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Updated India Estimates Put House Crow at +36.7% Long Term but −2.1% per Year Recently

House crow perched in the Anamalai Hills, India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds estimated contrasting numerical trends for the house crow (Corvus splendens) across India. The revised figures, released on 6 May 2026, put the long-term trend at +36.7%, while the current annual trend was −2.1% per year.

The two updated estimates clearly supported opposite trends: a long-term increase, but a recent decline of about 2.1% per year. The species page still carries the 2023 national category Trend Inconclusive for both time scales; these labels were not recalculated from the 2025 numerical estimates.

The modelled national distribution range was estimated at 2,586,692 km². State of India’s Birds describes the house crow as a resident, non-specialist species and retains it in the Low conservation-priority category.

The interim update recalculated numerical range and trend estimates for 942 previously assessed species using about 48 million eBird observations submitted across India through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds. The categorical assessments themselves were not recalculated in this release.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status – 2025 interim update (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 dataset release created 6 May 2026. Version 2 updated numerical distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025; the assessment categories were unchanged.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: House Crow (Corvus splendens), Protected Areas.The Protected Areas page’s 2025 table displays the India-wide numerical values alongside Protected Areas estimates: India long-term trend +36.73% (+24.67 to +48.94), current annual trend −2.12% (−2.59 to −1.64), and distribution range 2,586,692 km² (2,586,431–2,586,953). The assessment categories at the top of this page refer to Protected Areas, not the national India assessment.
  3. SoIB 2023. State of India’s Birds factsheet: House Crow (Corvus splendens), India.National assessment whose categories remain in force after the 2025 numerical update: Trend Inconclusive for both the long-term and current annual trends, with Low conservation priority.

Image: PJeganathan / Wikimedia Commons — house crow (Corvus splendens) photographed in the Anamalai Hills, Southern Western Ghats, India, 18 December 2015; representative species image, cropped to 16:9 from the original · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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