for more than a century, it was known from only two specimens taken from an unknown island in the banggai archipelago - probably in 1884/1885. visits to the archipelago in 1991 and 1996 yielded no unequivocal records of the species, leading some to believe it was extinct. during a survey conducted between 2007 and 2008 and partially financed by the zoological society for the conservation of species and populations (germany), it was repeatedly seen on peleng island and indonesian ornithologist mochamad indrawan caught and photographed two individuals. the validity of the crows on peleng was not recognized by birdlife international in its 2009 red list. confirmation of the identity based on two specimens from peleng was made by pamela c. rasmussen of the american museum of natural history in october 2009.