Vol. 9, Issue 9 (2020)

Author(s):
Manpreet Kaur and Dr. KS Khera

Abstract:
An attempt has been made to gather firsthand information on the breeding biology and nest tree use preference by House Crow. The breeding season of House Crow observed was mainly from April to September. A total of 99 nests were studied during the two breeding seasons. The House Crow preferred 16 different tree species for nesting, most commonly used trees species in both seasons were the Eucalyptus (29 nests i.e. 29.2% used) and Poplar (13 nests, i.e. 13% used), which together comprised 42.2% of trees used (n = 99). The highest nesting tree height favoured for nesting was 25.3m and the lowest was 6.9m in the first breeding season, while in the second breeding season, the highest height preferred was 25.2m, and the lowest was 7.2m. The egg-laying was started early in mid-June and all the clutches were completed up to mid-July. Clutch size ranged from 2-5 eggs, incubation 15-18 days, and fledging 25-32 days. Hatching success of 86.51% and 77.35% observed in 2 breeding seasons, while nesting success recorded was 66.66% in 2015 and 69% in 2016. Reasons for lower breeding success were un-hatched eggs, falling of eggs and chicks from trees and predation by other birds.