Comments on: Freaky bird sighting

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:42:43 +0000

that must have been the same type of bird I saw on the Ottawa River Parkway last week. I heard him long before I saw him and I was sure I was going to see someone’s lost exotic parrot. Then I saw what I too thought was a crow and just thought what a weird, freaky sound for a crow.

By: Julia

Julia — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:51:03 +0000

Also congress, conspiracy, parliament (also used for owls), and murder (also used for crows).
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names

And more fun from the footnote http://baltimorebirdclub.org/gnlist.html

Cool!

By: Nat

Nat — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:04:13 +0000

Ravens!!! I don’t like birds except for Ravens… ravens are so terribly cool. (I don’t understand it either.)

did you know that a group of ravens is called an unkindness?

By: Julia

Julia — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:34:43 +0000

Check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Raven
“Like other corvids, Ravens can mimic sounds from their environment, including human speech.”
Here are some more recordings (scroll to the bottom):
http://www.naturesongs.com/ravens.html

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:46:55 +0000

I also think it was a raven…or my Uncle Stu reincarnated. He used to honk when he sneezed. It must have been bird day at the Experimental Farm, Robin has some beautiful photos of another bird too.

By: lucy

lucy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:17:15 +0000

Mudmama, Also the crows tend to go around in groups, whereas the ravens are more solitary. I’ll pay more attention to the crows next time I do see some; I agree they are more tidy, a bit more like starlings and some of the other small sleek birds.

By: robin

robin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:18:52 +0000

I was at the Experimental Farm today and I also saw a strange bird, but it wasn’t your bird. I think mine is a hawk. I’ll post a picture sometime this weekend.

By: mudmama

mudmama — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:08:56 +0000

Oh lucy the range of size in crows and ravens means the biggest creows and smallest ravens can be misidentified – the fastest way to id them is look for the dishevelled or smooth feathers at the base of the beak. Tidy: crow Messy: raven

By: mudmama

mudmama — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:06:22 +0000

Thats a raven Zoom. They’re pretty common here. They look like dishevelled crows on steroids and they make a much wider range of sounds. They do this thing that sounds like they’re gargling gravel. LOVE THEM!

By: lucy

lucy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:10:43 +0000

I thought ravens have always been common around here, I’ve been seeing them (particularly around Dow’s lake and CarletonU, which is presumably why the Carleton mascot is a raven) since I moved to Ottawa. I didn’t notice that they had been killed off by West Nile or anything else. In fact, it’s the crows that I never really noticed. I guess I made the opposite misidentification mistake to yours: I would see crows and think they were small ravens, while you saw the raven and thought it was a big crow!

Yes, the bird call website is really interesting. I started playing one of the raven calls just now, but my speakers were on high volume and my little guy was so scared when he heard it that he came running out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles. Now I’ve played a few more for him and he wants to hear more and has started copying them.