Monday 25 October 2021

Corvids Are Cool


What would Halloween be 
without crows and ravens?



And of course, we all know who 
is the most famous raven!




Corvids enhance our lives
in so many ways!




We have lots of crows
here in Alberta!




This post is, of course, dedicated to
our blogging buddy

MAGIC LOVE CROW

artist and crow lover extraordinaire!

Check out her blog here
if you don't already know it!

44 comments:

Parnassus said...

Hello Debra, These are all ultra-cute today! But how does that girl close just her lower eyelids, and how does that signify revenge?
--Jim

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hahahaha...i love them all!

Sixpence Notthewiser said...

Ohhh so it's one feather huh?
I think I was having this discussion with someone because we decided to watch John Cusack playing Edgar Allan Poe. I can't believe you had the answer all this time!
And me and Beatrice need to hang out.

XOXO

pam nash said...

Interesting - only one feather different. Of course we don't have to try to count feathers or tail shapes as we have crows but no ravens.

Travel said...

Pretty birds, but they fly

Mistress Maddie said...

We must be on the same wavelength today. Brilliant minds! Ravens are actually extremely intelligent birds. I have three here now, and they are huge!!! They insist for there size landing on my kitchen window sill, to the dismay of the other birds feeding!!! I am assuming Nocturne found a mate and the third is their offspring. They always make me day when they stop in.

Ol'Buzzard said...

In the southern flat section of Maine we have crows - no ravens. In the northern mountainous section we have ravens. Big difference in size, both birds highly intelligent.
the Ol'Buzzard

Hena Tayeb said...

haha.. I try not to hold on to grudges or seek revenge.. a crow/raven and I would not get along.
Love the matter of a pinion joke.

Lady M said...

Another difference is that Ravens soar and crows don't. When they flap the crows make a rowing motion and ravens make a flapping motion. Crows are also smaller with smaller beaks. Just more birder details - we have American Crow, Common Raven,and Chihuahuan Raven here in Colorado as well as the smaller corvids - Stellers Jay, Woodhouses Scrub Jay, Pinion Jay and Blue Jay so birders get good at telling them all apart. I agree they are swell and so smart. I watch the crows bring whole peanuts from the neighbors feeder and use my birdbath water to soften them up so they can open the shells. I talk to them a lot and throw them dried meal worms on occasion. Yesterday they were standing under the suet feeder while the Northern Flicker was feeding. The crows were eating all pieces of suet that the flicker dropped. So clever! So thank you for your salute to these amazing creatures.

Mike said...

"a matter of opinion"
Now I get to GROAN at you.

We used to have crows all over the place. Then west nile happened. They have started to come back but nowhere near the numbers that used to be around here.

Yvonne said...

Love this post, especially the raven picking up trash to through in the trash can.

This N That said...

I loved crows so I loved this post.."only a matter of a pinion"..very clever..Yee Caw!!

Boud said...

I don't think I've seen ravens. But your blogging buddy shares your sense of humor, I see!

e said...

I love the corvids! I have a crow friend who perches outside my sewing room window and keeps tabs on what I'm doing. If I'm in the back yard, they (he/she?) will fly to the roof of the shed and hang out. Sometimes we talk. When I was away I asked some crows to get a message through to my friend so that they wouldn't worry.

Love these memes!

Tundra Bunny said...

Crows are pale imitations of the huge Ravens which reside in the Precambrian Shield forests of the northern prairies. Highly intelligent and skilled problem solvers, Ravens are known to claim the tops of light standards in winter so they have warm places to roost and will even rip open sealed cardboard boxes in the back of half ton trucks to fight over the frozen links of polish sausage contained within... I once observed a couple of Ravens swoop and chase Cottontail rabbits onto the highway for passing vehicles to hit and kill them so they'd have fresh roadkill to eat! And oddly enough, Ravens will screech at the sound of classical music, but swoop over and dance on your roof if Alan Jackson songs are playing, so they are not completely evil!

Leanna said...

We have what we call grackles here in Texas. Not crows or ravens. They are black nasty birds that make squeaky loud noises and congregate in trees above people's yards that have dogs in the yard with dried dog food in the bowls. They take turns testing to see if the dog cares enough to defend his food bowl against them. They are just plain nasty birds.

Barbara said...

So funny. Loved it. My favo.rite was a matter of a pinion.

