In some cases, they can also live for up to 30 years. “It depends on their environment,” he added. “But here, crows are healthy.”
The thing is, the species of crows ruffling feathers here — that thrives on human food, adapts quickly to urban life and is known to be aggressive, especially when nesting — is not native to Singapore.
They are house crows, an invasive species that “causes damage to our ecosystem”, said Liu, whose job is to help protect Singapore’s natural habitats and biodiversity.
“They prey on the eggs of our native birds. … They outcompete our native wildlife for food and nesting sites,” he elucidated, citing a risk to the critically endangered straw-headed bulbul, “one of the most precious birds we have”.
“We have to deal with the situation right now. … The (crow) population is huge, and if it grows any larger, there’ll definitely be negative impacts (on) our ecosystem.”