Popular Posts

Labels

Thursday 16 June 2016

Crow Versus Raven.




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






(Photographed at Qualicum Beach British Columbia are NOT albinos.


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.