What is the difference between crows and ravens?
Douglas A. James, University Professor in biological sciences, explains: Crows and ravens are in the same avian family, Corvidae, along with jays, magpies and others. The Corvidae are classified as songbirds, the common raven being the largest songbird. Crows usually are all black, but worldwide some species have gray or white patches. All raven species are totally black and have a jagged ruff of feathers on the chin below the beak. Most raven species have a wedge-shaped tail in flight. Crows lack the throat hackles and have rounded tails. Voices are very different. Ravens emit a loud harsh guttural croaking sound. Crows are less grating: the American crow in Fayetteville says “caw caw” and the fish crow at Lake Fayetteville repeats a high pitched short nasal sound. Raven species are generally larger than crows, but not always. The Chihuahuan raven of our southwest is equal in size to the common American Crow. Common ravens, immortalized by Edgar Allen Poe and vice versa, occur in the
