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White-necked Crow | Corvus leucognaphalus
Witnekkraai | Cuervo de La Española
The White-necked Crow is the largest crow in the Caribbean. It once lived on Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and St Croix, but has disappeared from the latter two through forest loss and hunting; it is now confined to Hispaniola, where the population is fragmented. Unlike most crows, it often flies high over the forest and soars on thermals.
Voice
A varied repertoire: liquid bubbling and clucking sounds, squawks and babbling, mixed with soft and harsh notes. Imitations of other sounds have also been described.
Recording: Barry Edmonston — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
42–46 cm, large and heavy, with a long, deep, slightly curved bill. The plumage is black with a blue-purple gloss. The neck feathers have white bases, but these are usually hidden, so the neck normally looks all black and white shows only in wind or while preening. The iris is bright red. There is bare dark grey skin behind the eye and along the lower mandible. Legs black. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Hispaniolan Palm Crow Corvus palmarum is clearly smaller, with a shorter bill and a dark brown iris, and gives a nasal, crow-like aaar or cao-cao while flicking its tail downwards; it rarely soars. Greater Antillean Grackle Quiscalus niger is much smaller and slimmer, with a yellow iris.
Habitat
Lowland and mid-elevation forest, from dry to humid broadleaf and limestone forest, also at the edges of montane forest. It tolerates somewhat degraded land with forest remnants, plantations and scattered large trees. It eats mainly fruit and seeds, also invertebrates, small vertebrates and eggs. The nest is placed high in a tree or palm.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Hispaniola: scattered and local in the Dominican Republic, with the main numbers in the east and south-west; rare and very local in Haiti. Extinct on Puerto Rico (last records in the 1960s) and on St Croix. It does not occur outside the region.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
The best chances are in the forested lowlands of the Dominican Republic, such as Los Haitises and the east of the country. Pairs and small groups are often first heard, or seen soaring high above the forest. Size, red iris and bubbling calls separate it from the palm crow.
Conservation status
Vulnerable. The population is fragmented and declining through forest loss and hunting. West Nile virus and nest predation by other birds are additional risks. The species has vanished from two of the three islands where it once lived.
Scientific name
Corvus leucognaphalus | Daudin, 1800
Daudin described the species in 1800 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Corvus was introduced in 1758 by Linnaeus. Corvus is the Latin word for 'raven'. leucognaphalus is Greek, from leukos 'white' and gnaphalon 'tuft of wool, down', after the white bases of the neck feathers, which are rarely visible. The specimen the first description was based on came from Puerto Rico.