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Raven, Chihuahuan Raven or Both?!

Started by Ceeege, Feb 10 2013 10:36 PM

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4 replies to this topic

#1 Ceeege

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LocationSouth Wales, UK

Posted 10 February 2013 - 10:36 PM

Two large corvids for you from Neal's Lodges, Concan, Texas. Both species are present at the site. From what I remember, calls seemed similar to our European Raven but we weren't aware that the ranges overlapped at the time and assumed Common Raven!

Any ideas? Photos were taken within a few minutes of each other but there were several individuals flying back and forward.

Thanks for looking

Attached Files

2012-04-18_Raven_01.jpg 118.46K 67 downloads
2012-04-18_Raven_02.jpg 60.09K 68 downloads

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#2 IvoryBillHope

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LocationNorth Carolina

Posted 10 February 2013 - 10:41 PM

I think Common Raven for both.

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#3 psweet

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LocationNortheast Illinois

Posted 10 February 2013 - 10:42 PM

I tried playing around with photos for ravens when we had one show up here in Illinois -- basically, unless you're seeing ruffled feathers on the nape, photos are no good. If you didn't notice a difference in the calls, I'd call them Common and chalk it up to experience.

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#4 darknight

Wandering Birder

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LocationPortland, ME

Posted 10 February 2013 - 11:20 PM

I agree with psweet, there's really no way to tell from these photos. Common Raven's are said to have more wedge shaped tails and longer bills, but I've never successfully used those marks in the field.

It seems that Common Raven would be more common where you were.

There are 976 species on the ABA list. Looks like I've got a lot of birding to do... 400 species to go, give or take a few.

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#5 Ceeege

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LocationSouth Wales, UK

Posted 10 February 2013 - 11:38 PM

Thanks for the replies folks.

We have them over the house here in the UK (Commons) and I seem to remember thinking the call of these particular birds in Texas was very similar. We were fairly confident of Common Raven at the time comparing size to Turkey Vultures and also the Chihuahuan Ravens we saw near the coast.

Thanks again!