If you have an over-active imagination big black noisy crows can be scary

^{Large-billed crow Photos: eBird}

The large-billed crow is common to southern China, including Sai Kung. You may see them flying overhead impressively fast or congregated in a tree raucously talking to each other. They are bold creatures, scary as if from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. In some regions they may attack humans unprovoked. Large-billed crows are often considered pests because they will rip open garbage bags with their strong beaks and steal coat hangars for use in nests. The crow is a ravenous scavenger that will eat anything dead or alive, plant or animal.

This crow when adult is about 18 ins long with a wing span of perhaps 39 ins. They have a relatively long bill with the upper one thick and arched, making the bird look raven like, threatening. Wings, tail, face and throat are glossy black; plumage on the head, neck, shoulders and lower body is so dark grey it is almost black.

^{A murder of crows}

You may see the large-billed crow in woodland, parks or gardens. Perhaps you will see it hunting. Lizards are a particularly sought after prey.

The nest is a platform of twigs and wire, high in the forks of trees such as fir or pine. The normal clutch is four or five eggs, blue-green and speckled with reddish brown or grey. At night they may roost in large groups in tall trees. This has been observed in Sai Kung.

Large-billed crows can be scary when gathered in a big bunch, aggressively active with loud calls “caa haa caa”. If you’re the nervous type or have an over-active imagination, you’ll get inside the house quickly.

“Mitch, why are they doing this, the birds?”

“I think we are in trouble. I don’t know how this started or why; but it’s here and we’d be crazy to ignore it.”

“Ignore what?”

“The bird war.”

–-From Hitchcock’s The Birds