Most all of
us know that the north American is a larger bird than the North American Crow
but then of course it is impossible to accurately judge size, or even colour;
(crows usually show other colours other than black; I have even seen some non- albinos that were pure white [no black markings whatever]) from a photo or
other image. Note: The crow pictured
(right) is not an albino; as you can plainly see, the iris of the eye is not pink.
Of course
with a roosting bird it is almost impossible to note the wedge shaped tail of a
raven; rather than the blunt tail of a crow. However there are other infallible
identifying markings which usually can be readily seen. Ravens have a tuft of
feathers covering the upper beak which comes to a point, rather than being
rounded off like that of a crow. The smaller STRAIGHTER beak of a crow has no
such feathering (tuft). Like the white crow pictured above them, these white ravens
Ravens have
longer rather shaggy neck feathers which crows do not have. Note in
accompanying illustration (left); there are also marked differences in wing
shape and way of flying. Differentiating one bird from the other should never
be a problem except if you are trying to use an “ON LINE” video library such as
Google images. Crows, normal life span about eight years, are much more
attracted (social) to humans than is the raven; while ravens are more solitary
and are much more attracted to carrion (death) than is the crow. Strangely
however their life span can be thirty five years or more.~~~Al (Alex-Alexander)
D. Girvan.
