Density of Pied Crows Corvus albus in two of South Africa’s protected areas

Abstract

In recent decades, the pied crow Corvus albus population has grown in southern Africa, and this may have had impacts on other species. Conservationists and land managers may question the degree of threat posed by pied crows to other species, but a scarcity of ecological information on pied crows limits evidence-based decision-making. Using a distance density function we provide initial pied crow density estimates of 0.24 crows km-2 (0.12-0.5; 95% CI) and 0.18 crows km-2 (0.07-0.45; 95% CI) in two protected areas in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. We infer that pied crow density is negatively associated with the normalised difference vegetation index (NVDI).