Adults: General plumage totally black, with purple and green gloss. Underdown pure white, clearly demarcate. No hackles. Eye, white, with inner blue ring. Bill, black. Feet, black.
Immatures: Like adults but breast and belly sooty brown. Underdown greyish-white. Eye, brown.
Other Names (World)
Little Crow, Kelly, Bennett's Crow, Bennett's Small-billed Crow, Queensland Crow, Scrub Crow, Short-billed Crow, Small-billed Crow
Habitat
Mallee, mulga, other acacia shrubs, timber on water courses, grasslands, deserts, near treeless plains, coastal woodlands, farmlands, abattoirs, towns.
Food
Omnivorous. Insects and plant material, including carrion.
Voice
Quick, hoarse, nasal bariton 'nark-nark-nark' or 'k'larp-k'larp-k'larp', the notes short and clipped, in advertisement and contact, in flight or from a perch. Also bubbled guttural warble and soft jarring caw in close contact.
Little Crow (Corvus bennetti) [XC287042]
by Marc Anderson from Bowra Station, near Cunnamulla, Queensland, Australia (call)
Little Crow (Corvus bennetti) [XC107867]
by Marc Anderson from Monkey Mia, Shark Bay, Australia (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
July - October but also after good rains.
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Nest
A small basket of sticks, well lined with a variety of soft materials, characteristically with a layer of mud or clay between the lining and outer basket, placed in the fork of a tree, between 1 and 10 m from the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 6, usually 4; pale green, heavily blotched and spotted with dark olive-brown; oblong-oval; about 39 x 27 mm. Incubation: 17 - 19 days; by female.
Young
Fledge in 29 - 31 days.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Proposed subspecies bonhoti (described from Murchison, in Western Australia) considered inadequately differentiated to warrant recognition; putative subspecies queenslandicus (from Dawson R, in eastern Queensland), ascribed to present species, was based on misidentified Torresian Crow (Corvus orru).
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet