[Birding-Aus] raven behaviour (was: LACoBirds] PANDEMIC)

Hi all,

Australian Ravens at Perth congregate at times, and the number of birds reach and exceed 20.

A couple of weeks ago I observed a mob of more than 20 Australian Ravens on the verge of our street near Perth’s Bold Park. The group comprised dark-eyed young and white-eyes adults. Two of the birds (I cannot remember wether they were young, adults or one of each) were on the ground fighting vigorously, with one foot of each locked with one of the opponent’s. Some of the numerous ‘bystanders’ (or ‘byflyers’) pecked repeatedly at the combatants, or pulled forcefully at their wings. I actually got the impression that particularly one of the two combatants was targeted by the bystanders. I was fearing that one or both of the birds would get injured, lose an eye perhaps, but that didn’t happen. The noise that the group made had driven me out of the house to see what the ruckus was about. I have observed Apostlebirds behaving similarly.

There are many Australian Raven in our area, so many indeed that I began wondering wether their numbers have increased in recent times, or whether it is just me getting annoyed by their noise from before sunrise. I also wonder whether the other resident birds are affected by the ravens. I wish I had done regular bird counts around the house to substantiate my thoughts. When running at Bold Park about twice a week I often come across Australian Raven congregations of a dozen and even more than 20 individuals of adults and young (my running is slow enough to count them and see the colour of the iris), but again I can’t quantify whether this is just a recent development or wether there were so many ravens here all the time. I am aware, however, that nothing is as sure as chance and I am interested to hear what others have to say about the numbers and behaviours of Australian Raven in Perth.

Cheers,

Jonny Schoenjahn

Perth WA

P.S.

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