Factors influencing the distribution of the invasive house crow (Corvus splendens) in rural and urban landscapes

Abstract

House crows, Corvus splendens, are highly successful emigrants from the Indian subcontinent that have colonized urban and rural habitats in many locations in Asia. We conducted counts of crows, recorded sound intensities (db) and used a Likert scale to score cleanliness, traffic, trees, and people along 500 m transects in three residential, park and business areas in three urban and rural landscapes respectively, in Selangor and Perak, Malaysia to determine the use of rural and urban landscapes by crows. Significantly more crows were recorded in urban than rural landscapes (p = 0.016), and in business than park areas in both urban and rural sites (p < 0.001). In urban landscapes they were of similar abundance in business and residential areas at two sites but not the third (p < 0.001). The availability of rubbish (primarily food scraps) was the most important factor explaining 68 % of C. splendens abundance and this was consistent with gut analysis of carcasses obtained from council culls. These results suggest that crow management would benefit from cleanliness around business areas in particular.