The brown-headed crow (''Corvus fuscicapillus'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird of the genus ''

Corvus ''Corvus'' is a widely distributed genus of passerine birds ranging from medium-sized to large-sized in the family Corvidae. It includes species commonly known as crows, ravens, and rooks. The species commonly encountered in Europe are the car ...

'' in the family

Corvidae Corvidae is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan Family (biology), family of Songbird, oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, Rook (bird), rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and Nutcracker (bird), nutcrackers ...

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, it has a fragmented distribution in

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Description TSMF is generally found in large ...

and subtropical or tropical

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

. It is threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has rated it as being "

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qu ...

Description

The brown-headed crow grows to a total length of about including a tail. It has the typical glossy purplish-black plumage of many of the crow genus apart from the head and neck which are a dark brownish-black. The tail has a squared-off end. The massive beak is compressed and has a high arch, being black in males and reddish or yellowish-white with a black tip in females and juveniles. The legs are black and the face is well-feathered. The nasal bristles are distinctly parted and the throat feathers are bristly. The call is a harsh caw, either in brief, two-syllable utterances or as longer, drawn-out sounds.

Distribution and habitat

The species is endemic to eastern Indonesia; it has a fragmented range, perhaps because it has some, as yet unknown, specialised habitat requirement. It is present in northern Papua in the lower part of the Mamberamo River Valley and in the Nimbokrang region, near

Jayapura Jayapura (formerly Hollandia (1910-1962), Kota Baru (1962-1963), Soekarnopura (1963-1968)) is the capital city, capital and List of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of Papua (provi ...

. Also on the islands of

Waigeo Waigeo is an island in the Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about to the nort ...

and Gemien in western Papua, and Nimbokrang and the Aru Islands in

Maluku province Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia and geographically located in West-Melanesia, between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, and comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, South ...

. Its habitat is primarily virgin forest but it also inhabits secondary growth and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

areas, but generally avoids open countryside and the coast. Its altitudinal range is up to about .

Ecology

This crow moves through the canopy either in pairs or alone, or occasionally in a group of a few birds. It feeds on fruit which it gathers from among the foliage.

Status

''C. fuscicapillus'' is an uncommon species with a limited, fragmented range. Its total area of occupancy is estimated to be about and the total population may be between 15,000 and 30,000 birds. The main threats it faces are

through logging and mining, and a planned dam across the Mamberamo River. However some of its range is within protected areas, and in some parts the forest remains untouched. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being "

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1586668 brown-headed crow Birds of the Aru Islands Birds of Western New Guinea brown-headed crow brown-headed crow Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic birds of Indonesia