Little Ravens are medium-sized Australian members of the Corvus
family (corvids).
Their plumage is
glossy-black on the back, plain black in front.
The ear coverts and shoulders are a bit lighter than the rest of
the plumage. Their
appearance depends mostly on the angle of infalling sunlight.
The length of the bill about equals the size of the head.
In straight, level flight the tail is long and straight, with a
squarish tip with rounded corners.
The eyes have whitish irises.
The straight, slender bill is dark-grey. The legs and feet are also
dark-grey, with pink foot soles.
Juveniles have fleshy gapes, dark irises and a shorter bill and tail.
Twitcher's tip
The correct identification of corvids
in the field is notoriously difficult.
Compared with other Australian
corvids, Little Ravens have a medium-length bill (similar to
the size of the head) and a squarish tip of the tail with rounded
corners. If visible, e.g. when ruffled by wind, the base of feathers
of ravens is grey (while those of crows have white bases). The
transition from black to grey is gradual (while in crows the transition
from black to white is abrupt).
Most of the birds from the Corvus family ("corvids") commonly
called "crows" in South-East Australia are in fact "ravens".
The most common member of this family in (near-)coastal South-East
Australia is the "Australian Raven". Little Ravens usually stay
inland.
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
.
The global distribution of the Little Raven is available
HERE
.
NB:
Reports on ebird of birds submitted by birdwatchers from
the Australian Outback tend to be clustered along roads
and public areas such as camp grounds; in such cases their
distribution is not a good representation of the overall
distribution of the species.
Little Ravens are endemic to Australia.
They live in the South and South-east of the Australian continent.
They are found on Eyre peninsula, SA, and eastward from there,
including the south-eastern corner of SA, most of VIC and inland
NSW, except the Paroo catchment and anywhere North of the Darling
River. They are only occasionally found on the coastal fringe East
of Melbourne and along the NSW coast.
Little Ravens can be found in many different types of habitat, except dense forest.
Sightings
Click here for sighting information
If the identification is correct, Little Ravens were first seen by
us in 2006, 20 km South-West of Narrabri, NSW, and again in August
2008, 20 km East of Narrabri and in August 2010 30 km South of
Narrabri.
Little Ravens were also spotted by us in the Gammon Ranges, near
Balcanoona, SA, in March 2008.
M. Eaton reports finding Little Ravens at the Botanical Garden,
Melbourne, VIC, in October 2017.
R. Clough reports seeing Little Ravens regularly at Raywood,
near Bendigo, VIC.
Photos
ADULT
Sex unknown
Frontal portrait of a Little Raven
[Near Hawker, SA, March 2008]
Near-lateral portrait of a Little Raven
[Near Hawker, SA, March 2008]
Lateral view of a Little Raven
[Near Hawker, SA, March 2008]
Near-dorsal view of a Little Raven (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Botanical Garden, Melbourne, VIC, October 2017]
The absence of pronounced hackles, the size of the bill and the
shape of the tail all indicate that this bird is a Little Raven
[Near Narrabri, NSW, August 2010]
IMMATURE/JUVENILE
Frontal view of a juvenile Little Raven - note the pink gape
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Botanical Garden, Melbourne, VIC, October 2017]
D. Johnston reports observing a Little Raven in Baradine, NSW, scavenging
food and putting it in a hidden cache for later consumption.
Food, Diet
Adults: Omnivore
Dependents: ?
Water intake: Daily?
Like all members of the Corvus family known to us, Little Ravens
are omnivores and scavengers.
Near-frontal view of a juvenile Little Raven plucking a caterpillar
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Botanical Garden, Melbourne, VIC, October 2017]
Although probably already dead, the immature Little Raven's prey
is still trying to "abseil" - click on image to see the caterpillar
hanging at the end of its silken thread (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Botanical Garden, Melbourne, VIC, October 2017]
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors.
The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.