Steph (crisis version)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)
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 đ
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
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!
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 donât 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/
Lydia Schoch@astronomerritt @nellie_m So majestic. I would read poetry to them to see if they liked it.
(But probably not The Raven since Iâm sure they hear Poe all too often).
@lydiaschoch The expression on that ravenâs face is âsay Nevermore to me one more time and I will PECK YOUR EYES OUTâ
â Fish Id Wardrobe@astronomerritt @lydiaschoch this is the standard expression of all ravens, all the time.
âŚexcept the Tower ravens when with their ravenmaster. I think the guy posts on BS these days. worth a look!
@fishidwardrobe @lydiaschoch The new one? It was Chris Skaife for a while, I have his book, but I found out recently that he retired this year. What a job!