Pompano - 1-11-2005 at 06:52 AM
Do you know the difference between a crow and a raven in Baja? Can you tell them apart easily? Neither can I, I guess. I thought for sure that
I could. I grew up on a ranch in North Dakota and we had both there in abundance. Also in nearby Saskatchewan and Alberta there are plenty to look
at...mostly when they were flying away with your unattended sandwiches or cookies. So I was a little skeptical when told that the crows I had been
watching fly over my Coyote Bay house for years were ravens, not crows at all. This was told to me by...The Raven Man..have you ever seen his truck
around Baja? It's hard to miss...big letters stating Raven Society or something similar (I must have a photo somewhere..)
Well, the story goes like this......
One fine morning I was up early as usual and took my coffee out onto the patio of my beachhouse in Coyote Bay. As I sat down I was a little alarmed
to see a man's head popping up and down over the seawall in front of me! I thought, 'Oh No!..is it Easter time already?'...but the head was not
looking my way but moving down the shore behind my seawall...bobbing and scurrying along just above the top edge. I got a little nervous and swiveled
around to see what the head was looking at...all I could see was the adjacent beach with just the sand, some shells, a panga, and the two crows that
were always around..we had named them Coy and Otie, after Coyote Bay. Now the head comes up with a camera and longest telescopic lens I had ever
seen....that got my attention fast! I watched with silent fascination as the photographer got his best shots of...our crows! When the crows got
tired of posing they flew off with some loud caw-caws. Then the head and camera came up with the rest of the body and walked over to say hello and
thanks for not spooking his shot. He was a very strange, but interesting character whose main pursuit was studying 'ravens', which he lost no time in
telling me that that's what these birds were. Hell, I said, all this time I thought they were crows. 'Nope, you are so wrong, they're ravens.
And...they are very territorial', he says, 'They mate for life and will defend their home area from other ravens. Crows are nothing like ravens.'
Really, I said, and looked around for a neighbor in case I needed help quickly.
Uh...we call these two crows...er, ravens!...Coy and Otie..you know, like in Coyote Bay? They have been here for quite a while..many years
now. Would you like a coffee...I could go get you one? Maybe some kahlua and valium in it? Hey, Stan..HEY STAN!! Come on over and meet this
fellow!!
Well, of course the researcher turned out to be the nicest kind of guy and came back year after year to photo our local ravens...and many others
in surrounding valleys. He always camps on the southside of Coyote Bay. He thrilled me with many fine talks about the distinctions of crows and
ravens. I saw him many times over a few seasons using the seawall as a shooting blind to get closer to his subjects... the Baja Ravens.
Come to think of it, it's about that time again...Where are you now, Raven Man?
Tell us---
fishinrich - 1-11-2005 at 10:11 AM
OK Pompano, so now tell us less informed the difference between a raven and crow. I am sure raven man gave you all the info and inquiring minds would
like to know. fishin rich
Bob and Susan - 1-11-2005 at 11:14 AM
Answer
Cousins
Crow is between 17 and 21 inches.
A raven measures 21-27 inches.
Crows weigh about one pound.
Ravens weigh about 3 pounds.
Crow's tail is squared off.
Raven's tail is fanned.
Crows are social and family-oriented.
Ravens keep to themselves in pairs.
I hear they both taste like chicken
[Edited on 1-11-2005 by Bob and Susan]
El Jefe - 1-11-2005 at 11:15 AM
Well, I at least shall call ravens crows......Nevermore!
Pompano - 1-11-2005 at 02:32 PM
I went to my journal to read up on what I had writtien from Raven Man's chats. Ravens are spread out pretty good...from Greenland to Alaska and
south to Nicaragua. Seem to like sea cliffs and mountains..(I know I saw some in ND and I grew up next to the highest 'mountain'.. White Butte
1800ft..) Raven Man said the Easteners had pretty much cleaned out all the ravens back there a long time ago. They are longer and heavier than
crows with a bigger beak and different flight feathers. Solitary pairs.
Crows are from central Canada south to California, Florida, and Texas. Migrate northward. They are abundant in the East, uncommon and very
local in the far west, and uncommon in treeless areas. (Hmm...again North Dakota is not noted for its forests. But we had lots of crows.)
Because crows were once considered to be good eating by early Easteners, the term for a large flock of crows was..a 'murder' of crows. Maybe because
they would kill hundreds at a time with punt guns as they roosted in trees. Remember the old nursery rhyme.."four and twenty blackbirds baked in a
pie" ?
Eli - 1-11-2005 at 07:14 PM
Loved your story, love Coyote bay, took me right back there, thanks so much from la mocosa en Oax. jack, jack, P-nche gripa...........
Gypsy Jan - 1-11-2005 at 10:08 PM
The ravens that visit our area come down to the cliffs near us to hunt when the pigeons that nest there are hatching eggs, roughly February through
May.
The birds are visible in the sky year round, but roost and hunt someplace else for the rest of the year.
They show up in groups of three or five; maybe the parents are teaching the m ost recent group of hatchlings where the good spots are?
They hang around on the rooftops, cawing, gossiping and bragging amongst themselves, or strut arrogantly around on the ground, picking through the
discarded mussel and urchin shells left by the seagulls who drop them on the rocks to break them up.
In the afternoon, when the wind picks up to twenty-plus miles per hour, I see them soaring through the updrafts from the cliffs, performing aerobatic
rolls and other stunning swoops and drops, which, to my eyes, look like they are flying for the sheer joy of it.
That's the best reason
Frigatebird - 1-11-2005 at 10:16 PM
to fly. Ravens are afterall, one of the more intelligent bird species. 
Frigatebird