Mapping locations of nesting sites of the Indian house crow in Mombasa

Abstract

The location of nesting sites of Indian house crows is related with the food availability within an area. Nesting sites are located close to food sources especially areas with poor sanitation. A Google image of the area was zoomed in to visually identify tree clusters and planning of residential areas. Ground observations of the tree clusters identified from the image for nesting and the conditions around them. In the 236 tree clusters identified in the Google image, 167 (71%) were nesting sites as per the ground observation. 69% of the nesting sites were found in areas with poor sanitation. These were areas in unplanned residential areas with poor road network hindering distribution of refuse handling services. The most preferred nesting tree was the mango tree with 1246 nests, observed in 464 trees. Some nests were observed in trees with small and open crowns e.g. pawpaw and Indian tree. House crows put more nests on trees with large crowns. The estimate number of nests in a nesting site may be given by N=2T L+T S. 76% of the model results were close to the actual nest count with a ±3 difference. The municipal council should improve on handling and monitoring of refuse disposal, plant trees that are less conducive for nesting, and regularly prune tall trees with large crowns.