Moving with Mitchell said...

These are wonderful, and your own crow photo is a once-in-a-lifetime catch. So good.

Polly said...

I like Corvids. We have crows here and I think we have ravens too.

Anne Johnson said...

My second favorite genus! Stealing "Hello, my name is..."

Joanne Noragon said...

I have the feeling the crow and the paper plate are printed in reverse order. It leaned down and retrieved the plate, which it put on the ground then checked for food.

DVArtist said...

Great post. I knew a few of the differences but not all of them. Enjoyed the post very much. Have a great day.

Al Penwasser said...

Wow. I really never knew any this. But, I will nevermore be ignorant about crows and ravens.

Old Lurker said...

Too soon, Debra. Too soon. You think after 18 months of dealing with crow-navirus we are ready for a post extolling CORVID?

Janie Junebug said...

I love the memes.

Nevermore,
Janie

Debra She Who Seeks said...

@ Joanne Noragon -- No corvid can outsmart you! I think you're right. But I never put two and two together myself!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

@ Old Lurker -- GROAN! You clever bastard.

Richard said...

I like them. Crows are pretty smart.

Kirk said...

I bet most of us have seen ravens we've mistaken for crows, and crows we've mistaken for ravens. Mainly because of the stereotypes. If we see a big black bird on a telephone wire in broad daylight, we assume it's a crow. If we see one at night, we assume it's a raven. The latter stereotype, of course, we have Edgar Allen Poe to thank for. Who knows why he chose a raven over a crow? He was writing a poem and may have simply felt in that particular line a two-syllable word like raven worked better than a one-syllable word like crow.

G. B. Miller said...

Over the years, whole swaths of my neighborhood have become a literal way station/rest area/I can and I will stopping point for both kinds while on to their ultimate destination of fun, frivolity and bada$$ness. Truly a sight to see when they all depart enmasse to their next stop, especially in the autumn when trees are mostly bare.

Rosemary said...

Where there are wars, there will be crows, the carrion-fanciers. And ravens too, the warbirds, the eyeball gourmands. Margaret Atwood.

Cederq said...

I had a wild raven when I lived in Oregon and I would put dry cat food on a high fence post in a bowl and the raven would leave me gifts at my garage door and while working on a project in the garage would fly in and walk around to inspect what ever project I was working and then sit on the bench and watch me.

Richard said...

Nice! I love them both! I once raised an orphan raven fledgling. A big can of Alpo dog food every day for a few months. One day i came back to camp and Charlie wasn't there.
Success! That bird knew where i worked and would come by and speak raven to me for the rest of that year. I don't speak it,but that was a great experience. Corvids are cool.

Guillaume said...

Weused to have lots and lots of crows where I come from when I was growing up. My mum hated them, I learned to appreciate them. RegardingT he Raven, I'm afraid The Simpsons spoiled it for me.

Onevikinggirl said...

My neighbor feeds a pair of ravens daily. I always send a message with them to Odin that all is well and I appreciate that he checks up on me.

Laura said...

love these!!
~*~

Busy Bee Suz said...

I really enjoyed all of these and now I will recognize the difference between a crow and a raven.
NOT.

Rommy said...

I think Beatrice, the crow, and I should go out for coffee or tea someday.

Roland Clarke said...

Fun fascinating post. Corvids feature in the police procedural novel I'm writing, Fevered Fuse. Negesydd is a jackdaw inspired by the ones in our garden in North Wales.

Adam said...

I wish I could remember the difference but my memory goes nevermore

Miss Val's Creations said...

These birds are so amazing! They are very entertaining to watch and wonder what they are thinking.

Fundy Blue said...

I immediately thought of Sandy and how much she would enjoy this wonderful post, Debra. Loved the "matter of a pinion" and the information it contained. And Quoth, the raven ~ LOL! What a shot you took with your spooked raven. The last ravens I saw were in the Tower of London. I'd love to see one now. Thanks for always making us laugh!

Ur-spo said...

On my wedding band is a raven.

baili said...

they just made my evening dear Debra
what an excellent collection of fun memes you shared here i loved the absolutely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i never saw spooked out crow lol ,back in town they would play around ,bother sparrows eat from garden even and pick our things like mom's eye glasses and chicks sadly still i liked them :)

thank you for bringing so much fun in my day !
higs and blessings!