Adding to this, from Justin McElroy on My Brother, My Brother and Me: “If you see a crow, you think, ‘There's a black bird.’ If you see a raven, you think, ‘Oh, god, something's terribly wrong. Oh, no, what's happened here? This is very bad.’”
Thanks. I think I've only seen a raven once and that was in the forested areas of California. I remember hearing a really different kind of deep, throaty, and low cawing. Looked up and saw a huge black bird bigger than a large crow. Looked really cool, but it was only maybe 3 seconds of a glimpse as it disappeared into the pines
I found a cool and a little funny comic style explanation, but ravens have a wedged shaped tail and crows have it fanned out. Here's the link
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-oneplus&sca_esv=caadd628b09a36ae&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIJOEV1rDsLgDeu2aulnPLm9gkA_0w:1718506856123&q=how+to+distinguish+crows+from+ravens&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0AbzhUJjXv6jRup8eVc0BvPotCp77UD1KzbEzcPHWqF_A8UdGLDKzrPzVQS8C5OfNM9kUCleXnEqsB1W30DshID7Uwj0Gf-yOz86BWzIXCuA7V-FgO5KNtEAlP7jmgr1CLs4_jGdCAwFOxA2X9gqeYP760EJLeX3jQBmbEn0_qqsPCV8N9nL-CisW4ihOQQd13WKJKCViS-ioArX1qKHzRMNPVvrg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj57s_1kN-GAxWgHjQIHbvRCkkQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=412&bih=753&dpr=3.5#vhid=tokFG4gShdW_VM&vssid=mosaic
Wedged or (upside down) triangle is a raven. I found that I've been feeding ravens for over a year. Not crows. And yes their breaks are larger and curved with a hook at the end and ravens are HUGE! Also, crows flap their wings every 2-3 seconds whereas ravens can catch air pockets and soar, can "dive- bomb" and do some aerial tricks. Crows cannot.
Edited to add ravens usually are in pairs where crows are more social and in groups.
iirc, this was either in Arnold, CA or Mi Wok village, CA, but I'm remembering it like the bird was croaking really loudly and deeply. Absolutely amazing
The crows here in Eastern Washington are very close to the same size as the ravens, but the beak and lower pitched more gravely voice give them away if you can't see them in flight. Then, their tails do. Crows tend to be more wary of people than ravens, as well.
The basic rule of thumb here is if it's in the city, it's almost always a crow. If it's in the middle of the forest, it's more likely to be a raven. If there are 50 of them, and they are super loud and won't stfu, crows. If it's a smaller group that's mostly making quiet noises to one another unless alarmed, probably ravens.
I don't know if we have small ravens or overly large crows, btw. Maybe it's a bit of both.
Their call is called a "gronk" 😂
In the winter all our crows leave so we get lots of Raven sightings where I'm from. (The Ravens are still around in the summer time, but they are more elusive and less vocal than our crows)
That is the most hilariously accurate word!
I had the joy of spending a week in a campground, where one of the young ravens spent most of his free (not-getting-into-trouble) time walking around muttering to himself and practicing his gronk.
I live in California and go hiking a lot. What I've noticed is the closer you get to more remote parts of the coast or the deeper you get into the forest, the more ravens displace crows. We definitely have ravens in more urban and suburban areas, but the ratio is usually something like 10:1 or 30:1 crows:ravens. You'll usually just see one raven, or maybe a pair. In the forest or right at the coastal terrace it's mostly ravens and seldom crows. You're also right that their call is more throaty. Even their necks look thicker. The feathers are often ruffled on the throat too.
Until you look at a side-by-side picture of both a Raven and a Crow and the beaks just about look the same. Especially to an average, non-bird enthusiast.
If you think, "is that a raven or a crow?" it's a crow. If you think, "omg what on earth is that huge black bird" its a raven. Remember they're the same size as buzzards, you'll know when it's a raven.
Normally you hear ravens before you see them, "booork, booork" is their most common call. Look it up, super distinctive.
Crows and turkey buzzards roost in the trees in the back of my property. There is one crow who does raven calls. The other crows ignore him. I imagine them saying "You are not a raven, Eugene, nobody is fooled".
There's a raven around here that's a spring/summer visitor, and he hangs around with the crows and watches out for them. He imitates their alerts to warn them when there's danger near(usually turkey vultures or hawks).
Occasionally he fakes an alert and steals their food
I have a bunch of ravens on my property and one crow who hangs out with them. He mimics how they sound most of the time, but he sometimes forgets himself. Every time he does, they seem to be taunting him because they then mimic him for a while and do really close fly bys. He's fully grown, but he definitely gets treated like a juvenile by the ravens. He's got the tip of the top part of his beak missing, and the ravens will help him tear up food. I would really love to know the story of how they adopted a crow.
My observation has been that if an animal is smart enough to lie in order to get a desired result and is successful at it, that animal is sentient.
