The collared crow (''Corvus torquatus''), also known as the ring-necked crow or white-collared crow, is a member of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Corvidae Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Cu ...

native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and north of Vietnam.

Description

It is about 52–55 cm in length—the same size or slightly larger than the

carrion crow The carrion crow (''Corvus corone'') is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus ''Corvus'' which is native to western Europe and the eastern Palearctic. Taxonomy and systematics The carrion crow was one of the many species or ...

(''C. corone''), with proportionately slightly longer wings, tail and bill. A sleek and handsome bird, it has glossy black plumage except for the back of the neck, upper back (mantle), and a broad band around the lower breast that is white. The bill, legs and feet are black. It sometimes flies with its feet hanging down below the body in a characteristically "lazy" way. The voice is a loud ''"kaaar"'' repeated several times with other slight variations on it to suit the occasion. It also like many other corvids, utters strange clipping and clicking sounds during its head bowing display to another bird.

Distribution and ecology

The range of this species is essentially

, covering large areas of the country though not further north than

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. It occurs in plains and low lying river valleys in fairly open country and cultivated regions and is a common sight in paddy fields. It tends to avoid large towns and cities and is predominantly a rural species. Food is sought mainly on the ground where a large range of items are taken, such as

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s and other invertebrates (even from shallow water), grains, especially

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

and it also searches among refuse for suitable food items left by humans. It appears to take less carrion than other species but will if the opportunity arises, and will also take eggs and nestlings. The nest is usually in a tree and is plastered with mud. There are usually 3–4 eggs laid. It was formerly classified as a Species of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

.BLI (2004) But new research has shown it to be rarer than it was believed. It was uplisted to

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 as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

status in 2008BLI (2008) and Vulnerable in 2018.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2579959 collared crow collared crow Birds of China collared crow Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN