Re: Little Ravens

So its basically a 'reverse' altitudinal migrant. That is the majority of
birds move to lower elevations in summer from higher elevations in colder
months. Although I have recorded this species in almost all months of the
year from just NE of the ACT around Sutton.

Cheers
Marnix



                                                                           
             "Philip Veerman"                                              
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             g.au>                                                      To 
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             18/12/2006 12:39             .au>,                            
             PM                           <>  
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                                                                   Subject 
                                          Little Ravens                    
                                                                           
                                                            Classification 
                                          |-------------------|            
                                          | [X] Unclassified  |            
                                          | [ ] In Confidence |            
                                          |-------------------|            
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           




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