ravens in Melbourne

["Mules, Michael" <>]

Hi Peter & all,

I'm one of those who have seen Australian Ravens in Melbourne, although about 90% of all ravens I see here are Little Raven.  In the past three years, I have seen Aus. Ravens at Melbourne University, Yarra Bend and Wilsmere Parks in Kew, and in the Carlton Gardens below the Royal Exhibition Building.  I identified all these on a combination of call (with the diagnostic long dying wail) and visual appearance (together: large, distinctive throat-sac when calling, no flicking of wings when alighting), and all seen were either single, or in a pair.  I guess I hadn't realized that Aus. Ravens were such a big event in the city.

I grew up in Narracan, a farming community in the Strzelecki Ranges, Gippsland, Victoria, and the most common ravens there were (and are) the Australian Ravens, which we had nesting in trees in our top paddock.  Little Ravens were also around, but tended to prefer the potato paddocks and farmland on the ridges - our home is in a  river valley.  My overall impression is that throughout the area, which includes vast pine plantations, and dairy and potato farming, was that Australian Ravens were more common than Little Ravens, but this is conjecture only as no-one I know of has done a systematic survey of ravens in the area.

Cheers, Michael

Michael Mules
Curator, Science Program
Museum Victoria
108 Lonsdale St. Melbourne

PO. Box 666E
Melbourne   VIC   3001

Ph: 9291 2119
Fax: 9291 2139

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