David FG
The Big Dipper
My question, basically, is are Ravens to be found in Oxfordshire?
The background is that my wife was paying one of her regular visits to Oxfordshire (a rural location a few miles from Banbury) and she saw a bird she thinks must have been a Raven. Though not an expert birder she does know a Carrion Crow, a Rook and a Buzzard when she sees one, as she is very familiar with these species. She says the bird was like a very big Carrion Crow, uniformly black, with a 'humped', very large bill. It was perched on a fence post about 50-60 feet away and was about the size of a Buzzard but more 'massive'.
She has never seen one in the area before, despite having lived there in the past for many years, and being a regular visitor still.
I can't think of anything it could have been other than a Raven, but are they known in Oxfordshire?
There is, of course, the possibility that it was an escape.
The background is that my wife was paying one of her regular visits to Oxfordshire (a rural location a few miles from Banbury) and she saw a bird she thinks must have been a Raven. Though not an expert birder she does know a Carrion Crow, a Rook and a Buzzard when she sees one, as she is very familiar with these species. She says the bird was like a very big Carrion Crow, uniformly black, with a 'humped', very large bill. It was perched on a fence post about 50-60 feet away and was about the size of a Buzzard but more 'massive'.
She has never seen one in the area before, despite having lived there in the past for many years, and being a regular visitor still.
I can't think of anything it could have been other than a Raven, but are they known in Oxfordshire?
There is, of course, the possibility that it was an escape.
