Cape Crow
Corvus capensis
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Cordats)
- ClassAves (Aus)
- OrderPasseriformes
- FamilyCorvidae (Còrvids)
- GenusCorvus (Crows and Ravens)
- SpeciesCorvus capensis (Cape Crow)
The Cape crow or black crow (Corvus capensis) is slightly larger (48–50 cm in length) than the carrion crow and is completely black with a slight gloss of purple in its feathers. It also has proportionately longer legs, wings, and tail, and has a much longer, slimmer bill that seems to be adapted for probing into the ground for invertebrates. The head feathers have a coppery-purple gloss and the throat feathers are quite long and fluffed out in some calls and displays. Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Masai Mara National Reserve
Pied Crow
Corvus albus
White-necked Raven
Corvus albicollis
Superb Starling
Lamprotornis superbus
Rüppell's Glossy-starling
Lamprotornis purpuroptera
Common Bulbul
Pycnonotus barbatus
Yellow-throated Longclaw
Macronyx croceus
Grey-backed Fiscal
Lanius excubitoroides
Sooty Chat
Myrmecocichla nigra
Yellow-billed Oxpecker
Buphagus africanus
Yellow-fronted Canary
Crithagra mozambica
Purple Grenadier
Uraeginthus ianthinogaster
Fork-tailed Drongo
Dicrurus adsimilis
📅 Monthly Probability
Fewer than 5 records of Cape Crow at Masai Mara National Reserve — not enough to chart months honestly.
☀️ When They're Spotted
Most active during daytime hours (6am–6pm) · across all parks (global)
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there