House Crow - Corvus
splendens
On April 10th 1994 Hans Westerlaken discovered two House Crows Corvus
splendens at Hoek van Holland (Zuid-Holland). But only at June 17th he and Peter Braam found
it back again. From then on, two birds were seen regularly
till about May 1996. They survived the harsh winter of 1996 on a diet of
patates (chips in the UK, frites in Belgium, French fries in the USA). I saw
one bird on August 24th 1994 and two birds in April 8th 1996. Another bird was present
at Renesse (Zeeland) from November 21st 1994 till at least December 1995 (cf
Dutch Birding 18: 6-10, 1996).
30 June 1994, Hoek van Holland ZH; © Arnoud van den Berg.
5 March 1995, Hoek van Holland ZH; © Enno Ebels.
This is the first record for the Netherlands.
The Dutch rarities committee decided to place this species in the A-category of the Dutch List,
because ship-assistance is a normal strategy to colonise other areas (cf Dutch Birding
18: 6-10 and 117, 1996). The birds thrived in Hoek van Holland till a maximum of about 30 birds and remained stable for years. In 2013 it was decided the birds were considered vermin and were exterminated till the last bird in 2014.
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