Unless it’s a raven, I don’t have the reference page to help me know the difference

  • Dr. Bob@lemmy.ca
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    9 hours ago

    Wow that’s a big bird: crow.

    Holy mother of Christ! WTF is that: raven.

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      9 hours ago

      Unfortunately unreliable in some areas! In the southwest US we have (IIRC) the largest subspecies of crows and the smallest of ravens, so they overlap in size.

      Easiest way for me to tell is the voice. Two easy tells: if it sounds like a crow with a nasty cold making it deep and raspy, it’s a raven. If it’s high pitched and nasal sounding it’s a crow. Raven females also have a unique ‘knocking’ call (example) they’ll use sometimes.

      More useful tells: ravens have a wedge-shaped tail, crows have a fan-shaped one, and ravens have longer neck feathers (which is what makes me lean towards raven for this post)