The winged sanitary worker is slowly disappearing from the garden city
Chances are we have not noticed that a very taken-for granted presence in our lives may be abandoning us. Not that many would miss it, but the crow -also known as the Indian House Crow or Corvus Splendens -could be on its way out in Bengaluru.
The crow -the original pourakarmika (sanitary worker) of our cities, who cleaned up entire neighborhoods of left-overs -is being seen less and less. Their hoarse calls are not heard as frequently as they used to be.
True, this noisy, quarrelsome and ubiquitous busybody -described by many as “bird with brains“ -never boasted of a fan club, except among a few like cartoonist RK Laxman.Their messy table manners, not to mention their diet of rodents and road-kill, earned them the wrath of humans. For little boys, they always were target-practice favourites. Ironically, although much despised, Hindu death ceremonies were never complete without the crow being fed the first morsel of food.
At a recent death ceremony in the city, the dead man's family , priests and guests became impatient when no crow turned up to eat the three dumplings of rice served in a plantain leaf. When the wait became endless, the priest suggested that they feed a cow instead.
The absence of any scientific data puts the disappearance of crows in the realm of “impressions” and “intuition”, said ornithologist MB Krishna. Many more species that made cities their home, including the Leaf Warblers and Coppersmith Barbets, are dwindling, he noted.
With no official monitoring programme for birds -as in the US and other developed nations -even observations such as Krishna's are based on secondary factors such as tree cover and food sources. “Trees are their favourite nesting places. We can say that depletion of tree cover in Bengaluru -which is an indisputable fact -will be affecting crow population, “Krishna said. “Besides, there could be high pesticide and chemical content in food, whose leftovers crows scavenge,“ said ornithologist MB Krishna.
Ranjith Manakadan, assistant director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), put it slightly differently: “It would not be wrong to presume that their numbers may have seen declines or will decline in the future, mainly with increase in sanitation (waste thrown into dustbins or in plastic covers, making it inaccessible for crows), loss of habitat (trees), poisoning through cockroaches and rats that are killed with pesticides and poisons.“ Both the scientists believe it is an ominous sign. “Whatever will harm humans in future will harm birds first, given the latter's high metabolic rate. Toxins in the environment get the birds first, “Krishna said. Manakadan believes that high crow populations could, in fact, be harmful. Crows, he has argued in his publications, proliferated due to lack of hygiene in human habitations. High crow populations reduced diversity of other bird species since crows predate small birds, are more intelligent and adaptable. Australia, for instance, ordered extermination of crows to protect local species. “We would be the poorer without birds, but a decline in crow population could be beneficial for smaller birds that crows prey on or have elbowed out,“ he told ET.
World Wide Fund for Nature consultant Ajay Desai said the decline of the House Crow, although not studied, could be part of the changing dynamic of the urban environment. “Changes in human environment can lead to seemingly inexplicable upheavals among other species. Black crows are considered inauspicious while pigeons are fed; so, the latter gains an upper hand. The rare Perigrine Falcon was found nesting in New York, thanks to skyscrapers. The sparrows in Bengaluru disappeared, but you can see them nesting happily in the international airport. Given a suitable habitat and food source, they will all survive, “Desai said.
Similarly, the increase of pigeon populations in Bengaluru -another intuition-backed belief -is explained not only by the increase in pigeon-feeding by humans, but the proliferation of highrises in the city. “Pigeons are basically cliff birds and the ledges of high-rise buildings simulate cliffs, offering safe nesting sites, “observed Krishna.
According to film-maker, naturalist and keen bird-watcher BS Krupakar, any species that “ties itself to man“ is bound to be in trouble. It now appears to be the crow's turn.
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