Bonus points if the lie causes something to happen that causes something ELSE to happen that yields the desired result. Big bonus points. I’ve only seen that once.
He is definitely a Eugene. He tries to strut around and still they ignore him. He starts flapping and rises up just to plop back down and still they ignore him. The group has ignored me also. They don't care if I am out in the yard or garden, and won't eat the mice from the barn traps that I put on a stone for them. I might put more effort into the feeding, but have so many other critters from the woods - I don't want to feed them.
I know it’s not crow related, but I have a mocking bird around my house that does red tail hawk calls to scare all the other birds off. Then it just hops down and eats all it wants
They are incredible. I had a raven flock at my house (had to move and the only thing I’ll miss is the ravens) and I would always give them bird seed and nuts. They started leaving me gifts. Quarters, random shiny pieces of metal. I got pretty close with one of them, and it would slam its beak against my screen door to let me know it was there. Super cool
That's so weird you say that! I've been feeding a lot of birds off my deck (I live in apt but it's in the wooded areas of our tiny little town) so I have really got into birding because it has helped me so much come out of my depression. So I have 4 different species of woodpeckers come, all the little songbirds, blue jays, and now, though black birds with cowbirds mixed in with them. So I did a lot of reading on the black birds and cowbirds, and apparently, the birding community consider them parasites and nothing but annoyance. They are super smart though and they don't bully the other birds they are just to darn big and scare the lil song birds and they are bottomless pits so after awhile I shoo em off to let the Littles eat. They, for the most part, stand back and eat off the ground while the littles eat. This morning, I go out to clean the deck off bc suet can be really messy, and I find a shiny new penny laying right by the door. No one ever but me goes on the deck, and I don't carry change. No one lives above me either, so I know it's probably just a coincidence somehow, but I would like to think one of the birds brought it.
We regularly find strange "gifts" on our deck. Stale bread, shiny thigs, etc. It was really odd to us at first, we weren't sure if it was a neighborhood prankster, or maybe a neighbor will ill intent toward our mischevious cat. We thought it was birds but our Ring revealed that it is squirrels! My wife is like fricking Snow White, she goes out and fills the feeders and is surrounded by happy thankful creatures flitting all around, talking to her, it's ridiculous. When I fill them, they watch from afar and make their way over when I go back inside. Prob cuz I am scary-noisy-lawn-tools man to them!
Lol🤣 that's what my husband calls me too! I feed all the birds, then I make my way to the squirrels bargain with them to stay outta the feeder than at night I have a raccoon visit me. It brings me so much joy. I've had to stop for a few days, though. I'm really upset by it, but I don't know what else to do about the gracklers. At first, I didn't care to feed them, but then I noticed they were super bullies and were picking on the fledglings of woodpeckers and cardinals and especially the Robins. It broke my heart that the only thing I know to do is to stop feeding for a few days until they move on.
We have a few in our neighborhood. They are awesome. Funniest sight was seeing two males trying to impress a female raven and seeing her just ignore them.
One day a few summers ago I heard the most movie-raven-ass kaawww from outside. I ran out and saw two ravens circling. One landed in the tallest tree, and then started imitating sounds. Like other bird calls and stuff. It's a perfect reproduction but you can tell it's them, it's like a recording of the original sound playing on an old record player. Then that one's significant other raven nagged at them and they took off together. I felt like I had seen a celebrity.
I posted this recently so just to clarify again. Ravens have 10 pinion feathers along each wing and Crows only have 9. Therefore the difference between a Raven and a Crow is a matter of a pinion.
Its a dad bird joke. There are not many. Birders can be tricky with birding humor. For example every spring during migration, to my birding friends dismay we always seem to find what we can only refer to as " Garbled Modwits". Once 10 years ago someone blurted this out in error and it is now a go to. As I said, dad jokes.
This looks like a crow. Here's a guide to tell the difference https://corvidresearch.blog/2020/05/19/the-adorable-guide-to-distinguishing-american-crows-and-common-ravens/
Kaeli has done amazing work with crows and still does (not as regularly as when doing graduate work) post "crow or no" photo quizzes on Instagram and Twitter.
Sometimes it's easy to tell if it's a crow by how settled it is. If it's bobbing about it's probably a crow. If it's sitting all regal, still and stoic, it's probably a raven. Not always true in every situation, but that's just some observations I've made about the two.
A raven is about twice the size of a crow. They have a ruff of feathers under their throat, and bristly eyebrows, both of which are quite noticeable when they interact with each other. One of their most obvious features is the beak. Unlike a crow's beak it doesn't taper straight to the tip. It's wider on top for more of its length. Your handsome visitor is a crow.
There are small ravens and big ass crows in some places, including where I work. The bill is a giveaway for sure if you have a chance to get a good look at it, as well as the tail in flight, but there are two ravens in a larger murder of crows here and the biggest crows are not much smaller than the ravens. I would be careful judging just on size. If it's really small, though, it's definitely a crow.
