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Crow/Raven/Jackdaw? -UK (1 Viewer)

birdleg

Well-known member
I think:

Pics A and D are Jackdaws,and

B, C and E are Crows.

What do you all think?
 

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I agree, they do all like very crowish..though the fact that they are easily mistaken makes it hell when watching in Bel-Air as it is riddled with both Ravens and Crows. This slight difference in apearance would most likely be due to the genetic variation within the DNA of the bird. This happens during meiosis where the gene pattern is mix during the prophase stage. Though in humans this is very noticable, a slight change in head structure may be passed on through generations.

:t:

-DKFailford
 
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All crows.

Ravens are huge - they're the size of buzzards, with massive, scary-looking bills. They are also very unlikely to be seen in anything resembling an urban or suburban setting, being birds of rugged terrain, moorland and mountains. People who say they have ravens in their gardens are virtually always getting them mistaken with carrion crows.

Jackdaws are a chunk smaller than crows, and usually have obviously two-tone plumage with grey hoods obvious against black body and face. They also have pale eyes. The first bird it still a carrion crow, despite its pale feathers on its chest.

All birds here are carrion crows. Also look for rooks, that are similar in size to carrion crows, but have pale bills with a bald patch at the base.
 
Thank you all for your IDs! :t: So easy to mistaken them...will keep your descriptions to help me ID them in future!
 
I agree, they do all like very crowish..though the fact that they are easily mistaken makes it hell when watching in Bel-Air as it is riddled with both Ravens and Crows.

:t:

-DKFailford

Crowish ? mmmmm... yes at least anyone of the 6 or so european species then.
In my book a raven is a member of the crow family commonly referred to as a crow. If that isnt the case then prey tell what are your 'crows' ?
I may be a little facetious here but my point is if you are referring to Carrion Crows please say so.
 
Crowish ? mmmmm... yes at least anyone of the 6 or so european species then.
In my book a raven is a member of the crow family commonly referred to as a crow. If that isnt the case then prey tell what are your 'crows' ?
I may be a little facetious here but my point is if you are referring to Carrion Crows please say so.

Never heard a Raven commonly referred to as a 'crow' ;)

I think from the op's original post it should be obvious the posters above were referring to carrion crow when they said crow. (Context is useful - eg herons/Heron/Grey Heron. Granted there is some room for confusion.)

When referring to bird names maybe we should just use the latin binomial to save all possible confusion?
 
All crows.

Ravens are huge - they're the size of buzzards, with massive, scary-looking bills. They are also very unlikely to be seen in anything resembling an urban or suburban setting, being birds of rugged terrain, moorland and mountains. People who say they have ravens in their gardens are virtually always getting them mistaken with carrion crows.

Jackdaws are a chunk smaller than crows, and usually have obviously two-tone plumage with grey hoods obvious against black body and face. They also have pale eyes. The first bird it still a carrion crow, despite its pale feathers on its chest.

All birds here are carrion crows. Also look for rooks, that are similar in size to carrion crows, but have pale bills with a bald patch at the base.

I beg to differ Pete, here in worcestershire Ravens have made a come back in recent years and are now seen regularly in lowland arable/livestock farmland and close to or in villages and towns although I cant say Ive seen one on a roof yet.
Yes the first bird may have paler feathers due to them being ruffled and showing thier paler underside or just the light catching them.
Also rooks tend to show a steep/high forehead generally while carrion crows have flatter foehead/crown.
Im with pianoman beware juv/1st winter birds
 
Now whos being facetious or is that just pompous ;)

Ironic or something like that in this case (it was tongue-in-cheek) ... but yep probably frequently come across as above lol ;)

Think we're hijacking the thread. But since we are ...

Capitalization of bird names eg Grey Heron rather than grey heron in text, is quite useful imo. (If everyone did it we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.) Also a lot of birders don't like using the full names of birds eg Common Buzzard or European Starling all the time - it gets just too cumbersome .... Carrion Crow ditto.

Hence why I still feel in the context of this thread to say Crow (or crow) is ok, if not strictly and absolutely accurate.
 
Dan the man, I'll give you ditto me old chap.......
Hence......

From Wikipedia,

Crows /kroʊ/ form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws (Eurasian and Daurian) to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents except for South America, and several islands. In Europe the word "crow" is used to refer to the Carrion Crow or the Hooded Crow, while in North America it is used for the American Crow or the Northwestern Crow.
 
I beg to differ Pete, here in worcestershire Ravens have made a come back in recent years and are now seen regularly in lowland arable/livestock farmland and close to or in villages and towns although I cant say Ive seen one on a roof yet.
Yes the first bird may have paler feathers due to them being ruffled and showing thier paler underside or just the light catching them.
Also rooks tend to show a steep/high forehead generally while carrion crows have flatter foehead/crown.
Im with pianoman beware juv/1st winter birds

Hi Geoff, I stand corrected, although as you say it'd be very strange indeed to see one perched on a chimney!

And yes, juv rooks are very confusable with CCs, as you say.
 
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