Today we meet a Raven, but not just any old Raven, maybe the most bizarre Raven of all, the Thick-billed Raven.
I’m sure you’ve already worked out how they got their name. They are a Raven with a thick bill. And these guys are real chonkers. Among the corvid family they have the biggest beaks, greatest weight and tallest stature. Some can get up to 70cm long. They’ve got good heft.
Their strange, white-tipped beaks give them an unmistakeable silhouette. They use their large beaks for scavenging mostly. It seems to come in particularly handy for extracting insect larvae from dung. Using a scything action, they plough their beak through the poop, breaking it up. Then they pick through the scattered remains to find the grubs. It’s like I always say, one person’s poo is another person’s food.
Sadly, your chance of spotting this bird is not high. Unless you live in the Ethiopian highlands. In which case, you’ve got a great chance.
The other most distinctive thing about this Raven is their unusual call. It sounds either like a zap gun on high repeat, or a chain saw that stopped working. I’ll let you decide which. Maybe they’re just trying to re-live their ancient dino days.
28/08/2022
Photo credit:
1: Thick-billed Raven by sjorford
2: “Thick-billed Raven ( Corvus crassirostris)” by Lip Kee
3: “Thick-billed Raven Courtship, Simien Mountains, Ethiopia” by A.Davey
Bird of the Week 