I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve uttered this phrase over the years (and at times been accused of pedantry!). Those large black birds, are of course ravens, and we have two local species, the Little Raven and the Australian Raven. A third species, the Forest Raven is found in the wetter forests further south, with a stronghold in Tasmania where it is the only corvid.
Little and Australian Ravens are almost identical in appearance and often best separated by their calls. The Australian Raven has an iconic call, a long and drawn out ‘aairk, aark, aaarh, aargagh’, while the Little Raven has a much quicker, clipped call along the lines of ‘ok-ok-ok’. I’ll write more on these two species in coming weeks.
Little Raven in flight, Moolort Plains, 2nd July 2013.
Both species of ravens are wary of photographers. I was lucky to snap this Little Raven moments before it took flight.
For the record, there are crows in Australia with two native species, the Little Crow and the Torresian Crow. The only species likely to be seen in Victoria is the Little Crow, whose distribution just creeps into the north-west of the state.
Natural Newstead 
You are not alone Geoff, i have been saying it for years too, and get the same response or an argument based on opinion rather than fact.Keep it up.
Sorry Geoff, I know they are ravens but I will always call them crows. Or more likely “those bloody crows”. Why, I don’t know.
Just to confuse matters, all of the raven and crow species in Australia are from the same genus – Corvus. Neither of the two bird field guides I’ve just checked (Simpson & Day, Slater) shed any light on why particular species Corvus species in Australia are called either a crow or raven.
The following website suggests that all 5 Australian corvid species evolved from a common ancestor relatively recently (in evolutionary timescales). It also suggests that the colour at the base of the hackle feathers is an indicator of whether its a crow or raven.
http://brokenbiologian.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/what-is-difference-between-crows-and.html
Another interesting read about Australian corvids, and the challenges in identifying them, can be found in this entertaining recent article from Sean Dooley.
http://birdlife.org.au/australian-birdlife/detail/the-trouble-with-ravens
What he said.
Also, that genus, well Corvus means crow, so if you’re being pædantic, all ravens are crows. Like the one about tomato being a fruit and not a vegetable. It’s a myth, vegetable is a generic term for vegetation material, so all fruits are vegetables.
So all fruits is vegetable but not all vegetables is fruits. All fruit has seeds inside – hence tomatoes are fruit.
I often have ravens on my proprty on 90 mile beach Gippsland.Their calls are ark ark ark agh at a very high pitch.I have never heard ok ok ok.
My 25 year old Daughter insists there are no crows, only ravens in Australia, because when she was at Secondary college, a teacher told the class that no crows live in Australia, just ravens.I want to show her this article! We live in Melbourne’s south east, and have a lot of visiting birds, some cuckoo shrikes, currawongs and even some red tailed black cockatoos, here at times.
Always happy to resolve family disputes!
Cheers, geoff
Wrong. There is a species called the Torresian crow in Australia.
Dear Rahim,
Please have a look at the full post where I discuss the occurrence of crows in Australia.
Cheers, geoff
We have “crows” returning to the same nest for the third year…living in the north west of Victoria are they Little Crows or Ravens?
Hi Rod – it’s possible that they might be either Australian Raven, Little Raven or Little Crow. Crows have snow-white down at the feather bases – this is often visible when there is a breeze ruffling the feathers. Little Crows often nest in loose colonies. They have a slender bill, much finer than either of the ravens and the voice is quite different. Pizzey’s Field Guide has excellent descriptions.
Let me know what you think, All the best, geoff
South Australians will starve without crows!
Hi Geoff, just observed some interesting behaviour from an Australian Raven, judging from the neck feathering. It had attacked a Galah on the ground and pecked its tail feathers out so it could not fly, and then it killed and ate it. I think I have seen this twice now and will try to take a pic next time. – I live in Canberra
I have a Question! Having a debate on FB with some friends who seem to think I’m stupid because I made a comment that WE in WESTERN AUSTRALIA DO NOT CROWS they are ravens. Can anyone please clarify for me so I can rub it in their faces 🙂 Thank you in advance.
Hi Jenna – here is the short answer … WA has the Australian Raven (larely confined to the SW but well out into the wheatbelt. It also has the Little Crow across almost all of the state apart from the very far north and the Torresian Crow which avoids the SW but can be found in most of the rest of the state. So, in summary WA has both crows and ravens … you may have to concede in the debate! Cheers, geoff
Hi, does anyone know any particular spots in or around Melbourne where ravens can reliably be found? Ideally someplace where it would be possible to get some video 🙂
Hi Peter, all of the black ‘crow’ like birds around Melbourne will be ravens – rubbish dumps and ploughed paddocks are good places to start looking. Cheers, geoff
There are Ravens at and near Melton Train Station. The trees on the North side of the carpark is a good place to look. (Brooklyn Road)
To Peter Allen – Looking for ravens? Lots in the very tall trees around Hoppers Crossing station and nearby streets! Magpies don’t trouble me, it’s the ravens trying to swoop me! I don’t know why this isn’t more commonly known.
