The crow

[S Cooney <>]

Thanks Tony,

I spent about 3 hours there today driving 'round and 'round looking at
all the Rav's, but no Crow to be seen.  Saw 6 species of Raptor
(Brown Falcon, Swamp Harrier, Black-shouldered Kite, Brown Goshawk,
Peregrine Falcon & Whislting Kite), no 7 species of raptor (Nankeen
Kestrel), but no crow.

I thought I saw it; one of the ravens looked smaller, had a dark eye and
was maybe brown on the back, but I think it was just a young one without
many feathers on its neck.

No ticks for me!

Stuart

At 20:50 30/01/01, Tony Russell wrote:
> Hi All,
> I've noticed a couple of recent postings in
> which people have reported unsuccessful searches for the House Crow on
> Phillip Island over the weekend. This lack of success surprises me since
> it was quite easy to find on Thursday and Friday of last week.
> I'm wondering whether some description of the
> bird might prove helpful, assuming it hasn't either flown to other parts
> of the island or been disposed of.
> The first noticeable thing is that it is a
> little smaller than the Little Ravens it is associating with. When side
> by side this is easy to pick.
> The second fairly obvious feature is the shape
> of the upper mandible which has more of a distinct "Roman Nose"
> curve to it than the Little Ravens.
> Least noticeable is the ( at first) barely
> perceptible grey-brown mantle which is only obvious if a good view of the
> bird is obtained from the side. In the Phillip Island bird this is darker
> than I expected from illustrations in field guides ( Simpson & Day
> being much too light ( sorry Nick), Slater much too grey, Morcombe not
> bad, but by far the closest is Pizzey ). However, once the mantle is
> seen, the face is then in fact quite black in contrast, and the eye is
> dark brown rather than the conspicuous icey blue/white of the Little
> Raven.
> So, don't expect to see a somewhat black and
> white bird as shown in S&D ( 6th Ed) p285. 
> A casual look might easily miss the above
> features, certainly at a distance.
> Hope this helps and good luck.
> Tony.
>  
>  
> Adelaide birding by 4WD  
> phone: 08 8337 5959
> e-mail: