Torresian Crow > fostering â—‹

The Torresian Crow (Corvus orru) are found mainly in the northern upper two thirds part of Australia, having also adapted well to the arid inland regions of Australia, mainly where there is permanent access to water.

The Torresian Crow form monogamous relationships for breeding, usually between August to February. Their nest is a bulky bowl shaped structure, usually built high in the shady section of eucalypts, power poles and pylons and made of sticks and lined with grasses.

The female usually lays a clutch of four to five bluish, spotted eggs and when hatched the young are fed by both parent birds. The Torresian Crow however, along with the Little Crow, is one of the species that the Channel-billed Cuckoo appear to choose to lay an egg in their nest. Once the egg hatches, the juvenile will usually kick the other chicks out of the nest, demanding total feeding from the foster parent birds.

Check out our information about the Channel-billed Cuckoo and images of the Torresian Crow feeding the juvenile cuckoo.


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Passeriformes
  • Family: Corvidae
  • Genus: Corvus
  • Species: C. orru
  • Binomial name: Corvus orru