Computer says no!

The wise owls on the RSPB forum have decided our big black bird is in fact ... a carrion crow and not a raven. Wrong nasal feathers and the bill isn't long or thick enough, apparently. She (no idea if it's male or female) is still a whopper though and seems to like sitting at the end of our garden, so could be fun to watch. We're calling her Rowena Ravencrow, the crow that wasn't quite a raven!

I've scrapped my plans to rename our house the "White Tower" and I won't now be remodeling the garden using a Tower Green theme! Probably all for the best!

Whilst I'm on crows, I saw this one (not Rowena Ravencrow, as it's not big enough) early yesterday morning in a tree across the road. It was fanning out it's tail and bobbing up and down, whilst letting out a lovely loud crowy "caww", before pausing and doing it all again. Looked lovely dancing up and down against the dawn sky. I pity the poor person that has their bedroom window next to that tree though as it was having a lovely time and was making quite a racket.

The return of the raven, or is it just a massive crow?

The big black bird was back again yesterday, sat in the same tree in the field at the end of the garden. This time it let me get much closer to get some more photos. In fact it didn't seem to care at all that I was there.

 

I still think it's too big to be a crow, but I can't quite believe it's a raven as they're so unusual around here. I've asked the RSPB what they think, so I'll let you know if I hear back from them.

A raven in the garden?

I was making breakfast this morning when I noticed an enormous black bird in a tree just outside the garden. It was far bigger than a crow or a rook - they sit around in the trees all the time. It was it's size that first caught my attention, similar to a red kite sat in a tree, so I grabbed the camera and crept outside to get a better look.

It was sat there calling to a second one that I could hear calling back, but couldn't see. It seemed quite confident and wasn't worried about me being there at a distance. It only flew away when I moved a bit too close. It's call sounded a bit like a crows, but louder and harsher.

There are supposed to be a few ravens around here, but they're pretty uncommon and I've never seen a wild one before. Does anybody know if that is a raven? If not, I guess it must have been a massive crow, but I hope it was a raven!