Sun Chong Hong came across a crow’s nest in Bishan, Singapore on 8th February 2010. The nest had a bluish clothes hanger incorporated in it together with some steel wires pinched from a nearby construction site (above left). Later the hanger was somehow dislodged and found lying on the ground under the nest (above centre). On 24th June the old hanger had apparently been recycled in a new nest built in a nearby tree (above right).

An earlier post reports Jungle Crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) in Japan using clothes hangers, not just one but many, to build their nests.

Local House Crows (Corvus splendens) regularly pick up pieces of wire and plastic to construct their nests.

“I have been watching crows harvesting chicks from the date palm trees around my condo. The palm trees are pretty unprotected and the crows make a round every week or so, often managing to leave with a chick in beak.

“I managed to chase away a crow that was trying to snatch a chick from a Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) that nested in a date palm tree just outside my window (left). After being chased away, it never returned and the chicks fledged successfully.

“It appears that the crows have a fixed route of locations that they visit and they only make a visit approximately once a week.

“Wonder if anyone has similar observations.”

Jeremy Lee
Singapore
9th February 2010

“In response to the posting on the White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) being mobbed by six crows, I would like to share a similar event that I watched on 30th January 2007. The location was Gunung Rapat in Ipoh. This location is fairly inland but have seen White-bellied Sea-eagle intermittently near the limestone hills.

“My wife and I were watching a serpent eagle circling high up when suddenly an aerial battle between a crow and a juvenile White-bellied Sea-eagle intervened. The crow was the primary aggressor. It flew in and nipped the right wing of the eagle (above). It then continued to chase the eagle with further attempts at damage.

“The battle continued for close to 10 minutes with many positions taken by the eagle as can be seen in the shots above. Felt almost like a “kung fu” battle at times.

“The crow won the battle, possibly because it was protecting a nest or the eagle was too young to adequately retaliate. Wish we had a video!

“As we were watching near a road, quite a few passersby stopped to ask what we were watching and to join in.”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
27th November 2009

Samson Tan was at Singapore’s offshore island of Pulau Ubin some weeks ago when he observed a House Crow (Corvus splendens) perching on a branch of a leafless tree eating a piece of meat (above left). After eating enough, it placed the remaining piece in branch fork, compacting it carefully with its bill to secure it (above right). It then left the scene (below).

Crows and ravens are known to cache food for later. Usually, they hide it in a covered site and return back later to feed on it. Should there be another bird watching, it would return and remove it to another location. In this case, the piece of meat was cached openly, easily seen by other birds and thus stolen. Was the bird inexperienced not to hide it properly?

An earlier post on crows caching fish can be seen HERE.

This post appears courtesy of Samson Tan of Manta’s Experience…”.

Forest Ang was in Butterworth Town, Penang, Malaysia recently and sent in this account:

“Took these interesting “raiders” in Butterworth, Penang today. First, I saw a crow pecking on a sack on a lorry waiting for the traffic light to turn green (above). Note the traffic lights. Then I saw a pigeon or two partially hidden. And just as the traffic turned green, crows and pigeons started to fly off the lorry (below).

“Ha, ha, so the birds are robbing the grains (I presume) from the lorry. Very smart indeed. I think they have been doing this quite often judging by the pecking by the crow. They just knew which lorry to “rob”.

“That crow pecked to open a hole on the sack. As for the pigeons, I didn’t have any chance to see what they were doing.”

We have an earlier report of Mynas scavenging from trash trucks at the traffic light junction in Singapore…HERE.