Little Ravens

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Marnix and all,

 

Seeing as you asked, I'd suggest the question has been answered. This is more typical than unusual. That we are getting big flocks in December, a month earlier than the usual of January, is hardly surprising, given that several trends seem to be occurring early this year, possibly due to climate warming or drought: As usual, the text from the GBS Report is relevant, as follows (bold highlights in text added here):

Little Raven Corvus mellori

This species was only recognised as specifically separate from the Australian Raven in 1967. It is quite difficult to distinguish if seen briefly and not accompanied by detecting the difference in their calls. Even so the species is clearly marginal in Canberra, occurring in the outskirts, open fields, etc. It is usually recorded as large flocks flying over, with mean group size of 17.03. This may be significantly understated from its true value. Of the 218 observations recorded as this species, there was a surprisingly high 122 observations that were of less than 8 individuals. This raises a suspicion that some of these may have actually been misidentified Australian Ravens, which typically occur individually or in small groups. There were 37 observations of 30 or more birds, which is characteristic of this species. As the Little Raven has far fewer records than the Australian Raven (104 to 1220), a few errors have a far greater effect on their statistics. The available evidence indicates a very different pattern for this species. It shows an enormous peak in January (disproportionately contributed to by several very large flocks at several sites in Year 17) but generally many more in the warmer months up to April. There are many months (especially during winter) during which it was not observed at all. Numbers have fluctuated dramatically but appear to be increasing.
Graphs on page: 103, Rank: 91, A = 0.07212, F = 8.40%, W = 8.7, R = 0.423%, G = 17.03.

Philip