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I feel confident that I can distinguish between Crows and Ravens. Not sure I've seen a Grackle. But I'll look for the yellow eyes.
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Many of the discussants noted the yellow eye color of the grackles and other non-crows. In addition, in the first lesson, I noted that some of the Crows have squared-off tails rather than rounded.
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No. I live in an area where skies are often gray, so these perfect photos are not what I usually see. I have never seen a Brewer's Blackbird. I have to travel a long way for Boat-tailed or Great-tailed Grackles. My binoculars rarely give me a look at the eye which helps with Grackle ID, and I have great binoculars. Birds in flight will always be a struggle and with Crows there is the need to learn wing motion to decide if you have a distant crow or a raptor. So, no confidence with flight. Of the birds you selected we get cowbirds, red-wings, Common Grackles, Crows.
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You bought up a good point about the binoculars. The pair I have aren't; that good for seeing and identifying birds, or maybe it's my inability. I'm going to try to get a good powerful set of binoculars. Thanks for bring that to mind.
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I struggle with wing and tail shapes when I can't see a grackle's color or eye
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I don't get opportunities for Ravens around here. But I know most of the different characteristics. My issue is always the bird in flight. The pointier wing is new to me. Still working on the tail shape and neck differences. I ID more by sound when I bird and I have a lot to learn
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Birding by sound is a challenge for me, unless it's a species that I encounter very frequently. Any tips for learning by ear? Happy birding!
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If I can’t see the bird I can usually tell by the call. Wings, tails, beak, ruff all help in distinguishing between the crow and the raven. Between the Corvid and other black birds, no contest.
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Though I got 100% on all the quizzes, I still tend to second guess myself with the crows vs. ravens. I feel sitting and watching their mannerisms has helped. For example how their heads move when they are making vocalizations. The pointy all around and throat feather clues are big takeaways from this lesson.
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FYI to everyone: In all our ID courses make sure to click "replay" on the Snap IDs as each time it will give you new match ups and pull in some photos you haven't seen yet. I suggest in any course that has a Snap ID play that one over and over as it helps to train your brain.
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I still feel uncertain differentiating between crows and ravens when I see them flying or from a short distance.
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A couple things that I've found helpful is flight pattern and wing shape. It seems that crows have a 'rowing' wing stroke with rounded wings and seldom fly without flapping, while ravens are very red-tailed-hawk-like in the air: more pointed wingtips, infrequent wingbeats and much more likely to soar. Hope that helps : ) Happy birding!
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Most of the black birds and grackles have light colored eyes. While the crow has dark eyes.
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ravens usually hang out at higher elevations in Oregon
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Ravens abound here in Colorado, as well.
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This one was easy. I had a much harder time with the first one, crows vs ravens. Even knowing the distinction between tail shape and number of “fingers”, I missed several.
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Yes, I found it much more challenging to distinguish them from pictures of ravens.
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I go mainly by ear—they are both much more ‘visible’ by sound than sight. Outside of downtown Philadelphia, along the river, we have American Crows, Fish Crows, and the occasional Common Raven.
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I agree, it is much easier to ID by sound. I am a novice birder and just don't seem to be quick enough to catch flight. Bonnie
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I find the trick seems to be to look at ALL the clues - wings (rounded, five fingered), tail (square ended), head shape, beak shape, dark eyes, feathers around head and neck. Any one of these may not be enough to identify (especially wing tips), but if I can see more than one part clearly, then I can probably accurately identify a crow.
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All of the characters reduced into one form: that of crow. Gestalt!
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My tip is that non-crows are sometimes more glossy, like their feathers have more oils.
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How interesting! I will pay more attention to this in the field. Thanks for the neat tip!
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Yes, I am quite confident.
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Crows have dark eyes, many other black birds have yellow eyes
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I noticed that, too, but I wasn't sure if that was always the case.
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@Karrin It isn’t always the case. I noticed the eye color difference between the American Crow and other blackbirds during one of the flying ID quizzes and applied the eye color technique to the next question. I was shocked to get it wrong! The Boat Tailed Grackler had darker eyes, and the American Crow had lighter eyes, because of the way the light was hitting them!
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@Chelsea This is a good point you mention. Kevin McGowan has a "Rule of Three" when it comes to bird ID and part of that is to try to find at least three distinguishing characteristics when making a bird identification as relying on just one feature will rarely work.
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Between crow and raven, sometimes the fully spread raven tail looks like a crow to me. learning the wing tips! I have both around my home, so want to know them apart flying overhead.
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I really like that you can count the number of “finger” feathers. 5 for crows and 4 for ravens!
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In person, it's easy for me to distinguish crows from ravens. Ravens aren't really in my area, so I don't see them much, if at all. But if I do see them, they are much larger than crows, so that makes it easy. Seeing pictures of each bird is a little more challenging. As far as crows vs. other blackbirds, I start with eye color, as many other black birds have light eyes, whereas crows have dark eyes. I also look for other colors in the feathers. Crows are all black, but other blackbirds may have sheen in their feathers or even bright colors or distinguishing colors.
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I am feeling more confident with distinguishing crows from other blackbirds. I cannot say for certain that I am 100% on crows vs ravens though. We have a lot of grackles here so determining the male grackles vs crows is pretty easy when you get close enough.
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The yellow eyes of Grackles are an easy identifier if they're close enough to see
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I am around here, and I think I would be where the big grackles live as well. Some of the boat-tailed grackle photos in the SnapID were tough!
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Crows are also exquisitely beautiful.
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LOVE CROWS ! Not really a "birder" / more aspiring naturalist :) Don't think we have Ravens here in Pa. (?). Crows always alert me to a perched Owl nearby. I could be inside the house, but when I hear them raising a ruckus, I know to grab the binocs and run outside ! Am thoroughly enjoying this course !
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I now feel more confident in identifying American Crows from other kinds of blackbirds, but I still lack confidence in distinguishing American Crows from Common Ravens. However, the class builds my confidence and sharpens my eyes, so I feel I'll improve. Differentiating crows from other blackbirds is easier. The eye color and size differences are key characteristics that help identifying crows from other blackbirds.
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