Hi all,
Australian Ravens at Perth congregate at times, and the number of birds reach and exceed 20.
A couple of weeks ago I observed a mob of more than 20 Australian Ravens on the verge of our street near Perth’s Bold Park. The group comprised dark-eyed young and white-eyes adults. Two of the birds (I cannot remember wether they were young, adults or one of each) were on the ground fighting vigorously, with one foot of each locked with one of the opponent's. Some of the numerous ‘bystanders' (or 'byflyers') pecked repeatedly at the combatants, or pulled forcefully at their wings. I actually got the impression that particularly one of the two combatants was targeted by the bystanders. I was fearing that one or both of the birds would get injured, lose an eye perhaps, but that didn’t happen. The noise that the group made had driven me out of the house to see what the ruckus was about. I have observed Apostlebirds behaving similarly.
There are many Australian Raven in our area, so many indeed that I began wondering wether their numbers have increased in recent times, or whether it is just me getting annoyed by their noise from before sunrise. I also wonder whether the other resident birds are affected by the ravens. I wish I had done regular bird counts around the house to substantiate my thoughts. When running at Bold Park about twice a week I often come across Australian Raven congregations of a dozen and even more than 20 individuals of adults and young (my running is slow enough to count them and see the colour of the iris), but again I can’t quantify whether this is just a recent development or wether there were so many ravens here all the time. I am aware, however, that nothing is as sure as chance and I am interested to hear what others have to say about the numbers and behaviours of Australian Raven in Perth.
Cheers, Jonny Schoenjahn Perth WA
P.S. COVID-19 stands for coronavirus disease of 2019, given to the disease by the WHO. So, in a way, Corvid-19 would have been equally possible.
On 21 Apr 2020, at 10:02 am, Maris Lauva <> wrote:
Actually the Australian Raven does at time associate - I have seen it a couple of times here in Perth. I have heard it is the annual get together of the younger un paired birds. That is indeed how it seemed. I would have described it as a rolling scrimmage,
moving progressively through the bush in Bold Park, with Birds pursuing each other in pairs and small groups but maintaining the overall group. No obvious signs of antagonistic behaviour. Seemed like more than 19.
Maris
Some awkward comment on a global crisis. I had been waiting for an opportunity to write a message like this when I did see a reasonable size flock of ravens about 3 weeks ago whilst
driving near home. I don’t know which species. I thought will I / won’t I make the
pun. I am sort of surprised no one else has. So now the opportunity has arisen from the other hemisphere (the email bird chat line in Los Angeles California).
Philip
From: Philip Veerman
Sent: Tuesday, 21 April, 2020 10:51 AM To: Subject: RE: [LACoBirds] PANDEMIC
Ha Ha.
I have been thinking of writing almost the same message from home in Canberra, Australia. Trouble is we have two species of Corvus in Canberra. The Australian Raven almost never
associates in flocks, so we would rarely get 19. The Little Raven (less common here and a migrant) typically moves in large flocks and so counting 19 (honestly) would be difficult.
Philip
From: [m("groups.io","LACoBirds");">]
On Behalf Of Irwin Woldman via groups.io
Sent: Tuesday, 21 April, 2020 7:03 AM
To:
Subject: [LACoBirds] PANDEMIC
Today I had a "murder" of crows fly over my 3rd floor condo unit. I counted and found 19 birds in that flock. Does this "CORVID 19" constitute another pandemic arising of avian origin?
Stay well, safe and keep laughing.
Website: https://groups.io/g/LACoBirds/
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