White-necked Raven

The white-necked raven (Corvus albicollis) is a large, heavy-billed corvid of eastern and southern Africa. Adults are roughly 50–56 cm long and weigh about 0.76–1.16 kg. The plumage is glossy black with purple or blue iridescence, while a conspicuous patch of white feathers covers the lower nape. The bill is exceptionally deep and strongly arched, and the tail is relatively short for a raven.

It can overlap with the pied crow (Corvus albus), but the latter is smaller and more slender-billed and has extensive white across the breast and belly rather than a white patch restricted to the nape. The white-necked raven's massive bill and more powerful build are distinctive at close range.

White-necked ravens are closely associated with rocky and mountainous landscapes, including cliffs, highland grasslands, open woodland and savanna. Steep rock faces are especially important because they provide the species with its typical nesting sites.

They also forage readily in farmland, villages and towns where suitable cliffs or rocky country remain nearby. This allows the species to combine natural mountain habitat with food resources created by people without becoming as strongly urban-dependent as some other Corvus species.

The diet is exceptionally broad. White-necked ravens eat carrion, reptiles, birds and eggs, small mammals, insects such as locusts and beetles, fruit, grain and other plant foods, and they readily exploit human refuse. They have also been recorded removing ticks from cattle.

White-necked ravens find much of their food while soaring over the landscape, but also forage on foot, especially at carcasses, rubbish sites, livestock areas and recently burned ground. They also search trees and cliffs and may gather with vultures, kites and other scavengers where food is concentrated.

The species is sometimes attracted to grass or veld fires, where birds search for animals flushed or killed by the flames.

White-necked ravens are resident and accomplished fliers that spend considerable time soaring around cliffs, ridges and open highlands. Some birds may move to lower elevations during winter.

Mature birds usually occur singly or as territorial pairs, while juveniles and non-breeders may gather in larger flocks. At especially rich food sources, flocks of up to around 150 birds have been recorded outside the breeding season.

White-necked ravens handle food in several flexible ways. They cache surplus food in vegetation and return to it later, requiring them to keep track of food that is temporarily out of sight.

They are also well known for carrying small tortoises into the air and dropping them onto hard ground or rocks to break the shell. If the shell does not open, the bird may retrieve the tortoise and repeat the process. This repeated use of height and a suitable hard surface is a striking example of problem-solving during foraging.

Social object play has also been described in the species. Observations published in 1944 described white-necked ravens competing over sticks or dry cow dung in a game in which one bird held an elevated position while another tried to take both the object and the position.

Breeding timing varies geographically; in southern Africa breeding has been recorded mainly from July to December. Pairs are monogamous and strongly territorial around the nest. The nest is a large bowl of sticks lined with softer material such as grass, hair and wool and is usually placed on an inaccessible cliff ledge or in a pothole in the rock. Tree nests occur but are uncommon.

Clutches contain two to five eggs. Incubation begins with the first egg, so the chicks hatch asynchronously, and lasts around 21 days. Both sexes share incubation. After hatching, the female feeds the chicks. The young are fully feathered and capable of flight at about 38 days.

The white-necked raven has a broad distribution across eastern and southern Africa and uses both natural and human-modified landscapes where rocky nesting habitat is available. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List, but the global population trend is considered decreasing.

Local abundance can nevertheless depend on the availability of cliffs for nesting, reliable food and relatively undisturbed breeding sites, particularly in landscapes where suitable rocky habitat is patchily distributed.