Crows and ravens?

[styley]

Whats the difference between crows and ravens and big crows and wee crows? Out walking this evening and noticed crows on the telegraph lines, some were noticibly bigger than others. Are the big ones ravens or are they all crows or what? Never really thought about it before.

[welshlibranr]

Have a look at this link, it explains the differences quite well.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/crowfaq.htm #raven

[Jugglering]

Ravens, carrion crows, choughs, hooden crows, jackdaws, jays, magpies and rooks are all members of the *Crow* family. The raven is much larger than the carrion crow... but instead of me repeating loads of stuff, have a peek at the RSPB site here - brilliant descriptions of all the members of the crow family
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/fami lies/crows.asp

[Jugglering]

Hooded not hooden... sorry

[Bellringer]

I doubt there were any ravens, they are really big birds & quite scarce. The only things I can think of are Carrion crows which are all black and jackdaws which are smaller. Jackdaws have a greyish back but easy to miss. I don't know that I have seen any of these on a telegraph wire. They prefer a thicker perch. The other big black bird is a rook which has a grey beak and is somewhat bigger than a crow.
To tell the difference between a crow and a rook:
If you see one rook by itself it is a crow. If you see a lot of crows together they are rooks.

[burnhal]

Jackdaws have a grey nape- not back. I often see them perched on wires.
Styley seems to write with a Scottish accent so may well see ravens, depending on where in scotland..

[styley]

Ireland. Northwest.

[burnhal]

You should get the whole lot of corvids then, though you more likely have hooded crows rather than the all black carrion crow? Should have ravens and chough. Both very distinctive- chough found generally on cliff areas, red legs and beak, digging in the soil for worms etc. Spent a week wardening on Ramsay Island- loads of chough there. A bunch of Ravens tumbling in the air is a sight to behold- they are real masters of the air- somersaults, flying upside down- masterful.
You will have magpie, rooks and jackdaws as well.