To Peter W. Allen. There are Ravens at and near Melton Train Station.The trees on the North side of the carpark is a good place to look. (Brooklyn Road)
Well thank you very much for this information, I have known this for many years, but there’s still people that aren’t convinced and still argue this point. I have a friend and she still quizzes me by saying, oh look there goes a “crow” just to test me but I don’t say anything as I know she lost the argument 12 months ago and she just like it if I know something she doesn’t, I had another person to google it and said I was right and she had to convince her three times, she commented, “how do YOU so much about birds???” oh well 😔 there you go, I can never be right!!! 🙅♀️ Thank you kind regards
After reading all the comments I’m none the wiser. I have just a solitary crow or raven visit my garden whilst the remainder stay away up on the power lines ( now defunct). Cynthia Hammond Donvale Vic
Hi Cynthia
The only crows you are likely to see in Victoria are in the far north-west (around Mildura), where the Little Crow co-occurs alongside both Little Ravens and Australian Ravens. In Donvale you may get both species of ravens and possibly a third species, the Forest Raven. These three look similar but can be distinguished by calls. Cheers, geoff
Hi everyone,interesting comments as i have recently been visited by what i first thought was a crow so i called him Russell but have since realised he is a raven ! He is super smart and comes everday twice a day for food ! Im very smitten with hin as he does know me and when i leave the house he quite often watches me ..every morning at the same time i call him and he comes and lands in my backyard! Such a beautiful boy and extremely intelligent!
Hi
Living in suburban Melbourne and wondering if the noisy blackbirds that appear then disappear over a few days, are in fact small ravens. They arrive in groups of twenty plus.
Not sure what small means as these seem a reasonable size.
Did I mention very noisy.🤦♀️😂Thankyou!
i
If we all call them crows, aren’t they crows?
Isn’t that how language works?
I’m in Tasmania & at age 60 I only found out a couple of years ago that what we have here are Forest Ravens. Spent all my life calling them Crows but now I’m pedantic about it too & often correct people who call them Crows.
I have the Australian bird guide and appears to be that Victoria only has little ravens and not crows.
There is a family of little ravens at my work (MacDonalds in Sunbury). These ravens have changed my perception of these birds forever! I must admit I’ve never liked these birds much until now, having memories of them on the farm I grew up on pecking the eyes out of newborn lambs! Also their harsh calls are not pleasing to the ears when compared to the beautiful songs of magpies etc. However there is one particular individual who has shocked me into changing how I look upon these birds. I’ve named this one Penelope (I’m assuming its a “she”). And have only just recently realised that Penelope is disabled, her left wing droops having been broken sometime in the past (perhaps having been hit by a car or someone may have shot her?) Although it has long since healed, it is not straight so she can’t use it to fly. She is however perfectly healthy and hops around in the carpark at the McDonalds she can hop onto lower branches of trees (as long as they’re with four feet off the ground) then hop from branch to branch until she reaches the top of the tree where she can roost safely for the night! During the day I often
see her searching for food scraps on the ground. However she doesn’t just have to rely on herself as her whole family pitches in to help feed her! I have witnessed them bring her food and feed her like a fledgling even though she’s fully adult having bright blue eyes (the immature ones have brown eyes). When I first started working here I used to be annoyed how the ravens would rummage through our big bins which are six foot high and throw scraps out on the ground. I now know why because Penelope can’t fly up to the bins herself her family is throwing the food down to her so she can feed! Far from being the incarnation demons as popular culture portrays them they are more like little black angels!
Saw what appeared to be a very small crow scavenging food scraps right in the middle of Warrnambool on 25/10/23! Little crows not supposed to be found down here, so what could it have been?? Thanks for any help!
Hi Hans, Very unlikely to see a Little Crow in the south-west, but not impossible. I would say a Little Raven – there are some differences in call and behaviour but very similar in general appearance (Little Crow is noticeably smaller but this will only be obvious if both together) . Crows have white feather bases, ravens are grey. The Australian Bird Guide (Menkhorst et al) has a good summary. Cheers, geoff