{"id":9816,"date":"2016-01-10T20:37:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T20:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/01\/10\/how-would-one-tell-the-difference-between-a-crow\/"},"modified":"2016-01-10T20:37:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T20:37:18","slug":"how-would-one-tell-the-difference-between-a-crow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/01\/10\/how-would-one-tell-the-difference-between-a-crow\/","title":{"rendered":"how would one tell the difference between a crow and a raven?"},"content":{"rendered":"

defilerwyrm<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

You might be surprised to learn there are a lot of different species of raven and crow! The taxonomic difference between a raven and a crow (that is, whether a species gets named of or the other) is size and lifespan rather than genetic grouping.\u00a0When comparing\u00a0the\u00a0species most of us are most familiar with \u00a0\u2013 the American crow (C. brachyrhyncos<\/i>) and common raven (C. corax<\/i>), which will be the two I\u2019m focusing on here \u2013 you can\u2019t exactly tell the bird\u2019s age most of the time, so if you have other animals or objects to compare the bird to, size is often the first clue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The common raven is is massive<\/b> for a passerine. It\u2019s the size of a red-tailed a hawk, with a wingspan over four feet. Crows, on the other hand, are typically about the size of an African grey parrot. Compare someone holding a crow vs someone holding a raven:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

[sources: top<\/a>, bottom<\/a>]<\/p>\n

And lemme tell ya, it\u2019s one thing to READ about how big they are, but it\u2019s another to SEE it.<\/p>\n

If you see a corvid in flight and can\u2019t get a bead on its proportions, the shape of the tail and flight feathers is another good identifier. A crow\u2019s tail is triangular or fan-shaped, while a raven\u2019s is wedge-shaped (ie the middle tail feathers are longest). Both have well-defined primaries, but a raven\u2019s are much deeper and tend to spread wider. Ravens tend to soar a lot, too; crows are consistent flappers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

[sources: left<\/a>, right<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Finally, if you can get a good look at the head, the differences are pretty obvious. A raven has a beak that hooks at the end and is as long as its head (or in the case of a Chihuahuan raven, longer than!) while a crow\u2019s beak is straighter, shorter, and lighter-looking in general. Both have nasal bristles, but the shape these bristles form is different due to beak size (a raven\u2019s often looks squared off). Crows are kinda shiny and a bit fluffy; ravens are iridescent and have a very distinctive\u00a0\u201cbeard\u201d of shaggy feathers at their throats which bristles up like hackles when they call.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

[sources: top<\/a>, bottom<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Finally, their voices are a bit different \u2013 a crow\u2019s flat, high caw vs a raven\u2019s deep, resonating kronk \u2013 but both species have a very wide range of natural vocalisations and are accomplished mimics. [This video<\/a>] has some great examples of the caw vs kronk sounds.<\/p>\n

Hope that helps! o\/<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

defilerwyrm: You might be surprised to learn there are a lot of different species of raven and crow! The taxonomic difference between a raven and a crow (that is, whether a species gets named of or the other) is size and lifespan rather than genetic grouping.\u00a0When comparing\u00a0the\u00a0species most of us are most familiar with \u00a0\u2013 … Continue reading how would one tell the difference between a crow and a raven?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2017,3477,3478,742],"class_list":["post-9816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amazing","tag-crows","tag-ravens","tag-reference","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}