Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
How to tell the difference between a crow and a raven
Look at tails, listen to their voices
Mr. Alice:
In the past, you’ve talked about how the big black birds we see in San Diego are ravens, not crows. Well, lately, I’ve had lots of big, noisy black birds in the trees around my house. My friend swears they’re crows, not ravens. Who do I believe? And, whatever they are, how can I get rid of them?
— Mena G., North Park
Okay. I give. In the past year; even Matthew Alice has noticed growing populations of crows cawing and flapping their way west. Time was when most San Diego crows stuck to their territories in the mountains, while the ravens had things under control on the western slopes. ‘But it’s the same old immigrant story. Population pressures, food supplies, jobs...things start getting hot in one place, and the hardy species will strike out for the frontiers, So no longer can it be said that the big black birds along the coast are more likely to be ravens; now they’re equally likely — maybe more likely, in some places — to be crows.
The two are pretty easy to tell apart. Crows are smaller, scrappier, and more active, with higher-pitched voices, and more likely to be in small flocks rather than in pairs or solo, as ravens are. More reliably, wait until you see them flying, then look at their back ends. If the trail’s edge of the tail is a straight line. it’s a crow. If it sticks out in a peak in the middle, it’s a raven. (Perched, however, they look pretty much alike.) They’re both scavengers and can live sumptuously on our discards. As for getting rid of crows, all I can do is quote a local farmer, “Ha-ha-hahahahaha!”
Here's something you might be interested in.
How to tell the difference between a crow and a raven
Look at tails, listen to their voices
How to tell the difference between a crow and a raven
Look at tails, listen to their voices
Mr. Alice:
In the past, you’ve talked about how the big black birds we see in San Diego are ravens, not crows. Well, lately, I’ve had lots of big, noisy black birds in the trees around my house. My friend swears they’re crows, not ravens. Who do I believe? And, whatever they are, how can I get rid of them?
— Mena G., North Park
Okay. I give. In the past year; even Matthew Alice has noticed growing populations of crows cawing and flapping their way west. Time was when most San Diego crows stuck to their territories in the mountains, while the ravens had things under control on the western slopes. ‘But it’s the same old immigrant story. Population pressures, food supplies, jobs...things start getting hot in one place, and the hardy species will strike out for the frontiers, So no longer can it be said that the big black birds along the coast are more likely to be ravens; now they’re equally likely — maybe more likely, in some places — to be crows.
The two are pretty easy to tell apart. Crows are smaller, scrappier, and more active, with higher-pitched voices, and more likely to be in small flocks rather than in pairs or solo, as ravens are. More reliably, wait until you see them flying, then look at their back ends. If the trail’s edge of the tail is a straight line. it’s a crow. If it sticks out in a peak in the middle, it’s a raven. (Perched, however, they look pretty much alike.) They’re both scavengers and can live sumptuously on our discards. As for getting rid of crows, all I can do is quote a local farmer, “Ha-ha-hahahahaha!”
Comments