent, got neiappam bit. Jackal said- your singing is becoming sweeter. I wantto hear more. NOW OUR KAKKA BECAME VIGIL. It kept the neiappm bit on the branch safely without falling. It said-my cawing may be sweet- I will caw. Wait- I am hungry. First I will finish myneiappam. It started eating neiappam slowly. After finishing again it went, gota bit and started eating. The Jackal understood, he will not get anymore bits. It said- Keeping image, you are right, I too willcome another day to hear your sweet cawing. 14. Kakka kan (Eye of crow) The eyesof crow will suitably rotate to see everywhere. The crow is said to be veryvigil. Persons more vigil are said to be having kakka kan. 15. kakkayutae svabhavam( Nature of crow) The crowwill not show intimacy or attachment with us. There are some people, not bad , but will show no intimacy.Such people are many often told- exhibiting Kaakyutae swabhavam(nature of crow). 16. Kakka karumbi.Thecolour of crow is mostly black. When a girl is having more black complexionedskin she is referred as kakka karumbi. Some elder people many now sing—Kakka kuyilae chollu, Kai nokkan ariyamo… Youngsters have another song- Karuppinazhaku… oooh, karuppinazhaku… ooh. 17. vadam drying Whiledrying vadam or pappadam if we keep a black umbrella or hang a black cloth,crow may not come to eat vadam. Probably it may be taking thecloth as harm done to a crow…. 18. Kakka kuli. ( Bathing like crow) It hasgot two meanings- one hurriedbath. If any body finish bath hurriedly it is often told as kakkakuli. There isa thinking- We shouldnot see the crow-taking bath. However, whatever we do to ward off,it will finish the bath and then only go. Many say, negative news may come ifwe see crow taking bath . I have seen,but in my recollecting no bad news has come. 19. Crow flying over the head. Normallycrow will fly at a height well above our height. But sometimes, it so happen,it will fly around a person without leaving him. I have read else where, oneman used to wear helmet where ever he go to escape from crow hitting. I hadonce this experience, if I go to near by park for morning walk, a crow would fly close to me. I felt some times its legtouched on my head. It got repeated next day. Without making further experiments, I stopped going to park for morning walk since I am 70% bald headed. I wrote to Mr trsiyengar my friend about it,he replied nothing bad about all these things and nothing to worry. The crow normally flies straight. Hence manytimes straight direction is told as crow flying direction. Crow willtake rest after flying for certain distance. Sometimes it is told as crowflying distance. 20. Varieties of crow. In thecrow family called “CORVIDAE” there are about 40 varieties ofcrows. Some are very small, some medium and some very large. I haveread from one of the mails of our member Mr. Srinivasan about the large size of Americancrow. I have read from wikipedia in Australia crows arevery small. The crowis a year round species. This means irrespective of season’s crows will be seenflying here and there. Crow is considered as one of the intelligent among living beings ( animals, birds etc.). 21. Coloured crows. If we askany child the name of crow, answer will be BLACK. But there are crows with brown head in new Guinea, crows with white neck inDominican republic now as read from wikipedia. Probablyonce these white neck crows came to Kerala too on their way to somewhere??Probably the saying “Vellakakka malannu parakkum” (White crow willfly upside down) came from that? There isa variety called fish crow and another called Palm crow. Fish crows are foundin US Coasts, Palm crow is found in Cuba. In newGuinea there are also fully grey crows. ( Similar to Madapra in body colour).White billed( Tamil translaton- alaku) crows are available in Soloman islands.Does it mean chundu in
