What is the difference between a crow and a raven?
Crows account for an entire family of birds, Cordivae, that includes the raven species. That is, all ravens are crows, but crows can be ravens, jays, or magpies. The issue gets a little confusing because of how people typically use the terms; many commonly refer to ravens and crows as species, both in the genus Corvus. While these two blackbirds have many similarities, there are differences in their appearance, behavior, and habitat. If you are birdwatching, it’s easy to recognize differences between a raven and a crow to help identify the bird you spotted. The easiest thing to note is their size. A raven, such as the North American Corvus corax, is larger than a crow. Ravens average 25″ tall (64 cm) with a 4 foot (122 cm) wing span, about the size of a hawk, while crows are around 18″ (46 cm) tall and their wings span 3 feet (91 cm), similar to a dove. The beak of a crow might look slightly thicker than that of a raven. Secondly, you can note their particular color. Both are black, bu
There is no clear difference between crows and ravens (Family Corvidae) other than a tradition that ravens are larger than crows. However, various types of ravens are no more related to each other than they are to one of the crows. In fact, the five native Australian species form a natural group whose members are closer to each other than they are to either crows or ravens on other continents. The conventional division into ‘ravens’ and ‘crows’ comes from England, where there are four species of these birds. Two are typically all black: the large Common Raven Corvus corax and the medium-sized Carrion Crow C. corone. The two smaller species are the Rook C. frugilegus, with a naked face, and the much smaller Jackdaw C. monedula, with a grey head. There are few counterparts of the Rook or the Jackdaw anywhere else in the world, and where two or more related birds occur together, they generally resemble the more typical English Raven and Crow. Like so many English bird names, ‘crow’ and ‘r
Crows and ravens, although in the same genus (Corvus) are different birds. (Think of leopards and tigers; both are in the genus Panthera, and are obviously related, but they are quite distinct animals.) The words “crow” and “raven” themselves have little or no real taxonomic meaning. That is, the Australian “ravens” are more closely related to the Australian “crows” than they are to the Common Raven (Corvus corax). In general, the biggest black species, usually with shaggy throat feathers, are called ravens and the smaller species are considered crows. Common Ravens can be told from American Crows by a couple of things. The size difference, which is huge, is only useful with something else around to compare them with. Ravens are as big as Red-tailed Hawks, and crows are, well, crow sized. The wedge-shaped tail of the raven is a good character, if you can see it well. Crows sometimes show an apparent wedge shape to the tail, but almost never when it is fanned as the bird soars or banks
