The following information can be used to help distinguish between ravens, crows and other corvids

Raven

Hooded crow

Rook

Jackdaw

Carrion crow

Corvid Identification

On the ground

Apart from the obvious size differences, ravens have much broader bills (beaks) than crows. Crow bills are finer, with a longer, sweeping curve to the top half of the bill than a ravens. Ravens also have a longer neck with ruffled, shaggy-looking throat feathers.

Ravens have a harsher, more rasping call than a crow. The different calls can be played using the RSPB web-site:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/families/crows.asp.

In flight

The tail feathers of both species tend to spread out in flight, but the crow’s tail has a rounded, fan-like appearance, while the raven has a distinctive wedge or diamond shape in appearance. Only during the late summer, when the birds are moulting, will it sometimes be difficult to distinguish between them using the tail shape.

In flight, ravens have a longer neck than a crow.

The feathers at the wing-tip of a raven separate out to form very long ‘fingers’, with much space between them. The wing-tip feathers of a crow however, are much shorter and more closely spaced in comparison, although there are still gaps between them.

These illustrations are reproduced by kind permission of RSPB.Mature ravens are approximately 64cm from the tip of the tail to the tip of the beak. All images are approximately 1/8 th actual size.

This identification sheet was prepared by the Photography Unit, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), Roddinglaw Road, Edinburgh, EH12 9FJ, UK. Tel: +44(0)131 244 8827