Is the crow menace in Bulawayo getting worse, will Alfred Hitchcock have the last laugh?
Well it's not only in Zimbabwe that the crows are taking charge, seems like the entire African continent is at risk!! And they are blaming the Brits again!!
An "airborne black tide mark" is menacing the native bird life of East Africa, according to ornithologists. The common crow is using its natural cunning to squeeze indigenous species off the centre stage. It stands accused of killing local birds in Tanzania - such as the paradise flycatcher - causing their numbers to nose-dive.
At last count there were an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 crows in Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam, and efforts to control them have been short-lived.
The crow arrived in East Africa in 1891, when the British governor of Zanzibar ordered their import from India. He hoped to harness their scavenging tendencies to combat the litter problem in Zanzibar's streets. Pandora's Box was opened and the crow population spread, grew and flourished. Now their hunched Hitchcockian figures can be seen in their thousands around East Africa's cities.
"The crow is not just interested in food scraps" said Fiona Reid, author of Birds of Dar es Salaam. "It also attacks and kills indigenous birds to eat, or to get to, their eggs. They have even been known to attack sick animals like goats or domestic pets".
Crows are amongst the most intelligent birds and their hunting skills are finely tuned, according to Ms Reid. "Crows often work as a team. One will chase a bird away from its nest by swooping aggressively at it, leaving the way open for the second bird to steal the egg," she said. This entrepreneurial flare is taking its toll on the indigenous bird life of East Africa, driving many species from their natural habitats. "The effect on indigenous birds has been drastic, Numerous species, such as the African paradise flycatcher and many sunbirds, have virtually disappeared from Dar es Salaam gardens."
The situation is worsening rapidly. Crows are working their way further inland, feeding off the rubbish that East Africa's growing human population is producing.
Sadly, the history of crow control is not as remarkable as the history of crow expansion. In Tanzania there have been a number of small-scale attempts to cut their numbers, but the initiatives have not been maintained.
But it's not only crows that abound worldwide, now a warning from Birdlife Zimbabwe - the Indian Mynah is slowly but surely working its way up from Southern Africa.
The Common Myna Acridotheres tristis, previously known as the Indian Myna, is an invasive avian species currently spreading widely across Zimbabwe. Mynas are smart and gregarious starlings that originate from the Indian subcontinent. In Africa, the species was first introduced in Durban, South Africa, in the late 1800s and has invaded much of South Africa since then. Over the past decade, it has travelled north into Zimbabwe and the number of sightings has steadily increased. Today, in major cities like Harare and Bulawayo, there is concern at the rate at which the Myna population seems to be growing.
Roosts of hundreds of Mynas have been identified. Research is necessary to verify whether the perception that they aggressively take over nests belonging to other indigenous bird species with similar breeding habits actually occurs.
The Matabeleland Youth Conservation Society, an affiliate of BirdLife Zimbabwe, has undertaken to conduct research on this species. A means of consolidating sightings to answer a few questions about the range expansion of this species in Zimbabwe has been set up.
A cause has been set up on the BirdLasser application (which collects data for the Southern African Bird Atlassing Project 2). In order to participate, Atlassers are asked to access the Causes menu and consent to sharing their atlassing and birding trip cards with the Myna monitoring project. When logging sightings, please spare a few minutes to fill out as much information on the sighting as you can. Please log the number of individuals, location descriptions, activity and other species around and notable interactions with them if there are any. For any questions on the study, please email: Merlyn Nkomo at: merynomsa@gmail.com
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