Birdfinding.info ⇒ Uncommon and declining overall, but locally common in a few areas. Easy to find at the Paraíso Caño Hondo ecolodge at Sabana de la Mar, where some individuals regularly visit the restaurant to beg for scraps. It is also frequently found on the Rabo de Gato Trail and along the shore of Lago Enriquillo west of Duverge. It is fairly common in the eastern resort zone from La Romana to Punta Cana—especially along the western boundary of Del Este National Park and on Isla Saona. Also common along Haiti’s northern and southern coasts.
White-necked Crow
Corvus leucognaphalus
Endemic to Hispaniola and its satellite islands, (Île-à-Vache, Saona, and possibly Gonâve) where it occurs in a wide range of lowland habitats along the whole spectrum from arid to humid and from scrub to forest.
Current distribution is patchy following decades of decline. In the Dominican Republic, found mainly in the eastern lowlands in and around Los Haitises and Del Este National Parks (including Isla Saona), and in the southwest from the Sierra de Neiba across the Enriquillo Depression to the Sierra de Bahoruco. In Haiti, healthy populations persist in the north around Cap-Haitien and the south along much of the Tiburon Peninsula (including the adjacent Île-à-Vache).
Formerly native to Puerto Rico, where extirpated around 1977. It has also been recorded as a vagrant on Navassa Island.
Identification
A large crow with a bull-neck and broad, heavy bill. Shows a vivid red iris at close range. The nominal white on the base of some neck feathers is rarely visible.
Due to its eccentric voice and puffy appearance, it is unlikely to be confused with the other crow in its range, the Hispaniolan Palm Crow.
White-necked Crow. (Del Este National Park, March 13, 2015) © Isabel Apkarian
White-necked Crow. (Playas de Iberostar Dominicos, Bayahibe, Dominican Republic; September 10, 2017.) © Ricardo Doumecq Milieu
White-necked Crow. (Labadie, Haiti; June 27, 2017.) © Rob Van Epps
White-necked Crow, showing bulky neck feathers, but no white. (Isla Saona, Dominican Republic; January 10, 2012.) © Brendan Fogarty
White-necked Crow. (Paraíso Caño Hondo, Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic; March 10, 2006.) © Chris Wood
White-necked Crow. (Laguna de Oviedo, Dominican Republic; March 27, 2009.) © Ron Knight
White-necked Crow, showing its white neck. (Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic; February 10, 2018.) © Gil Ewing
White-necked Crow. (La Romana, Dominican Republic; December 11, 2013.) © ZankaM
White-necked Crow. (Del Este National Park, Dominican Republic; January 16, 2018.) © Simon Best
White-necked Crow. (Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic; April 7, 2009.) © caribemotion
White-necked Crow. (Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic; March 17, 2016.) © Markus Lilje
White-necked Crow. (Laguna de Oviedo, Dominican Republic; March 27, 2009.) © Ron Knight
Notes
Monotypic species.
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable.
References
BirdLife International 2016. Corvus leucognaphalus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22706013A94046195. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22706013A94046195.en. (Accessed June 27, 2019.)
eBird. 2019. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed June 27, 2019.)
Latta, S., C. Rimmer, A. Keith, J. Wiley, H. Raffaele, K. McFarland, and E. Fernandez. 2006. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Marzluff, J. 2019. White-necked Crow (Corvus leucognaphalus). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/60793. (Accessed June 27, 2019.)
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.