Loads of rooks out and about today! Haven't seen any hooded crows for a while, though. I hope the rooks aren't displacing them.

I taught my partner how to identify a rook (as opposed to a carrion crow) and now they always call out the "little fluffy rook trousers".

Identifying a raven is dead easy. If you're looking at it and going "ooh, is that a crow or a raven", it's a crow. If instead you're going "christ that bird's fucking enormous" it's a raven.

this thread has been your annual reminder that I am a corvid person

(my favourite is still the Eurasian magpie, they're so clever and so hilariously disrespectful, plus magpie folklore is AWESOME)

@astronomerritt Now and then, early in the morning when I'm still abed, I hear a crow flying over the house when it lets out a quick "croak." It may not be "birdsong," but it's just a lovely thing to hear.

@astronomerritt @alex Raven at the Tower of London.

@astronomerritt here in Australia it's a bit harder, as we mainly have ravens, that everyone calls crows, and some of our ravens vary in size quite a bit; telling the difference between an Australian raven and a little raven is quite hard.

That said, we don't have many crows, and none down south where I am, so mostly it's hackles and location that'll tell you if it's a raven or a crow in Australia.

Our magpies are not corvids, despite what people think 😆

@astronomerritt whoooboy you are jot kidding. The first time I ever saw a raven, it was on a hike - I spotted a couple sitting on a log having lunch and there was this *bird* sitting there next to them. That bird was the same size as the sitting humans 😬🫣

@astronomerritt I've seen this toot multiple times today (not complaining) and every time I misread it as "Identifying a dead raven is easy."

I feel like I shouldn't keep this constant confusion/misreading to myself.

okay before anyone else says anything: yes, it is difficult to tell the difference between a crow and a raven if you don't have any indicators as to relative size, then you have to start squinting at the tail shape

but in general if you see a raven up close you KNOW it's a raven because it is LARGE 😊

also please don't ask me to identify birds that aren't corvids, I can do the obvious ones but sometimes people think I know ALL birds and while I am a Bird Respecter I am mostly knowledgeable about UK corvids

@astronomerritt which one makes the exact same calling sounds like the VELOCIRAPTORS from Jurassic Park?!

Every morning they scare me and I start considering running for my life.

yet another addendum: my very silly guide for differentiating crows and ravens falls apart entirely in Australia, where crows and ravens are very similar sizes and usually ravens (but called crows anyway, I guess because this is a country that calls a non-corvid a magpie and words don't mean anything)

(this is a joke, before anyone gets pedantic)

thank you to the helpful Australians for educating me!

@astronomerritt a magpie died in my garden a few weeks ago (not my fault, it was trying to hide from me when i was taking my breakfast in the garden, and was probably already on its way out then). The next day the neighbourhood magpies gathered in the garden to observe the dead, and pay their respects. They were chatting to each other, and calling more magpies in.

@drj Yeah! Crows are famous for “funerals” but other corvids do it too, which has led to the absolutely amazing field of study called “corvid thanatology”.

here is a raven seen pretty up close at the Tower of London! majestic and entirely unimpressed by tourists. a crow would be maybe two-thirds the height at most, and half the weight.

ETA: if you don’t know anything about the Tower of London ravens I suggest giving this a read https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/the-ravens/

it took me a while to find the above photo in my camera roll as it’s from 2018. searching my camera roll for “raven” only provided me with the following memes

@astronomerritt @drj I have seen this type of behavior from mockingbirds as well. Many years ago, we had a cat who was a prolific bird hunter despite being declawed. The declawed part is important because he would bring his "catches" into our home through the doggy door and quite frequently they would be alive-ish.
The birds would sit outside our house and scream until we found the poor bird and brought it to them. Usually, the bird was deceased by the time we found its hiding place and we would carry them out and lay them under the maple tree for them to mourn. The screams would turn to chatter and after a while they would leave and we would bury the bird.

@sassdawe I can’t remember what the velociraptors from Jurassic Park sound like so I can’t help you at the moment 😆 but I’d guess ravens, as crows sound like Normal Birds and ravens sound like… someone here described it as “ripping the fabric of reality in two”, I think.

@astronomerritt what if it is a baby raven?

@SecondUniverse @astronomerritt

Then the larger black corvid preparing to sort you out for disturbing their chick will be a raven 😄🤷‍♂️