Day 63 - Terrace walking companions

Pigeon, crown and myna.  Three birds I will always see on the terrace. 

One of them is feral, while the other two are wild, but adapted to humans.  What's the difference between feral and wild?

 Feral population

• Animals, birds or plants that were once domesticated  but have escaped (or been set free) human control and now live and reproduce independently in the wild.  

• They’re not truly “wild” in origin, but they behave as wild populations.  We saw feral horses in Point Calimere.  I am tempted to call the Thiruvanmyur cattle as feral - they seem to come and go as they please.  

Here's an example of a feral population.  The pigeons we see in Chennai (and most cities worldwide) are feral Rock Pigeons (Columba livia domestica).  Their ancestor is the wild Rock Dove (Columba livia), which naturally lived on cliffs and rocky coasts.  We domesticated them for food, courier duty and as pets.  Some escaped, or were abandoned, and they have taken over our cities, using the building as surrogate cliff and rock.

Truly wild rock doves - they are hard to come by, believe it or not.  Maybe in some sea cliffs or remote islands.  Hebrides has a population.  Great essay here.  

Wild, urban-adapted populations

The crows in Chennai — mostly House Crows (Corvus splendens) seen in the picture - the grey-headed ones  — are wild populations, not feral ones.  Crows were never domesticated, they just thrived and adapted to our garbage and our mess, and our cultural beliefs of feeding our ancestors have kept them going.  

They are very much part and parcel of our lands, maybe not in the numbers we see today.  It is interesting - the crow population is so much less in Bangalore vis-à-vis Chennai.

These intelligent birds are pretty cool actually - as long as they don't caw at my bedroom window at day break!😅. But they have become quite the neighbourhood bullies - cawing and terrorising every other creature.

and this is the Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) - all black and larger bill.  Also Wild

The Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) you see all over Chennai is a wild bird, not feral. It is native, and not domesticated.  Another vocal species, that always has a lot to say.

The very same Myna can be invasive in some other country - like Australia - because it got introduced there by humans.  

Don't feed the birds.  They can feed themselves.  Really.  They are really smart and self-sufficient.