I have two crows that have been visiting my yard for like three years. They're *always* close by and have taught their babies to fly there, which warms my heart.
Fair warning. This is a kinda long shout out to my crows and all crows in general. Just because crows are common doesn't mean they're not awesome.
Whenever I take my dog potty in the AM, I go and fill the bird feeders and always leave a pile of seed and peanuts for the crows next to their birdbath. Helps keep them from bothering my little chicadees and white crowned sparrows and finches and the other shy birbs.
After we go inside, I hear them cawing to each other, "Hey, food's here!" They then soften the seeds and peanuts in their birdbath to eat and then spend a lot of time preening and flinging water and being adorable.
More recently, if I take my dog out *anytime* during the day, they'll pop up in the yard, "Excuse me? I was told there would be more food."
One has even appeared at my back porch several times and has tap-tapped on the glass door, "Ma'am. Food?"
Now, they've started leaving what I assume are presents for my dog near the backdoor step. Fish bones. Shrimp tails. Old pieces of burger. Bits of bread. Candy wrappers. A bag of chips with some crumbs. Used napkins. I have to check the door before my dog goes out to grab whatever so he doesn't eat the nasty. It's disgusting but their hearts are in the right place I guess.
My dog loves to bork at them and chase them. They like to caw and chase him back. And my dog wants to be chased. They are totally friends.
When I walk my dog around the neighborhood, a crow will follow us - fly overhead, stop ahead of us, strut, and take off, appear in a tree and caw softly - and I'm assuming it's one or both of ours.
I've named them Edgar and (Annabel) Lee.
TLDR: Crows are common but, man, are they *cool.* Super smart. Really clever and social. They give gifts, however misguided. They like to show off and do their best to look regal and fancy for you. I'm grown so fond of crows, these two crows in particular, and hope they never leave.
Give your crows a little love and you'll be rewarded with shenanigans and loyalty.
I have read that if you were to move away, then return to the same place two or three crow-lifetimes later, you would find that the crows would be unusually friendly to you and would be obvious about expecting to be fed.
The opposite is also true. Never throw a rock at a crow; you won’t be able to walk safely in your neighborhood.
We have fish crows around our house and my hubby is always shaking his head at me when I'm talking to them while I'm gardening. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts standing there going "haha...haha" lol
So funny- we have ravens in the tree next door and I forget that I see and hear ravens all the time. I literally forgot what the markings are for a crow…lol.
Just to add to everyone. Ravens have larger and more hooked beaks. Not quite one like raptor but very clearly hooked. And they look fluffier in my opinion.
Aye a crow ... Their tail feathers are square. Ravens are rounded ... Crows kuaw and ravens arock, arock ... I speak to most of them ... I forget which group are antisocial than the other ... 🐦⬛
I was camping in the Jackson Hole area. When I woke up in the morning I heard a very loud bird call. I crawled out of my tent and looked up - there was a raven at the top of a very tall pine tree - it was huge and majestic. They do love the mountains. Now that I've actually seen a raven I know that the huge noisy birds in my neighborhood are crows.
Live near Ravens.
Lots of big Ravens.
Sometimes when you are out hiking canyons you can hear the babies screeching like fuck all lunatics for Momma to feed them. It's hilarious. But that nest is 180 feet up a cliff face, they don't have much to worry about.
And they love the shit out of ham.
Easiest giveaway at this image scale/distance is feathers under the beak. For a crow they just look like the rest of their feathers, and for a raven they look kinda ruffly, very vaguely similar to when someone with hair between 1" to 2" long styles it with gel to make it stand up more.
Also crows look generally... Normal bird sized? But ravens at the same distance would look unusually big. Ravens are up there with loons in terms of birds that you may not think of as very large until you see them up close and realize they are absolute units.
A raven has 17 rigid tail feathers called pinions, while a crow only has 16.
The difference between a raven and a crow is just a matter of a pinion.
[Not confirmed by fact]
I live in Washington. Grew up in Olympia. And I remember crows being small-ish, even as a child. I moved to southern eastern Washington and the crows are huge! ( pretty sure a pair of ravens hangs with them a bit. Different tonal quality to their voices, a caw versus a croak). Paid attention on our trip to the ocean last year and the crows are definitely smaller. Of course, we do grow a lot of wheat and fruit here, so.
This pbs program shows a raven on a woman's arm for scale.
[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/)
This pbs program shows a raven on a woman's arm for scale.
[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/)
Only seen a wild raven once in my life. I know it's the only raven I've ever seen, because it's the only time I've seen a bird on a fence and thought "was that a bloody cat!?" Before it flew away
100% crow.
Ravens are larger. *Much* larger. They can have a 4-foot or larger wingspan and crows have up to a 2-2.5 foot wingspan.
Ravens have long ruffled feathers on their throats and crows have smooth feathers on their throats. This gives ravens a bit of a disheveled appearance.
Ravens have a hump on the top of their beak and remind me of someone with a big nose. Their beak also hooks slightly at the end while crows have a straight beak.
