Hello Ian (Tom) and all, Your Corvid-Call Quiz is a step in the right direction and good fun but more confusing than of help. All our corvids have a wide repertoire, and it didn’t compare the equivalent calls of each species. As you pointed out, it omitted the New-England Raven and as you didn’t point out, the Australian Raven from Western Australia, a very different sounding bird. Pity you didn’t contact me about the quiz, I could have helped as I probably have the biggest collection of corvid calls in Australia, including New England Ravens. Many of these calls are available on my website but the number I can present is limited by space. I am always willing to help anyone interested. Your comment about being confused by Forest Raven/Little Raven calls in southern Victoria is an interesting one. There could be intermediates – nobody knows. This is also discussed on my website under the text for Forest Raven. Little Ravens vary a fair bit in size and also voice. The smaller birds from the inland have the highest pitched voices and the bigger birds from alpine areas have deeper (sounding more like Forest Raven ) calls. These alpine birds do move down to the coastal regions in winter, so in places like Lakes Entrance both species can occur, and identifying them by call is tricky to say the least. Regards Graeme Chapman.
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Interesting Graeme. I haven’t finished the test yet but find the ‘growl’ calls confusing. I’m often intrigued when Atlasses show the Australian Raven as being the predominant bird across large parts of e.g.., NSW and when you visit some of these areas it is in fact the Little Raven that is the common species. I’m sure that there are other examples of this happening. I presume confusion exists on the NSW mid-north coast where Forest Ravens and Australian Ravens coexist. I suspect that the numbers of Forest Ravens have been understated. Well done, Tom, great idea. Andy
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Hi All Yes, I think I got the same one wrong. The problem is that the call used I believe was from a juvenile bird, & they are a lot more tricky to separate on call. They all make a sharper calls when they are juveniles, when I listened back after learning of my mistake I could hear that distinctive low, soulless growl distinctive of Forest. I am constantly listening out for calls of these corvids in Victoria & in the end it’s always been one or the other (unless I don’t get enough on them). I am getting better at picking them out on plumage and jizz now too & again it’s usually one or the other. I don’t there is any evidence of intergradation between the species, although it would be a hard thing to ascertain without something like DNA.-Kevin Bartram
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