Comments on: What kind of bird is this?

Question: What kind of bird is this?

upc_head — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 13:51:00 -0800

What kind of bird is this?

Likely taken in California. I'm pursuing the answer from the photographer, but I doubt he's an ornithologist. An affirmative answer would be great.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 14:26:42 -0800

Common Crow.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 14:27:33 -0800

Looks like a crow. Ravens have a wedge shaped tail and a relatively larger/coarser beak. Of course it could be a starling since there's no way to tell how large it is.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 14:29:16 -0800

Hmm... thought I erased that bit about starlings since looking at the photo again.

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 14:39:31 -0800

funny thing in Tokyo pushed-in faced crows with meaner dispositions displaced the nice friendly-faced crows like in this pic.

By: EndsOfInvention

EndsOfInvention — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:29:30 -0800

Carrion Crow? (from here)

By: comatose

comatose — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:29:51 -0800

I am amlost sure it is a Raven.

By: comatose

comatose — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:46:56 -0800

If it plays the slideshow wait for it to get to the one flying with the grass background.

By: mcstayinskool

mcstayinskool — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:44:21 -0800

Common Crow. Corvus brachyryhnchos, if my memory serves me. Nice pic.

By: Katravax

Katravax — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:04:09 -0800

That is a fantastic photo. The tail features sure make it look like a crow. Also, most of the ravens I've seen have a thicker beak with the little fuzzy feathers at the top. It's hard to tell for sure without being able to see how big it is. A Raven is like the Fezzik to the crow's Inigo.

By: four panels

four panels — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:40:30 -0800

beautiful capture

By: smallerdemon

smallerdemon — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:16:19 -0800

Yeah, I'm saying crow. Mainly the flying stature and the beak and wings. We have SO many here in San Francisco in the Inner Sunset and I watch them a lot. If that's a picture from the west coast, you may think raven just because he looks big, but the crows here are, uh, big. (My wife and I joke about the six foot crows. Kind of a joke. They are reallly big. Personally I like when they hang out on the power lines outside my computer window and caw. They are fun.)

By: rtha

rtha — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:16:50 -0800

If you're in North America, it's unlikely to be a Carrion Crow (and if it is, google [birding]+[your town/city/county] to find local groups - tell someone!). (Actually, in North America, the Black Vulture is apparently sometimes called the Carrion Crow, though they don't look anything like crows.)

The angle of the bird makes it a little hard to judge, I think. The tail appears to be rounded rather than wedge-shaped, but the angle isn't great (see the second photo here); the bill doesn't seem large enough to be a Raven's, but that angle...

Anything you can tell us about its flight style would be helpful. That said, I think it's a crow. And it's a beautiful photo!

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:41:30 -0800

If you want to say that the bird is one of the general crow-like birds, the word is "corvid."