HEAD AND NECK BILL • Face and throat black • Black and pointed • Neck and breast lighter grey Cape Town Pest Alert House crow (Corvus splendens) (Corvus splendens) House crow BODY • Black wings, but breast area and mantle grey – different from indigenous crows IDENTIFICATION: TAIL • Black, square shaped in flight; Please report all sightings of the house crow to LEGS AND FEET in indigenous crows the tail is • Black more rounded www.capetowninvasives.org.za Photographs courtesy of: Peter Ryan & Errol Douwes Why is it a problem? Legal status Join the iSpot House crows have invaded Cape Town via docking ships. They compete with Network indigenous crow species for the same resources and carry and spread a range of diseases. They can be noisy and disruptive in urban areas and are known to attack 1a people. These birds also hunt and kill smaller indigenous birds. NEMBA Category 1a Invader What can I do? Why has it adapted so well? 1) Sign up to iSpot at The climate and urban environment What does the law say? www.ispot.org.za around Cape Town are favourable to house crows. They also adapt extremely well to 2) Take digital photos of any house crows you encounter in industrial areas. Under the National Environmental residential or industrial areas or in the open veld. Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA) No. 10 of 2004, House crows are 3) Take note of the date and locality of your Don’t mistake house crows for: designated as a Category 1b Invasive house crow sighting. Alien Species. 4) Upload this information and your photo onto the iSpot This legislation states that: website where the information will be captured by • No person may import, trade or breed scientists who will send out a team. house crows. • House crows need to be managed as part of an invasive control plan. • Once the control plan has been adopted in an area, no person may, without a permit, possess any house crows. Cape crow For more information, contact: The Cape Town Invasive Species Unit, Environmental Resource Management, Westlake Conservation Did you know? Office, Ou Kaapse Weg, Tokai. Tel: (021) 712 1434/1944 Email: [email protected] Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ctinvasives House crows were first observed in the early 1990s in Cape Town, but within two decades their numbers reached into the thousands. Pied crow Help us protect Cape Town’s natural heritage from alien invader plant species. Sign up online and become a volunteer. White-necked raven www.capetowninvasives.org.za.