A question about Corvids

[MonumentalLentil]

I thought the various sizes of identical looking birds in the garden were crows. They have a lighter patch on the back of the neck.

However, there are now some really, really big black birds with big black beaks which I think are ravens, no lighter patches, beautiful birds and they bounce along sideways.

(There are also blackbirds which I know are not Corvids (thrush family) and I know they are really blackbirds).

I have looked them up but it seems I am not alone in this failure to identify correctly.

Assuming the big ones are ravens, can someone help with the crows or are they rooks or what?

How big was the owl? Is it definitely a scops? I thought scops owls were very small? Asking because I've always wanted to see one....

It's a long-eared owl - a stowaway that's quite a long way from home (but they are long-distance migrants). Quite a lot bigger than any of the many species of scops owls. And SinnerBoy, the gannet-like bird in your previous post is a brown booby.

Puffins on Skokholm island.

Skokholm also v good for choughs and ravens!

Where did the owl.disembark - near its point of origin or somewhere completely different?

Lovely photos, and makes it clear which is which.

queenofthebongo · Yesterday 08:37

How big was the owl? Is it definitely a scops?

The bird sanctuary told us that, from the photo.

GerundTheBehemoth · Yesterday 09:01

And SinnerBoy, the gannet-like bird in your previous post is a brown booby.

Thanks, I'm not an Aussie and the local lads onboard told me it was a gooney.

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · Yesterday 09:33

Where did the owl.disembark - near its point of origin or somewhere completely different?

It came onboard about 200km out to sea and when we were near the coast, it had disappeared, nobody saw it leave, during the night.

I wonder if there would be any milage in asking for a wildlife board

@mumsnet

If the sanctuary was in South Africa then the staff there probably wouldn't be familiar with long-eared owls as they don't naturally occur there - but it definitely is a long-eared owl! This is what a Eurasian scops owl looks like (and African scops owl is very similar): cdn.download.ams.birds.cornell.edu/api/v1/asset/163976091/640

GerundTheBehemoth · Today 06:20

Oh thanks, it was definitely bigger than hand sized. So, what was a long-eared owl doing 200 km off the coast of Angola?

Gooney is an old nickname for an albatross. You were right to say it was more like a gannet (boobies and gannets belong to the same family).

I can't see where I called it a gannet... unless there was an autocorrect, it's down as a gooney on my flickr.

I didn’t realise the Jay was in the crow family. Despite being apparently hard to spot we get them all the time in our garden. A bird spotter relative was a bit taken back.

Doh! It's so long since I looked at the comment, I see now. What a dolt I am!

They live right across the northern hemisphere and are long-distance migrants and wanderers across land and sea when they are not breeding. They are one of the most frequent species to turn up on oil rigs, as well as ships well out at sea. They're very different to tawny owls, for example, which rarely go more than 5km from their birthplace through their whole lives. Your one does seem especially adventurous though!

Agree with everyone on the crows and jackdaws, and yes, crows do the sideways bounce thing 😊. Where I live in London we do actually now have ravens, they make a very distinctive croaking noise and are huge. They've taken up residence in a large transmitter tower for the last few months which is fab.

GerundTheBehemoth · Today 06:35

Some of them do go a bit out of their way, we had a pied wheatear (new to me) on the links, last year. I was there for weeks and fairly unconcerned by humans nearby.

V cool! There has been a Hume's warbler living in a park near me (in Kent) this winter - they normally breed in Mongolia and China and spend winter in India!

It's a shame that pharmacies no longer give out those test kits, then you could see if it was a Corvid or just a bird of colour.

GerundTheBehemoth · Today 06:50

V cool! There has been a Hume's warbler living in a park near me (in Kent) this winter - they normally breed in Mongolia and China and spend winter in India!

Oh? An aunt and uncle are rural, Sittingbourne area. One cousin in Canterbury. We had a week down there in 2021, my daughter loved it and my wife was pleased to see the white cliffs, for the first time.

I still have some kits but might find it difficult to get them all to stay still long enough for a Corvid test. I suspect they are birds of colour though.

Oh, BTW - I'm insanely jealous of everyone else's superior puffin pictures...

I did look before I started this one. There are boards for things that are rarely posted on, so maybe a good idea. However, I feed everything that enters the garden (except neighbours cats) and am the go-to in the road for bird catching and rehab and hedgehog rescue so I might be more enthusiastic than most.
Also have the only garden in the road/area that is a mess on purpose, hedgehog houses, bird boxes, feeders, holes cut in fences, bird baths and saucers...