| י544) עורב קצר-זנב | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
:עורב קצר-זנב | . עורב שחור, מקורו מגושם ובקצהו זיפים, זנבו הקצר מקנה לו את שמו במעופו צלליתו כשל עטלף. הברק הכחול-שחור של שחור נוצותיו מתחלף . לצבע ברונזה-ארגמני. קרקורו נשמע לכזה של שחף . בית גידולו משתרע באזור אתיופיה , קניה, אוגנדה במערבה של סעודיה ובישראל . בית חיותו מצוקים וסלעים באזורים יבשים ויבשים למחצה, לעיתים בקרבת ישובים . בארץ יציב לא שכיח בעיקר במדבר יהודה, ליד ים המלח, בערבה ומזרח הנגב ... וישלח את העורב ... בראשית ח' 7
Subspecies and Distribution.
| C .r. stanleyi Sinai, Levant, and Arabia. C .r. rhipidurus Afrotropics N to Tibesti and Gebel Elba.
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Descriptive notes.
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47 cm, 340-550 g, wingspan 102-120 cm. Large, bat-winged black crow, with folded wing-tips extending well past tail and behaviour on ground recalling Rook. Croak recalls gull. When fresh, plumage entirely glossy blue-black, with additional purple and bronze iridescence marked in certain lights. With wear, blue and purple tones change to oily-blue bronze or even copper, and bird may then look browner, though less so than in Brown-necked Raven. Sexes similar , some seasonal variation through wear. Habitat. Breeds in subtropics and tropics, mainly in semi-arid or arid regions, preferring presence of cliffs or crags suitable for nesting, and creating opportunities for habit of playing and soaring in thermals. Food and Feeding Mainly recorded scavenging near human settlements for offal, scraps, and rubbish. also takes insects and other invertebrates, grain pecked from animal droppings, berries, and fruit. Forages on ground in pairs, or more frequently in flocks at rubbish dumps, wadis, oases, picnic sites, fish-drying areas, and fields of young corn. May travel long distance to find food. Breeding. Late Feb to late Jul in Israel and Jordan, mid Feb to May in Arabia, Mid Apr to early Jun in Eas Africa. Nest site, crevice, or sheltered ledge, usually inaccessible in sheer cliff, rarely on building. Nest, loosely constructed platform and cup of sticks, twigs, and roots, lined with wool, hair,cloth, freshly plucked twigs, and other soft material. 3-4, eggs, sub-elliptical to long oval, smooth and glossy. Pale greenish-blue, blotched and speckled or faintly streaked with olive-brown and dark brown, and less conspicuous violet-grey under-markings. Incubation,18-20 days. Movements. Essentially sedentary, with local movements. In Israel, mainly sedentary but recorded at Elat in S chiefly in winter, and formerly wintered regularly in and near Jerusalem. Resident in Saudi Arabia, but apparently some move south. In Africa, also appears chiefly sedentary. Status and Conservation. Not globally threatened. No changes reported. Israel. In Israel subspecies C. r. stanleyi locally quite common resident in arid deserts, occurs in Judean Desert and especially Dead Sea Depression, also E Negev and Arava.
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