Ravens and Crows

So sleek and glossy
And darker than night
But agressive and bossy
And his call is a fright

Ah ah ahhhh quoth the Raven
Its road kill I’m cravin'
Oh oh oh way to go
Says the old Aussie Crow
Ark ark ark says his little mate
Dig in quick no time to wait

Is it a crow or a raven? I was listening to a radio talk back show when a listener rang in to inform everyone that there were no crows in Perth only ravens. Well, it is true that ravens dominate in Perth but there are crows here as well and they are difficult to tell apart. The Australian Raven is the dominant corvid in Perth and the southern forests while the Australian Crow dominates north of Perth and through the tropics. Perth also has Little Crows that dominate in arid Australia and Indian Crows sometimes stow away on ships and are occasionally seen near the Fremantle Port. Australia also has the Little Raven and Forest Raven confined to the SE forests of Victoria and Tasmania respectively.The Australian Raven has long throat hackles and grey bases to its feathers while the Australian Crow has white bases to its feathers. The Little Crow is like a miniature Australian Crow. The Raven has a powerful ah ah ah aaah call that Peter Slater describes as falling off like a death rattle. The Australian Crow has a high pitched staccato oh oh oh oh oh call and the Little Crow a nasal nark nark nark nark call. The infamous Graham Kennedy crow call was undoubtedly based on the cry of the Little Crow. Crows are intelligent, mischievous and can be serial pests if it is your garden that they decide to make their playground.

Crows are everywhere but Australia is the land of crows and the home of their ancestors. Villified as carrion feeders and wicked eye peckers the crow is a universal symbol of death and decay but this is only part of the story. Like all scavengers they serve an important ecological role in recycling dead carcasses and they are astonishingly clever. Watch the David Attenborough You Tube video called Clever Crow.  It shows Japanese Crows that have not only figured out how to crack nuts by dropping them in traffic but have also learned to drop them on pedestrian crossings so that they can retrieve the cracked nut safely on the red traffic light. I like crows a lot and while their harsh cry is grating it always reminds me of home.