To anyone wishing to contribute to this, fine, but please delete
anything up to and including my posting about “Pandemic”, as I have
done, unless you are carrying forward on that issue, and really there isn’t
any more to add. At least Jonny was good enough to change the subject header,
I am perfectly capable of having a discussion about bird behaviour.
That was not my intention at this time. My comment about the different
behaviour of 2 species in Canberra is merely a generalisation that holds enough
to be mostly useful, written initially to pass back to that correspondent in
USA. I thought it obvious that my message was not intended to lead to any kind
of serious discussion about Raven social behaviour. It was intended only as a
light relief against a bad situation. Please don’t combine the two things.
Philip
From: Birding-Aus
[ On Behalf Of Jonny
Schoenjahn
Sent: Tuesday, 21 April, 2020 5:02 PM
To: Birding-Aus
Subject: [Birding-Aus] raven behaviour (was: LACoBirds] PANDEMIC)
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.
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.