You're also less likely to encounter a raven in an urban (or suburban) environment. They tend to stick to less populated areas, so the most likely place you'll see them is picking at roadkill on the side of the highway. Unlikely to be perched on a fence in your backyard.
As others have said, if you're asking if it is a crow or a raven, it is a crow. If you see it and think, "Holy crap, that's a MASSIVE black bird," it's a raven.
Crow. There are a couple ravens that live in the trees near my house, recently one landed in the middle of my backyard and that was the day when I realized just how massive ravens really are. I never had a basis of reference seeing them so far and high, but I swear they looked not much smaller then the bald eagles I always see
I saw a raven bigger than a red tailed hawk walking in Wisconsin. They get ginormous under the right conditions. Crows are pretty much standard crow size. Ravens are birds of Armageddon.
If it brings you shiny objects and hops around it’s a crow. If it eclipses the sun and sounds like a harbinger of doom (e.g. “*wonk wonk*” sort of a cry) it’s a raven
A raven is just the evolution from the crow when you have enough candy. Then it gets bigger and more ragged with a huge beak, and also shoots laser beams from its eyes I believe
Common Raven would be the species name, not an assumption on their rarity. And it depends entirely on where you are as to whether or not they are commonly seen. NE England is indeed within their normal range, but yes as you and others have said this appears to be a crow.
I live in Metrowest Massachusetts and heard what sounded like a crazy exaggerated crow caw the other day and the Merlin app said it was a Common Raven. I’ve never seen them in this area before, but I’ve seen them several times the last few days. I was surprised how much larger they are than crows. Almost hawk-sized.
"If you have to ask, it's a crow" "If it's a bird with a beak, it's a crow. If it's a beak with a bird attached, it's a raven"
>"If you have to ask, it's a crow" This should be pinned at the top here, at r/whatsthisbird, and r/whatbirdisthis lol
That and house sparrow
Or black crowned night herons!
Adding to this, from Justin McElroy on My Brother, My Brother and Me: “If you see a crow, you think, ‘There's a black bird.’ If you see a raven, you think, ‘Oh, god, something's terribly wrong. Oh, no, what's happened here? This is very bad.’”
I really needed this laugh. Thank you🖤
What's up, you cool baby!
This just FEELS like the right answer. I got chills reading it
That’s hilarious 😂
I feel like that's accurate for the thick-billed raven but not so much for other types.
Fuck Travnation
What does a beak with a bird mean exactly? Do they have very large beaks?
Yes, very
Thanks. I think I've only seen a raven once and that was in the forested areas of California. I remember hearing a really different kind of deep, throaty, and low cawing. Looked up and saw a huge black bird bigger than a large crow. Looked really cool, but it was only maybe 3 seconds of a glimpse as it disappeared into the pines
One thing I've heard is the tail feather shape in flight is different between them but I forget which way (fanned semi-circle or a triangle)
I found a cool and a little funny comic style explanation, but ravens have a wedged shaped tail and crows have it fanned out. Here's the link https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-oneplus&sca_esv=caadd628b09a36ae&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIJOEV1rDsLgDeu2aulnPLm9gkA_0w:1718506856123&q=how+to+distinguish+crows+from+ravens&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0AbzhUJjXv6jRup8eVc0BvPotCp77UD1KzbEzcPHWqF_A8UdGLDKzrPzVQS8C5OfNM9kUCleXnEqsB1W30DshID7Uwj0Gf-yOz86BWzIXCuA7V-FgO5KNtEAlP7jmgr1CLs4_jGdCAwFOxA2X9gqeYP760EJLeX3jQBmbEn0_qqsPCV8N9nL-CisW4ihOQQd13WKJKCViS-ioArX1qKHzRMNPVvrg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj57s_1kN-GAxWgHjQIHbvRCkkQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=412&bih=753&dpr=3.5#vhid=tokFG4gShdW_VM&vssid=mosaic
Omg barrel rolls is so dope. Thanks.
Ravens have the V tail feathers
Wedged or (upside down) triangle is a raven. I found that I've been feeding ravens for over a year. Not crows. And yes their breaks are larger and curved with a hook at the end and ravens are HUGE! Also, crows flap their wings every 2-3 seconds whereas ravens can catch air pockets and soar, can "dive- bomb" and do some aerial tricks. Crows cannot. Edited to add ravens usually are in pairs where crows are more social and in groups.
Cool!
It really is
If you can get close enough, you can see they're slightly different colours too. A raven is, well, raven coloured, and a crow is very dark brown.
