Carrion Ravens ...
.... or Carry On Raving.
Before getting on to that I will include a snap taken earlyish this morning on O'Connor Ridge. My attention was drawn to a sort of begging bird call which went on and on (rather like a Carry On movie). I suspected it was a raptor and so it turned out to be. Obviously an Accipiter and then my best photo showed the talons.
That long it has to be a Collared Sparrowhawk rather than a Brown Goshawk. Given the begging type calls I'd rate it an indolent young bird and its large size must mean a female.
Anyhow to business. I am not making a claim for having seen a Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) in Canberra. As the species has never been recorded in Australia that would almost certainly need a detailed set of field notes, a DNA sample and, for the traditionalists with bloodlust, a corpse, The range of the species according to eBird is shown here.
I suspect the gap between about Hungary and Kazakhstan is more to do with the distribution of eBirders than the distribution of corvids.
Instead what I am on about is Australian Ravens (Corvus coronoides) feeding on the second best sort of European Carp. (They are dead, which improves them a fair bit, but would only get a first rank if the slob who'd caught them had put them in a compost bin rather than just chucking them on the road.)
In total there were 8 Ravens at this feast which if I had seen them flying would have made me wonder about Little Raven.
Little Ravens don't have a bunch of hackles like this!
Before getting on to that I will include a snap taken earlyish this morning on O'Connor Ridge. My attention was drawn to a sort of begging bird call which went on and on (rather like a Carry On movie). I suspected it was a raptor and so it turned out to be. Obviously an Accipiter and then my best photo showed the talons.
Anyhow to business. I am not making a claim for having seen a Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) in Canberra. As the species has never been recorded in Australia that would almost certainly need a detailed set of field notes, a DNA sample and, for the traditionalists with bloodlust, a corpse, The range of the species according to eBird is shown here.
Instead what I am on about is Australian Ravens (Corvus coronoides) feeding on the second best sort of European Carp. (They are dead, which improves them a fair bit, but would only get a first rank if the slob who'd caught them had put them in a compost bin rather than just chucking them on the road.)
Comments