Food of the Crow, Corvus Brachyrhynchos Brehm, in South-Central Kansas

Part 1

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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume 8, No. 8, pp. 477-498, 4 tables

June 8, 1956

Food of the Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos Brehm, in South-central Kansas

DWIGHT PLATT

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1956

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, Robert W. Wilson

Volume 8, No. 8, pp. 477-498, 4 tables Published June 8, 1956

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1956

FOOD OF THE CROW, CORVUS BRACHYRHYNCHOS BREHM, IN SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS

By Dwight Platt

Introduction

The yearly diet of the crow was studied from December, 1952, to February, 1954, in Harvey County and the northeastern townships of Reno County, in south-central Kansas. In the United States much attention has been devoted previously to the food taken by the crow because it is of economic importance. The work of Barrows and Schwarz (1895) was the first of a series of studies made by the United States Department of Agriculture. Kalmbach (1918, 1920, 1939) continued these studies by analyzing stomach contents from various parts of the United States. Also the diet of the crow has been studied by local areas (Imler--Oklahoma, 1939; Hering--New York, 1934; Black--Illinois, 1941; Lemaire--Louisiana, 1950).

I am grateful to Dr. Henry S. Fitch, for many valuable suggestions and helpful encouragement given in the course of my study. Professor E. Raymond Hall, who read the manuscript, likewise offered valuable suggestions. Dr. R. L. McGregor and Mr. Wilford Hanson provided invaluable assistance in identification of plants and insects found in the crow pellets.

Methods

Previous studies were based mostly on analyses of stomach contents. My study is based on the analysis of 617 regurgitated pellets collected from roosts and lookout posts. Fifty-three collections of pellets were made throughout the year at regular intervals, except that none was made in January, March, or May. The pellets were wrapped individually in paper or leaves as collected, and each was analyzed separately. The percentages by bulk of different food residues (excluding sand and other extraneous material) were estimated in each pellet and recorded.

Description of the Study Area

The study area is on the eastern edge of the Great Bend Prairie physiographic province of Moore (1930). The climate is characterized by moderate precipitation (ann. 30"), a wide range of temperature variations, moderately high wind velocities, and comparatively rapid evaporation. The summers are generally hot, and the winters are moderately cold but are free from excessive snowfall. The weather during the study period was unusually dry, and the summer temperatures were above normal. A drought had begun in 1952, following the cool and wet summer of 1951.

The study area includes the zone of transition from bluestem or tall-grass prairie to the buffalo grass or short-grass prairie. The principal farm crop in the study area is wheat. Sorghum grain, oats, hay crops (especially alfalfa), and corn are also grown. The study area supported a small population of breeding crows; an estimate based on field observations mainly in eastern Harvey County, was not more than one pair per square mile. In winter a large population of crows migrates into the area from the northern Great Plains. Censuses showed that on parts of the area the feeding population might be as great as 180 birds per square mile. These wintering crows concentrate in the western part of the study area where the flat, fertile wheat fields of central Harvey County are replaced by sand dunes and the sandy Arkansas River Valley. Here much land is devoted to raising livestock, and sorghum grain is an important field crop. There is also more waste land there than elsewhere in the area.

Data From Analysis of Pellets

Data obtained from the analysis of pellets were grouped in biweekly collections, and percentages of various food residues in the pellets collected within each biweekly period were averaged. Also frequency of occurrence was computed, and maximum and minimum percentages were included to permit a broader interpretation. In determining the minimum percentage, only those pellets were considered in which the food residue was present.

Pellets from roosts of resident crows were collected on a year round basis in eastern Harvey County near Newton (see tables 1 and 2). The data from these pellets were interpreted separately from data on collections made in the western part of the study area from under roosts of wintering crows (see tables 3 and 4).

In studies of the food of owls analysis of materials in regurgitated pellets has been widely used, but with crows this method has been little used because the nature of their food makes identification of material more difficult. Analysis of pellets has certain merits, however, and, if closely correlated with field studies, can give valuable information concerning food habits. The availability of pellets and the ease of collecting them are obvious advantages. Under large roosts in winter the number that can be collected is almost unlimited. At other seasons, pellets are scarcer, but even so they usually are more available than stomachs.

The technique of pellet analysis is more easily applied to a study of the yearly diet than is the technique of stomach analysis. The crow is euryphagous and, as shown by this study, the diets of crows a few miles apart may differ. Therefore a study made on a limited area within one biotic community, on a year round basis, and correlated with changes in the habitat should be of greatest value. For such a study, collection of stomachs is not practical unless individuals are abundant so that many can be sacrificed, but collection of pellets is practical and profitable.

Part 2

One limitation of data based on material from pellets is the impossibility of closely correlating the volume of indigestible residues with the proportion of food items actually eaten. Such correlation is prevented not only by the different percentages of indigestible residues in different food items but also by irregularities in regurgitation and in the efficiency of the crow's digestive system. Barrows and Schwarz (1895:24-25) cite several instances of such irregularities in captive crows. In certain pellets that I studied, part of the wheat or other grain was undigested or partly digested, whereas in other pellets the only residue was finely divided chaff. Certain foods that lack hard parts may leave no recognizable residues in pellets. A captive crow that I raised did not form pellets when fed soft food. Nevertheless, data from analysis of pellets when supplemented by field observations, should serve as a sound basis for valid conclusions concerning the relative proportions of various foods eaten. The following field observations of habitat factors aid in interpreting the information obtained from pellet analysis.

Field Observations and Correlations

RESIDENT CROWS IN EASTERN HARVEY COUNTY.--Although no field observations were made on feeding behavior in April, the large percentage of oat hulls found in the pellets suggests that newly sown fields of oats must have been one of the major feeding grounds in that month. Oats were planted between February 15 and March 20.

The pellets collected in June were all from the roost of one family group of crows. This group spent much time in a cherry orchard and in the shelterbelt near it. Residues of cherry and wheat constituted the only plant foods found in the pellets. In both frequency and percentage, scarabaeid beetles constituted the other important food source. The wheat harvest started on June 17.

The cherry harvest was over by June 29. Grain harvest was over and the fields were being plowed by July 2. Alfalfa was being cut for hay in early July and crows were then feeding on plowed fields and the newly mown alfalfa fields. Much time in the middle of the day was spent along the creeks where crayfish could be obtained. During most of the summer, pellets were difficult to find because the roosts were small, shifting, and scattered and because few pellets were produced. For weeks at a time there were no usable pellets under roosts occupied by hundreds of birds, although droppings and feathers were present. At other times large collections of pellets could be gathered from small roosts. Plowing was a major farm operation at the season when pellets were most scarce. Larvae of insects (especially beetles), and earthworms might have provided a major source of food which lacked sufficient indigestible material to form pellets. A few feces were collected and analyzed in an attempt to find the residue of such soft-bodied foods. Indigestible materials were found in the feces, but these were of the same types as those found in the pellets. Only a few fragments were found which might have been the mouthparts of grubs.

After mid-July pellets were common under one small roost. In late July they were scarce, even at a roost with several hundred crows. The principal feeding grounds of crows were stubble fields and plowed fields. All grain picked up at this time was waste. Plowing was interrupted by rain from July 11-18 but was the major farm operation again after July 19.

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