Hi Graeme et al.
A quick update on the availability of Schodde and Mason's Directory - like many
CSIRO publications it is available in eBook form from:
http://www.ebooks.com/616516/directory-of-australian-birds-passerines/schodde-r-mason-ij/
At $195 it might be considered a tad steep though!
Cheers,
Stewart
On 22/06/2012, at 9:26 AM, Graeme Chapman wrote:
> Hello Steve,
>
> Thanks for showing an interest in ravens in W.A. etc.
>
> It's a while since I lived there (left WA in 1984) so my memory for the
> details is not perfect.
>
> So far as I (and anybody) know, nominate coronoides doesn't occur in W.A.,
> but the Nullarbor is the key. Along with mellori, c. coronoides occurs as
> far as the cleared farming country in S.A. that is somewhere about Penong.
>
> The common corvid across the Nullarbor Plain is bennetti but ravens do occur
> closer to the coast, about as far east as Eucla. - which ones is an
> interesting point, there are few specimens. The differences in specimens of
> perplexus and coronoides are not great, and when you take sexes and
> juveniles into account, it would need a good sample from the Nullarbor region
> and western S.A. to sort out what is the case.
>
> I wouldn't pay too much notice to the "data" in the BA Atlas - Corvids are
> probably the most mis-identified group in Australia - even the latest article
> in Australian Birdlife (Wingspan) has a few errors.
>
> I feel confident that as soon as you reach Kalgoorlie, all the ravens would
> be perplexus. Heading north from Perth, ravens are replaced by Torresian
> Crows at the mulga/eucalypt line, on the coast road about 150 km north of
> Geraldton.
>
> I assume you don't have access to Schodde and Mason's DIRECTORY (few people
> do, mores the pity - they only printed 1000 copies) so I am attaching copies
> of the relevant pages for coronoides.
> Whether the Western Raven merits specific status is far from settled,
> otherwise it would have been done already. DNA is not the final word.
>
> I hope this has been more help than hindrance.
>
> Regards
>
> Graeme
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 22/06/2012, at 9:38 AM, Steve Clark wrote:
>
>> G'day Graeme
>>
>> Thanks for your thoughts and reference to your site with calls.
>>
>> Are you suggesting that the 'Western' Raven is confined to the
>> south-west corner and the birds elsewhere in WA are nominate
>> coronoides? Looking at the BA atlas data in Birdata there doesn't
>> seem to be a gap along Highway 1 across the Nullabor. Corvids are
>> tricky however so how many of the dots are C. coronoides and how many
>> are C. bennetti? I must check my own records from our trip across in
>> 1999 when I get home tonight. From memory we allocated many to C.
>> bennetti (but I've learned to put less trust in my memory these days).
>>
>> So, as you drive west and head into sw WA where do you think the
>> 'Western' Raven first appears? What about heading north from Perth?
>>
>> Cheers
>> Steve
>
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