- Corvus palmarum
Photographed: Najasa, Cuba
Identification
The Palm Crow is classified as Endangered. It is slightly smaller than Cuban Crow with shorter wings and elongated tufts over the upper mandible. It is often seen on the ground, as in this photo, where the Cuban Crow rarely if ever is seen and it seems more easily spooked by the presence of humans.
The Palm Crow (Corvus palmarum) is a relatively small black bird in the crow family. The Dominican local name for the palm crow is cao, which is onomatopoeic of the simple and repetitive call of this bird.
Distribution
It occurs mostly on the large Caribbean island of Hispaniola, itself divided into the two countries of Dominican Republic and Haiti. It was formerly quite frequent on Cuba but has sadly become severely reduced in number and may be almost extinct there.
Taxonomy
This form is slightly smaller and is usually separated as a sub-species called Corvus palmarum minutus. Both forms are usually now given the respective common names of Hispaniolan Palm Crow and Cuban Palm Crow to distinguish them.
Both forms appear to be closely related to the Fish Crow of the eastern seaboard of the United States and also two smaller species, the Tamaulipas Crow and Sinaloa Crow of Mexico and forms a species group with them.
Habitat
Mainly in mountain pine forests and also around the area of the lake Enriquillo.