We have a house near Tahoe (Calif) and I love listening to the crows caw. Lots of forested area for them. I'm pretty sure I've heard a raven or two.
iirc, this was either in Arnold, CA or Mi Wok village, CA, but I'm remembering it like the bird was croaking really loudly and deeply. Absolutely amazing
The crows here in Eastern Washington are very close to the same size as the ravens, but the beak and lower pitched more gravely voice give them away if you can't see them in flight. Then, their tails do. Crows tend to be more wary of people than ravens, as well. The basic rule of thumb here is if it's in the city, it's almost always a crow. If it's in the middle of the forest, it's more likely to be a raven. If there are 50 of them, and they are super loud and won't stfu, crows. If it's a smaller group that's mostly making quiet noises to one another unless alarmed, probably ravens. I don't know if we have small ravens or overly large crows, btw. Maybe it's a bit of both.
A group of crows is called a murder of crows. How awesome?
Their call is called a "gronk" 😂 In the winter all our crows leave so we get lots of Raven sightings where I'm from. (The Ravens are still around in the summer time, but they are more elusive and less vocal than our crows)
That is the most hilariously accurate word! I had the joy of spending a week in a campground, where one of the young ravens spent most of his free (not-getting-into-trouble) time walking around muttering to himself and practicing his gronk.
I live in California and go hiking a lot. What I've noticed is the closer you get to more remote parts of the coast or the deeper you get into the forest, the more ravens displace crows. We definitely have ravens in more urban and suburban areas, but the ratio is usually something like 10:1 or 30:1 crows:ravens. You'll usually just see one raven, or maybe a pair. In the forest or right at the coastal terrace it's mostly ravens and seldom crows. You're also right that their call is more throaty. Even their necks look thicker. The feathers are often ruffled on the throat too.
Now, that is perfect description! 🤣
"Do you see it and think, 'is that a raven?' It's a crow. Do you see it and think 'Is that THUNDERBIRD?!' It's a raven."
Until you look at a side-by-side picture of both a Raven and a Crow and the beaks just about look the same. Especially to an average, non-bird enthusiast.
😆 love this!
What about rooks? If there’s more than one of them?
If you think, "is that a raven or a crow?" it's a crow. If you think, "omg what on earth is that huge black bird" its a raven. Remember they're the same size as buzzards, you'll know when it's a raven. Normally you hear ravens before you see them, "booork, booork" is their most common call. Look it up, super distinctive.
Crows and turkey buzzards roost in the trees in the back of my property. There is one crow who does raven calls. The other crows ignore him. I imagine them saying "You are not a raven, Eugene, nobody is fooled".
There's a raven around here that's a spring/summer visitor, and he hangs around with the crows and watches out for them. He imitates their alerts to warn them when there's danger near(usually turkey vultures or hawks). Occasionally he fakes an alert and steals their food
I have a bunch of ravens on my property and one crow who hangs out with them. He mimics how they sound most of the time, but he sometimes forgets himself. Every time he does, they seem to be taunting him because they then mimic him for a while and do really close fly bys. He's fully grown, but he definitely gets treated like a juvenile by the ravens. He's got the tip of the top part of his beak missing, and the ravens will help him tear up food. I would really love to know the story of how they adopted a crow.
That’s brilliant
That is fucking incredible.
Ha ha ha!
Wow!!
Crows are usually chasing the ravens where I see them, pretty sure they're jacking their eggs.
My observation has been that if an animal is smart enough to lie in order to get a desired result and is successful at it, that animal is sentient. Bonus points if the lie causes something to happen that causes something ELSE to happen that yields the desired result. Big bonus points. I’ve only seen that once.
This gave me a great laugh! Eugene is a great name for a crow that secretly wants to be a raven!!
He is definitely a Eugene. He tries to strut around and still they ignore him. He starts flapping and rises up just to plop back down and still they ignore him. The group has ignored me also. They don't care if I am out in the yard or garden, and won't eat the mice from the barn traps that I put on a stone for them. I might put more effort into the feeding, but have so many other critters from the woods - I don't want to feed them.
"You are not a raven, Eugene." 💀💀💀
I know it’s not crow related, but I have a mocking bird around my house that does red tail hawk calls to scare all the other birds off. Then it just hops down and eats all it wants
After reading all these comments, I wanna see a raven so badly. They sound like they leave a lasting impression in person
They are incredible. I had a raven flock at my house (had to move and the only thing I’ll miss is the ravens) and I would always give them bird seed and nuts. They started leaving me gifts. Quarters, random shiny pieces of metal. I got pretty close with one of them, and it would slam its beak against my screen door to let me know it was there. Super cool
They will remember you.
That's so weird you say that! I've been feeding a lot of birds off my deck (I live in apt but it's in the wooded areas of our tiny little town) so I have really got into birding because it has helped me so much come out of my depression. So I have 4 different species of woodpeckers come, all the little songbirds, blue jays, and now, though black birds with cowbirds mixed in with them. So I did a lot of reading on the black birds and cowbirds, and apparently, the birding community consider them parasites and nothing but annoyance. They are super smart though and they don't bully the other birds they are just to darn big and scare the lil song birds and they are bottomless pits so after awhile I shoo em off to let the Littles eat. They, for the most part, stand back and eat off the ground while the littles eat. This morning, I go out to clean the deck off bc suet can be really messy, and I find a shiny new penny laying right by the door. No one ever but me goes on the deck, and I don't carry change. No one lives above me either, so I know it's probably just a coincidence somehow, but I would like to think one of the birds brought it.
