Whilst birding Deffi Park and Aqua Park recently I saw quite a number of House Crow. The House Crow Corvus splendens, as it name suggests is a member of the crow family and is approximately 42–44 cm long (body and tail) and weighs 250–350 grams. Their plumage is glossy black, except for the nape, sides of the head, upper back and breast, which are grey and not glossy. Their bills, legs and feet are black, with males and females being similar, only males being slightly larger and they live for about 6 years in the wild. The species is a recent colonizer of Saudi Arabia, and has a native range extending through the Indian sub-continent from Sri Lanka north to Nepal, west to southern Iran and east to Yunnan in China. On the east coast of Saudi Arabia birds are most often seen long the coast particularly near ports where they became plentiful by the end of the 1980’s but an eradication scheme in the 1990’s decimated their numbers but did not eradicate them completely. In most places House Crow numbers are linked to human population size, due simply to the expanding amount of rubbish generated. Jubail also has a port and House Crow is common in the main parks in the city where the below photos were taken.
