Cuthy head detail

Description

There are three crow species that inhabit the Karoo.  Cuthbert’s kind, the African Pied Crows, are probably the most ubiquitous.  They don a smart black and white plumage – presumably how they earned their Xhosa name of umfundisi, meaning missionary.  The smaller and less predatory Black Crows (which used to be known as Cape Rooks) do well in cultivated areas; and the big White-necked Ravens, with their disproportionately huge bills, haunt the mountain ranges of the southern Karoo.  They also have a wonderful Xhosa name: ilisolomzi, meaning eye of the village.