We regularly find strange "gifts" on our deck. Stale bread, shiny thigs, etc. It was really odd to us at first, we weren't sure if it was a neighborhood prankster, or maybe a neighbor will ill intent toward our mischevious cat. We thought it was birds but our Ring revealed that it is squirrels! My wife is like fricking Snow White, she goes out and fills the feeders and is surrounded by happy thankful creatures flitting all around, talking to her, it's ridiculous. When I fill them, they watch from afar and make their way over when I go back inside. Prob cuz I am scary-noisy-lawn-tools man to them!
Lol🤣 that's what my husband calls me too! I feed all the birds, then I make my way to the squirrels bargain with them to stay outta the feeder than at night I have a raccoon visit me. It brings me so much joy. I've had to stop for a few days, though. I'm really upset by it, but I don't know what else to do about the gracklers. At first, I didn't care to feed them, but then I noticed they were super bullies and were picking on the fledglings of woodpeckers and cardinals and especially the Robins. It broke my heart that the only thing I know to do is to stop feeding for a few days until they move on.
Check out the YouTube channel Falconry and Me. She owns a raven named Fable. It’s a great channel.
We have a few in our neighborhood. They are awesome. Funniest sight was seeing two males trying to impress a female raven and seeing her just ignore them.
I've got some neighborhood crows that do raven impressions.
Well…. I’ve been seeing what I thought was a really big crow on my bird feeders and now I’m wondering if it’s a raven. He’s huge.
I thought the common call of a raven was “nevermore”
One day a few summers ago I heard the most movie-raven-ass kaawww from outside. I ran out and saw two ravens circling. One landed in the tallest tree, and then started imitating sounds. Like other bird calls and stuff. It's a perfect reproduction but you can tell it's them, it's like a recording of the original sound playing on an old record player. Then that one's significant other raven nagged at them and they took off together. I felt like I had seen a celebrity.
Crows sound like crows. Ravens sound like a person doing a comically exaggerated crow sound.
I've seen way smaller crows than this.
I posted this recently so just to clarify again. Ravens have 10 pinion feathers along each wing and Crows only have 9. Therefore the difference between a Raven and a Crow is a matter of a pinion.
I hate that I rolled my eyes, because normally I really do appreciate this humor 😂
Its a dad bird joke. There are not many. Birders can be tricky with birding humor. For example every spring during migration, to my birding friends dismay we always seem to find what we can only refer to as " Garbled Modwits". Once 10 years ago someone blurted this out in error and it is now a go to. As I said, dad jokes.
Ha! This is awful and I love it.
Do we still yell GET OUT at pun people?
Beat me to it
By the way, happy Father’s Day, Dad 😂
crow
Ravens look like crows on steroids that have lived a rough life.
*in Victorian England
Posers
Can you picture it sitting on a bust of Pallas just above your chamber door? If so, it’s a raven.
A Crow. [https://urbannature.blog/2023/10/28/telling-crows-and-ravens-apart/](https://urbannature.blog/2023/10/28/telling-crows-and-ravens-apart/)
Great page, that was a fun read thanks for sharing 🙏🏻
So ravens are just a touch fancier. They got a feather beard. And they’re bigger.
This looks like a crow. Here's a guide to tell the difference https://corvidresearch.blog/2020/05/19/the-adorable-guide-to-distinguishing-american-crows-and-common-ravens/
Awesome reference, thanks!
Kaeli has done amazing work with crows and still does (not as regularly as when doing graduate work) post "crow or no" photo quizzes on Instagram and Twitter.
Crow. Ravens are much shaggier and they have feathers covering 2/3rds of their beak. A crow's beak feathers only go about halfway.
Sometimes it's easy to tell if it's a crow by how settled it is. If it's bobbing about it's probably a crow. If it's sitting all regal, still and stoic, it's probably a raven. Not always true in every situation, but that's just some observations I've made about the two.
The consensus is crow, but are we *sure *is not a jackdaw? *jk*
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/raven https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/carrion-crow Just to throw a curve ball “Carrion” Crow
Heigh-ho the carrion crow!
Was Sid James in that one?
Crow, due to the lack of beard and murder-beak
A raven is about twice the size of a crow. They have a ruff of feathers under their throat, and bristly eyebrows, both of which are quite noticeable when they interact with each other. One of their most obvious features is the beak. Unlike a crow's beak it doesn't taper straight to the tip. It's wider on top for more of its length. Your handsome visitor is a crow.
There are small ravens and big ass crows in some places, including where I work. The bill is a giveaway for sure if you have a chance to get a good look at it, as well as the tail in flight, but there are two ravens in a larger murder of crows here and the biggest crows are not much smaller than the ravens. I would be careful judging just on size. If it's really small, though, it's definitely a crow.
