Hi, there! I saw your great web page when I was searching under "Australian
Birds" and thought I'd ask you a question.
By way of introduction, though, I'm Bob Elmer, and I live in Washington
State, USA, north of Seattle. I'm a children's author, right now doing a
series of historical fiction books for 8- to 12-year-olds called
"Adventures Down Under." They're set on the Murray River in the 1860s and
center around the adventures of an Irish immigrant family. I'm currently
working on book 7 in the series. They're published by Bethany House
Publishers of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Anyway, I'm doing my best to get all the historical and geographic details
right, mostly with the help of Australians over the Internet (like you!).
The manuscript I'm working on right now has the characters stopping in
Goolwa, at the mouth of the Murray, in their paddle steamer. I wrote a
scene where the characters see a raven, but then I got to wondering: Would
they actually see a raven in that setting? And if so, what kind?
My question: Would there have been any possibility of sighting a raven in
the coastal area around Goolwa in 1869? And would that be the "Little
Raven" (Corvus mellori) or the Australian Raven? Do you happen to know
their size and coloring?
Any help or advice you could lend me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
so much!
Regards,
Bob Elmer
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