Jungle crow

Jungle crow is a common name that refers to three species of crow. Initially thought to be a single species, the group has since been split into the following species:

• Large-billed crow, Corvus macrorhynchos
• Eastern jungle crow, Corvus levaillantii
• Indian jungle crow, Corvus culminatus

Location

Located in India, and boards of Asia. Corvus macrorhynchos are from the northeastern Asian seaboard to Afghanistan and eastern Iran in the west, through South and Southeast Asia, to the Lesser Sundas and Cambodia in the southeast. While Corvus levaillantii (Eastern Jungle Crow) in Northeastern Idina and southeast Asia. Whereas Corvus culminatus (Indian jungle crow) lives in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. We can identify each bird by their size, vocalization, and range, Indian jungle crow and Eastern jungle crow are considered shorter sized.

Habitat

Jungle Crows manly live in forest and woodland habitats. They also can be found in towns, cities and sometimes parks. They tend to favor more open country in the southern parts of its range where they do not have to compete with other birds and crows. The Jungle Crow’s nest it made of and lined with grass roots, wool, rags, vegetable fiber, and similar materials.

Breeding

Jungle Crows mainly breed during winter months, particularly between December and February.Per breeding season they can lay 3-5 pale blue-green speckled with brown in a platform made of twigs and other things. Eggs are incubated for 17-19 days. The young leave the nest around a month old.

Beak deformity

In Odisha, India it was documented of a rare beak deformity, with the reason of the deformity still not being answered. As seen in figure 2 you can see the curve in their beaks, which could result in effecting their feeding habits and how they nest. After this was documented, they made sure to leave the sit undisturbed. While still checking up on the jungle crow’s status.

Diet

The Jungle Crows diet is broad. Thy will eat about anything, if it appears edible, they will eat it. Ranging from plant matter to small animals. The Jungle Crow might even soften its food by dropping it in water. They also have been seen eating sand after feeding on carcass meat.

Unusual eating habits - There is evidence of a jungle crow hunting a squirrel, when they usually would just eat meat from something that is already dead. On August 20^th in 2022 it was observed, while they do have a wide range of food preferences, this is the first documentation of them hunting a small living animal. You can see in figure 3 the squirrel in the jungle crow’s mouth.