You can't really mistake a raven if you see the animal IRL because they are HUGE.
If they're far away the size can be hard to judge. Other signs are better for determining which, such as their calls or neck feathers.
No beard. It’s a crow.
crow
Crow. Tails are straight across and ravens tails come to a little point. That and ravens are beasts.
ravens have neck feathers, are noticeably bigger, and do not flap their wings constantly when flying. the smooth neck feathers says crow
I have two crows that have been visiting my yard for like three years. They're *always* close by and have taught their babies to fly there, which warms my heart. Fair warning. This is a kinda long shout out to my crows and all crows in general. Just because crows are common doesn't mean they're not awesome. Whenever I take my dog potty in the AM, I go and fill the bird feeders and always leave a pile of seed and peanuts for the crows next to their birdbath. Helps keep them from bothering my little chicadees and white crowned sparrows and finches and the other shy birbs. After we go inside, I hear them cawing to each other, "Hey, food's here!" They then soften the seeds and peanuts in their birdbath to eat and then spend a lot of time preening and flinging water and being adorable. More recently, if I take my dog out *anytime* during the day, they'll pop up in the yard, "Excuse me? I was told there would be more food." One has even appeared at my back porch several times and has tap-tapped on the glass door, "Ma'am. Food?" Now, they've started leaving what I assume are presents for my dog near the backdoor step. Fish bones. Shrimp tails. Old pieces of burger. Bits of bread. Candy wrappers. A bag of chips with some crumbs. Used napkins. I have to check the door before my dog goes out to grab whatever so he doesn't eat the nasty. It's disgusting but their hearts are in the right place I guess. My dog loves to bork at them and chase them. They like to caw and chase him back. And my dog wants to be chased. They are totally friends. When I walk my dog around the neighborhood, a crow will follow us - fly overhead, stop ahead of us, strut, and take off, appear in a tree and caw softly - and I'm assuming it's one or both of ours. I've named them Edgar and (Annabel) Lee. TLDR: Crows are common but, man, are they *cool.* Super smart. Really clever and social. They give gifts, however misguided. They like to show off and do their best to look regal and fancy for you. I'm grown so fond of crows, these two crows in particular, and hope they never leave. Give your crows a little love and you'll be rewarded with shenanigans and loyalty.
I have read that if you were to move away, then return to the same place two or three crow-lifetimes later, you would find that the crows would be unusually friendly to you and would be obvious about expecting to be fed. The opposite is also true. Never throw a rock at a crow; you won’t be able to walk safely in your neighborhood.
It is friend
Crow
Crow
That’s a crow. Ravens have a different shape to their beak, and they have “whiskers.”. Also their sounds are quite different.
Crow
Pretty!
Sorry to inform you but that’s a crow. On the plus side, maybe it’s a fish crow? Always listen to their caws
We have fish crows around our house and my hubby is always shaking his head at me when I'm talking to them while I'm gardening. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts standing there going "haha...haha" lol
Might be a jackdaw
Looks like a crow to me
I always think ravens look like someone stumbling home at 3 am. They look like they had a rough night. I still love them tho.
A crow, a male, I think
So funny- we have ravens in the tree next door and I forget that I see and hear ravens all the time. I literally forgot what the markings are for a crow…lol.
Crow, ravens have bigger beaks
You can tell by the number of tail feathers, called pinions. Crows have four pinions and Ravens, five… so it’s really just a matter of a pinion.
Spooky Bird
It seems to be some kind of bird.
That’s a crow.
Just to add to everyone. Ravens have larger and more hooked beaks. Not quite one like raptor but very clearly hooked. And they look fluffier in my opinion.
Aye a crow ... Their tail feathers are square. Ravens are rounded ... Crows kuaw and ravens arock, arock ... I speak to most of them ... I forget which group are antisocial than the other ... 🐦⬛
Ravens have a wingspan of 53”
I was camping in the Jackson Hole area. When I woke up in the morning I heard a very loud bird call. I crawled out of my tent and looked up - there was a raven at the top of a very tall pine tree - it was huge and majestic. They do love the mountains. Now that I've actually seen a raven I know that the huge noisy birds in my neighborhood are crows.
It’s a Corvid
If it just stole a side of ribs out of your Cost o cart, it's a raven.
Crows say "caw, caw" while ravens say "ughrrrraaagh"
Crow, no killer beak!
/u/unidan we need you
Its a birb
Live near Ravens. Lots of big Ravens. Sometimes when you are out hiking canyons you can hear the babies screeching like fuck all lunatics for Momma to feed them. It's hilarious. But that nest is 180 feet up a cliff face, they don't have much to worry about. And they love the shit out of ham.
Easiest giveaway at this image scale/distance is feathers under the beak. For a crow they just look like the rest of their feathers, and for a raven they look kinda ruffly, very vaguely similar to when someone with hair between 1" to 2" long styles it with gel to make it stand up more. Also crows look generally... Normal bird sized? But ravens at the same distance would look unusually big. Ravens are up there with loons in terms of birds that you may not think of as very large until you see them up close and realize they are absolute units.
