Abstract
We studied 11 active and 29 old nests of Hooded Crows Corvus corone cornix in a mixed residential-farmland landscape (3.6 km2) in southern Sweden in 2009. The density of active nests was 3.06/km2 land area and 7.33/km2 forest area. Thirty-eight nests were in pine-dominated forest and two in private gardens. All nests (active and old) were in pine trees Pinus sylvestris, and sample plots around nest trees had the following characteristics (means): 350 tree stems/hectare, 1,487 bushes/ hectare, and canopy cover 8%. Distance to the nearest active Crow nest averaged 234 m, but variation was large. Mean distance from nests to nearest forest edge was 19 m and to the nearest inhabited building 68 m. Nests were placed near the tree top (mean height 11 m) in all cardinal directions but with a significant bias towards the south. Seven out of 11 (64%) active nests produced fledglings (mean 1.2 nestling/successful nest). Breeding success was higher in nests that were close to another crow nest. Compared with previous studies, hatching success was high but final fledgling production was low.
Highlights
The Hooded Crow Corvus corone cornix is a common and conspicuous breeding bird over large parts of Europe, inhabiting a range of habitats from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean (Hagemeijer & Blair 1997)
The paucity of recent data about breeding biology may be of concern, as the Hooded Crow has experienced significant and hitherto unexplained population declines in recent decades in some countries
We here report on a study on breeding Hooded Crows in a landscape of this type, addressing the following questions: (1) What is the density of nesting territories? (2) What is the preferred nesting habitat? (3) What do nesting territories look like? (4) Which is the preferred species of nesting tree? (5) What are the characteristics of the nearest surroundings of nest trees? (6) When do eggs hatch? (7) When do chicks leave the nest?
Summary
The Hooded Crow Corvus corone cornix is a common and conspicuous breeding bird over large parts of Europe, inhabiting a range of habitats from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean (Hagemeijer & Blair 1997). Out of 105 hits in the Biological Sciences data base (18 May 2010, search string “(Hooded crow) OR Corvus AND cornix”, years 1982–2010), only a handful concerns its breeding biology, and only two such papers have appeared in the last 15 years (Smedshaug et al 2002, Zduniak & Antczak 2003). We here report on a study on breeding Hooded Crows in a landscape of this type, addressing the following questions: (1) What is the density of nesting territories? (4) Which is the preferred species of nesting tree? We here report on a study on breeding Hooded Crows in a landscape of this type, addressing the following questions: (1) What is the density of nesting territories? (2) What is the preferred nesting habitat? (3) What do nesting territories look like? (4) Which is the preferred species of nesting tree? (5) What are the characteristics of the nearest surroundings of nest trees? (6) When do eggs hatch? (7) When do chicks leave the nest?
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