First Robins!

Gardening with Rabbits

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Usually ravens are much larger with a coarser head and beak. They are also more likely to be alone, whereas crows hang out in family groups.

I just watched a few short videos of how to tell them apart, and I still can't. Maybe both are around my house. Sound more crow though. I will try to take a picture when they show up.
 

flowerbug

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I glanced out the kitchen window just now and there are two big fat robins scratching around on a little patch of bare ground!
Yippee! :weee

With warming temps hopefully they will soon have more ground to choose from.

And my Snowdrops are once again exposed and looking no worse for the wear of the winter sequel. And AND I just saw a tulip bud by the front door!

week or two ago we saw the first ones here. :)
 

flowerbug

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I just watched a few short videos of how to tell them apart, and I still can't. Maybe both are around my house. Sound more crow though. I will try to take a picture when they show up.

i don't know if we even have ravens around here (i don't think i've ever seen one). the crows are usually pretty vocal with their calling back and forth as a family group and scouting around.

for us, we have a few groups of crows that come through pretty much on schedule every day (relative to sunrise and sunset times). if i have trapped mice i toss them out on the grass in the same location and the crows eat them. since they also eat roadkill they are pretty welcome creatures...
 

digitS'

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That's a good way to describe ravens, Thistle'.

Their solo travel makes it difficult to use size comparison. Judging size while not being sure of distance ... difficult. Two birds doubles the chance that one can guess their size compared to their surroundings.

At one time, I thought that the more pointed raven tail compared to the square crow tail was the clue. Then, I had the opportunity to watch a nest of crows through a season and discovered that the young crows also had the more pointed tail! So, that leaves me trying to guess ages???

Mature Size, Wikipedia:
  • Crows: 11.1 to 21.9 oz
  • Ravens: 1.5 to 4.4 lb
Of course, that means that the smallest raven is the same weight as the larger crows.

Steve
 

digitS'

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That last storm coming over the Siskiyou Mountains blew them north aaalll the way to the border, @murphysranch :).

@ninnymary !

9473-68eb84ff1ba953f5c312e4ee4ad7ad28_zps6byexyx8.gif
hummingbirds? Well, you have Monarch Butterflies just like about an hour's drive south, right?

Steve :rolleyes:
 
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