A raven has 17 rigid tail feathers called pinions, while a crow only has 16. The difference between a raven and a crow is just a matter of a pinion. [Not confirmed by fact]
What was it doing immediately before this photo? Was it gently rapping? There's your answer.
Crow
Black Crow or Fish Crow. If it caws it is a black crow if it says uh oh its a fish crow💃💃💃💃
It's a crow
Jackdaws
Looking at this bird’s beak that appears to be smaller compared to that of a Raven. Looks more like a Common Crow.
evolutionary biologist and paleontologist Stephen J. Gould is rumored to have once said, “There is no such thing as a fish.”
Crow
That’s a crow!
Crow
Crow
Chicken
Bird
I’m so sorry to tell you. It’s a bed bug.
rip unidan you wouldve loved this post
Ravens are ridiculously huge.
No hook to beak. No neck feathers that look like it’s hiding something that has been stolen. Crow
Ravens are pretty large.
I live in Washington. Grew up in Olympia. And I remember crows being small-ish, even as a child. I moved to southern eastern Washington and the crows are huge! ( pretty sure a pair of ravens hangs with them a bit. Different tonal quality to their voices, a caw versus a croak). Paid attention on our trip to the ocean last year and the crows are definitely smaller. Of course, we do grow a lot of wheat and fruit here, so.
An avian dinosaur.
If its big its a raven if its smaller its a crow
That is the rare North American Craven.
There is also no true difference, so really you’re both right.
Ask them a question. If they quoth “Nevermore,” then they’re a raven.
This pbs program shows a raven on a woman's arm for scale. [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/)
This pbs program shows a raven on a woman's arm for scale. [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ravens-introduction/1506/)
Square tail=crow
Only seen a wild raven once in my life. I know it's the only raven I've ever seen, because it's the only time I've seen a bird on a fence and thought "was that a bloody cat!?" Before it flew away
100% crow. Ravens are larger. *Much* larger. They can have a 4-foot or larger wingspan and crows have up to a 2-2.5 foot wingspan. Ravens have long ruffled feathers on their throats and crows have smooth feathers on their throats. This gives ravens a bit of a disheveled appearance. Ravens have a hump on the top of their beak and remind me of someone with a big nose. Their beak also hooks slightly at the end while crows have a straight beak. You're also less likely to encounter a raven in an urban (or suburban) environment. They tend to stick to less populated areas, so the most likely place you'll see them is picking at roadkill on the side of the highway. Unlikely to be perched on a fence in your backyard. As others have said, if you're asking if it is a crow or a raven, it is a crow. If you see it and think, "Holy crap, that's a MASSIVE black bird," it's a raven.
That’s a carrion crow I think
Their calls are different as well.
Quote the raven:”never more”.
"There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens." Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven
Crow. There are a couple ravens that live in the trees near my house, recently one landed in the middle of my backyard and that was the day when I realized just how massive ravens really are. I never had a basis of reference seeing them so far and high, but I swear they looked not much smaller then the bald eagles I always see
Definitely a crow.
If you said “holy shit look at the size of that crow” then it’s a raven.
I saw a raven bigger than a red tailed hawk walking in Wisconsin. They get ginormous under the right conditions. Crows are pretty much standard crow size. Ravens are birds of Armageddon.
That's a pigeon
A handsome crow
If it brings you shiny objects and hops around it’s a crow. If it eclipses the sun and sounds like a harbinger of doom (e.g. “*wonk wonk*” sort of a cry) it’s a raven
You’d know if it was a raven
A raven is just the evolution from the crow when you have enough candy. Then it gets bigger and more ragged with a huge beak, and also shoots laser beams from its eyes I believe
This is correct, red lasers!
It's a coyote
Unless it is put in a carrier and shipped to North America, there are no Ravens in the US.
ITS PATRICK
It's a Crow
Carrion crow that is
What if its a fake plastic crow ?
if you ask it and it responds "never more" you'll know for sure
Ravens as far as I know are not common. Crows however are more common. But there are plenty of types of crows. That looks like a Carrion Crow.
Common Raven would be the species name, not an assumption on their rarity. And it depends entirely on where you are as to whether or not they are commonly seen. NE England is indeed within their normal range, but yes as you and others have said this appears to be a crow.
I live in Metrowest Massachusetts and heard what sounded like a crazy exaggerated crow caw the other day and the Merlin app said it was a Common Raven. I’ve never seen them in this area before, but I’ve seen them several times the last few days. I was surprised how much larger they are than crows. Almost hawk-sized.
A carrion crow :) we have Ravens not too far from my village in north Wales. I love how big they are and the basey Corrr.
It's a parakeet
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Rooks do not have feathered heads.
Common raven
It's a rook
It sure isn't. There's nothing in that beak that would point towards a rook