The golden crow is one of Europe’s most impressive birds, boasting beautiful, brightly colored feathers. Her head and belly are decorated with a bright turquoise blue color, while her back is completely brown. However, this bird is not only special for its beautiful appearance, but also for its interesting behavior and habits of nesting and migration.
Although it has been nesting in lowland Croatia for many years, it suddenly disappeared from the radar and only in 2010 was it discovered that it had started nesting in Ravni kotari. By joint efforts, ornithologists managed to increase the number of specimens of this species by installing nesting sites.
The golden crow is a bird that likes open spaces, so it is often found on the edges of forests, meadows and pastures, and even in arable fields. It is also important to have water nearby as they will find plenty of food there. It feeds on insects, amphibians, lizards and similar animals and hunts them very patiently, observes them from elevated positions and pounces on its prey with great speed.
If it catches a larger prey that has been eluding it for a long time, it will hit a rock or solid surface with it until it kills it. It goes hunting either in the morning or before evening, while during the day it is calmer. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to find it, since it is resting and not in popular and frequented places where you can photograph it.
Goldcrow and the journey to Africa
The golden crow places its nests either in tree hollows or in holes it digs in the ground. Mating of this species occurs in the spring and the female will sit on the eggs alone without the help of the male. Hatching takes a little less than twenty days, after which the male begins to care for the offspring and bring them food.
Her journey to Africa begins at the end of summer and they return to their nests in the spring, most often in the month of April.
Life in Croatia
The golden eagle can currently only be seen in Ravni kotari, although in the past it was a frequent visitor to Hrvatski Zagorje and Podravina. Popular wood for their nests is poplars, which are soft enough to create hollows in which they can roost. The decline of poplars is most often caused by fires and reckless burning of stands, therefore the restoration of this forest stock is important.
Poplars are otherwise very important as a tree line preventing soil erosion by wind, but also as a place for the nests of golden crows. Therefore, it is necessary to plant new poplars and preserve the old ones so that this species finds its home in Croatia again.