If you have visited Mombasa within the last ten years then you definitely are not a stranger to these black birds. In fact their dominance within the coastal region would make you think this is their original home and probably their only habitat.

Unfortunately, the crow is not a native species of the Kenyan Coast. To clear the beaches of stinking, rotten, garbage in the late 18th Century the British imported the House Crow from India into Zanzibar.

Soon flocks of these alien birds were on mainland Tanzania and today millions of House Crows are ravaging Kenya from Lunga Lunga to Lamu! 

Their collective noun should be a "Murder of Crows" and these invaders literally murder Kenya's fauna wherever they have landed. Whole villages along Kenya's Coast have been entirely denuded.

There are no lizards, gekkos, grasshoppers, butterflies, crickets, beach crabs in these villages all eaten along with common indigenous birds like the bulbul, golden weaver and even the beautiful lilac-breasted roller. 

Daily the House Crow is gaining new territory. Already their ugly cawing is heard amongst the calls of the bush in Tsavo East Game Park Lodges. 

They have been seen at Voi on the way to Nairobi, following the SGR. Once these horrors reach Nairobi there will be no way to stop them.

Following expanding urban sprawl, they'll naturally occupy the Rift Valley, and then spread to the vital Tourist Lodges in the Masai Mara.

Eventually, they will definitely dominate, and decimate Kenya's fauna and greatly affect the flora. This has become a great concern for environmentalists, nature enthusiast and the tourism industry.  

The Kenya Tourism Federation Chairman, Mohammed Hersi, shares that the fight against the Indian house crows has for a long time been a battle for hoteliers.

The crows do not just feed on rubbish and leftovers but also have a nose for delicacies and will a number of times invade restaurants, grab food from tourists’ plates and leave their dropping all over the furniture. Unfortunately though, he mentions that the government has been the least involved in dealing with this invasion.

“For a long time we have been fighting it on our own but other organizations are moving in now. The biggest threat with the house crow is that it is at the top of the food chain, this means that no other bird can feed on it but it feeds on all the others. It will be an even bigger problem when they invade the Tsavo parks and make their way to Nairobi." He shares.

Adding "They are already in Mtito Andei. The crows are a pest just like the locusts are and the government should be doing everything possible to get rid of them, unfortunately this battle has only been left to private wings,”.

Some hotels have been forced to hire bird chasers in fight against the house crows.

Kenya Wildlife Services is currently the lead in the Indian house crow control program.

According to a report by Dr Mohammed Omar, Principal Scientist Coast Conservation Area, the Indian house crow has proved to be a very invasive species as it tends to outcompete other native species.

It poses a number of risks as it is a nuisance to tourists, eats turtle nests, drives out and raids other nests and destroys eggs of other small birds.

“There are more than 1130 bird species within Kenya, 120 of these species are associated with the Coast, and they migrate to and from other areas because of habitation traits. But in the recent years most of these birds have been displaced by these invasive crows. The areas most affected currently include Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi. We are afraid they might end up going to Tsavo as they have already been spotted in Voi. This means that there will be a lower diversity of birds in the parks,” shares the official.

According to Dr Mohammed, Kenya Wildlife Services in partnership with other organizations including the ministry of  tourism, Kenya airports authority, ministry of health, national museum of Kenya, Kenya birds of prey, Nema  and others  are currently in discussion on what can be done and the correct methodology to target this species.

Over population of the house crows has also greatly affected farmers as they raid and damage crops leading to low harvests, they have a mob tactic and they attack their target areas in groups.

About 8 years ago, Dancan Mitchell, Fred Otieno and a couple of Vipingo villagers started the Vipingo Village Crow eradication Kids initiative.

The initiative engages the local kids in raiding the house crow nests and destroying their eggs. Every week the kids destroy over 8,000 eggs, the kids are then paid 5 shillings for every egg that is destroyed from the Crows no more funds drive.

The initiative has also made Vipingo Ridge the best bird watching location in the Coast due to the relative absence of the crows.

“We started this initiative 8 years ago as a team of three but from there we engage other young people in eradication of the crow nests. We started with the Vipingo and Shariani areas as the crows had chased out almost all birds, today the Vipingo ridge where we started is nearly crow free. What we do is hunt down their nests, which we recognize by the twigs they use and their binding styles, they are very intelligent birds." Shares Fred Otieno.

Adding "Their eggs are also colorful so we know exactly which nests are theirs. The inspiration is basically for our children and the generations to come, we don’t want them to never see the different bird species that we have all because the crows made them extinct,”

Dancan Mitchell insists though that it is vital for the Government of Kenya to urgently approve a new start of tests using  the poison Starlicide which will only kill crows, as it is currently near impossible to stop the crows using any other methodology.

Between 1999 and 2005, A Rocha Kenya, a conservation and research organization, used the avian poison called Starlicide to eliminate crows in Malindi, their records show they managed to reduce crows from hundreds to fewer than 50.

But the Kenya government later banned the importation of Starlicide.

“We have just the one chance to eliminate these monsters. The Kenya Wildlife Service is allowing us to self-fund an efficacy test using Crow Specific Starlicide Poison. These tests will be conducted under the most rigorous scrutiny, which means they will be expensive and we need the public’s help to fund these tests, through crows no more fund,” adds the birder and nature enthusiast.