Mob Bird Story Part III

If you follow the the mob bird story part 1 and part 2, you will know that the House Crow actively defended it teritory or its chick. So one day I saw it chick which already fledge(fly) but still requires feeding noisily asking for food.


see the bird with it red mouth wide open.
after close scrunity of this pic, I notice the different shape of the tail! Quite funny! I was expecting the young to have similar shape of the adult.

later, i shot the pic below, The House Crow chick isnt a house crow afterall. It is a Asian Koel chick. The House Crow has been protecting and raising the Asian Koel. This is called Brood Parasitism, I've read about it, so lucky of me to find an example.


I took the liberty to label the birds.. :D

I notice a female koel nearby. Maybe the mum of the young ones, I not so sure. If it is, then the parent surely watch the young from far.


Then, an oppurtunity arise.. the young ones perch nearer. Noisily enough to ignore! Have to shoot towards the sun, for this record shot. The old nikon glass exhibit its purple chromatic aberration, which normally i tried to avoid.



seems like a cross between male and female koel, the eyes seems to be brown, not red like the adult

Quite a unique relationhip, pity the House Crow, conned by the Koel

another example of this brood parasitism here

Mob Bird Story - part II

Today I want to tell you about this mob bird mobbing activities. They will active engage any would be intruders that came near. From my observation this is done only at their nesting/roosting site. Even if you saw them foraging by the road side, it wont mob you.

What they do is, they fly near, above your head like inspecting you. You can hear the whooping sound of the wings flapping.."Whoop! Whoop! Whoop"

If any large bird came near their nest, it will send few birds to mob it..


"Ark! Ark! Ark! the alarm sounded when a purple heron fly near.


Interceptor fly off to escort intruder(purple heron) out of hot area!


House Crow: This is restricted area, please leave immediately!
Purple Heron: Will do! just pass by to fishing ground. I don't eat Crow Chicks!

Precautionary measure, the mob bird escort the heron around


to west


to east, note the golden sunshine shining from west

any big or small bird, will be chased off! even the raptor Brahminy Kite


maybe the raptor do eat chicks, the restricted area for raptor is even bigger, so high up



next part: The guarded secret chick! or read previous part.

Mob Bird Story - part I

I called the House Crow a mob bird because its aggresive behaviour. More on this later.

In my birdwatching activities, frequently this bird came in the picture.. so i decide to post some pics of this so called pest bird here.

Contrary to its attitude toward other birds it is surprisingly caring to its partner..



just look at this couple, caressing each other.. quite gentle I might say. It makes me think of the young couples sitting at the bench at the park. Quite romantic!

Well, the gentleness is to make baby birds of course.. so here how the nest looks like.



Somehow the Little Heron or some other species also make nest that looks like this.. So dont go round and destroy any nest!

but

if you are near a nesting or a roosting site of this mob bird, they will take to the air and fly around above your head. A quite menacing act! this I will tell on the next part.

Si Gagak Hitam

Asalnya dari India,
dibawa masuk untuk membasmi
si kumbang tanduk perosak pokok

malangnya,
geng hero ini memang terror!
sebab senang membiak dan makan apa saja.
tong sampah habis dipunggah mencari sisa,
tapi itu memang sifat dia

Habis dijajah sepelusuk benua,
dari mesir hingga ke australia
unta dan kanggaro semua kenali ia,
tidak di bawa, ia tumpang kapal nak sampai ke sana.

Gagak Rumah
House Crow
Corvus splendens

House Crow atau gagak rumah tidak semuanya hitam, yang hitam muka,mata ,paruh dan kaki manakala tengkuk dan dada bewarna coklat gelap. sayap pula biru kehitaman.

Nama latinnya Corvus splendens bermakna the Splendid Crow atau si gagak yang bagus.
hehe! macam sinis aje..

tapi tak mustahil gagak berwarna putih macam ini

leucistic variation caused by the genes. Its not albino