Photo/s of the day.

[moonvoice]

Thank you, brother raven...






The Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) is a monogamous bird, but in lieu of finding their 'one true love,' they form bachelor groups comprised of juvenile and unmated birds. They are common in industrial areas, building zones and rubbish tips, but they are nomadic and can be found anywhere that food is good.

There is a group, for whatever reason, tends to frequent the Malvern Springs area around June. I got photos of them (or a similar group) last year. And today, this morning, about 25 ravens flew to the trees behind our back garden and I got these photos while Moet waited patiently for me to come inside.

What was perhaps the most amazing thing is that they haven't frequented the space behind our house yet this year. And this morning I stood outside with Moet while he went to the toilet, and I had my camera with me (I always do, just in case the cats decide to do something hilariously and visually injurious to themselves), and I have been... depressed (understatement) lately. On top of everything else, all the other stuff my life usually brings to me to deal with. And I said, out loud, quietly, 'please, bravnari, remind me why I am still here.'

And then, thirty seconds later, they all came. At once. Twenty to thirty ravens coming and calling quietly, and then playing and grooming and snuggling in front of me. The very first photo, is my first shot of them all coming in towards me.

So thank, tolere, brother raven.









Two juveniles at the top (black eyes), an adult at the bottom (white eye; yes, they are that vivid from a distance in the right lighting).





Lots of white eyes.













































And my personal favourite.

Comments

[darakat-ewr.livejournal.com]

Caw cawww cawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[amethyst-clan.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful reminder. -hugs-

[anrui-ichido.livejournal.com]

I love these. :) Particularly the last one!

[azhure.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous, gorgeous photos.

Thank you, brother Raven, for helping the wonderful P :)

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

Oh those are super photos. We get fairly large bachelor groups here, too, and they often remind me of juvenile delinquents. They hang about, commenting loudly and rudely on things, stirring up mischief, etc. The bolder ones will do various swaggering displays, too. They are a delight.

[eoswildcat.livejournal.com]

the fifth from the bottom(single bird) is my fave! Thank you for sharing how Raven shows Himself in your region.

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

So many photos, so much awesome :D

[tigerweave.livejournal.com]

This is probably a dumb question from someone who has lived most of her life in the tropics, but how do you tell the difference between ravens and crows?

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Woot!

Ravens, and just when needed most.

They are truly awesome birds, even when they are being complete rat-bags. ^_^

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

There is no obvious way from a distance; except size (ravens are larger / crows are smaller - which is generally useless if you don't see them side by side).

Every other difference tends to be variable (i.e. ravens have larger throat hackles), or 'examination specific' (ravens usually have grey feather bases and a specific number of pinion feathers when contrasted to crows).

[tigerweave.livejournal.com]

Right. Thanks. Now at least we know we aren't totally incompetent at twitching.

Gorgeous gorgeous photos by the way. And what a lovely story to them :-) Magical.

[sidheblessed.livejournal.com]

Now that's a fuckload of ravens.

[dragonsrmd.livejournal.com]

Awesome birds and beautiful pictures :D Thank you

[pyewackettt.livejournal.com]

*sigh* They're so lovely.

[bewylderbeast.livejournal.com]

Corvids are magnificent.

[paul-scribbles.livejournal.com]

These are amazing! Sheer gorgeousness!!!

[firehauke.livejournal.com]

lovely birds. yay for signs :)

[aleia-kali.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!

[zuki-san.livejournal.com]

It's almost always crows and almost never ravens here in coastal Maryland, but the trick I was taught was that crows have a fan-shaped tail spread and that ravens a wedge-shaped, where the tail feathers in the center are longer.

Also, of course, to look at the beak and head shape if one could be close enough.

And that ravens are huge, more like small hawk-sized.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

See, the size thing is relative. Our Australian ravens are bigger than our crows in Australia, but they're about the same size as crows elsewhere. Heh.

And here, some of our crows have wedge shaped tails (Torresian crow), and some of our ravens have fan shaped tails (Forest raven).

So what applies in some of the Northern hemisphere, doesn't apply here.

[sabr.livejournal.com]

Oh they are so gorgeous! I am envious!

Whenever Kazi and I roadtrip, we look for two corvids flying in a pair for good luck :)

[shimmerhawk.livejournal.com]

What awesome birds! And great photos too. I really like the second to the last but I'm not sure why exactly.