Spatial and temporal dynamics in the use of urban habitats by Hooded Crows

TL;DR

Hooded Crows in a Hungarian city use urban habitats differently depending on the season, with breeding season behavior influenced by nesting sites and human activity.

Contribution

The study reveals how urban habitat features influence Hooded Crows' spatial and temporal behavior, offering insights for managing human-crow conflicts.

Findings

During the breeding season, crow numbers increase with nesting sites and trashbins but are unaffected by habitat type.

Colonization probability is high in parks and quiet residential areas but low in busy residential areas with traffic.

Outside the breeding season, crow numbers increase in areas with more trashbins and decrease in residential areas.

Abstract

Understanding the habitat use of animals in cities is relevant for urban planning, human-wildlife conflict management and urban biodiversity conservation. We studied the habitat use of Hooded Crows, a nuisance bird in much of Europe, in 16 different neighborhoods (sections) of a recently crow-colonized city in E Hungary. In the breeding season, when crows defend territories, crow numbers increased with nesting site availability and the number of trashbins but were unaffected by habitat type or area of the section. However, colonization probability was negatively influenced by the number of trashbins and restaurants, was high in parks, sports complexes, and quieter residential areas, and was low in residential areas busy with traffic. Outside the breeding season, when crows move around in groups, crow numbers increased with time in the section with the highest number of trashbins, decreased in residential areas and was stable in parks and sports complexes. Our results suggest that while crows are attracted by the foraging opportunities offered by anthropogenic food sources, they avoid nesting in such areas, likely due to high human disturbance. This implies that residential areas with fewer food sources will attract fewer crows, potentially reducing human-crow conflicts. Our study also suggests that improved waste management, such as closed-top trashbins in public places or covered enclosures in zoos, may further reduce the availability of anthropogenic food sources to crows and that targeted crow control is best scheduled for the breeding season and in residential areas.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-40561-z.

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