Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey. Aren't those black and white birds you have African Pied Crows?
RoadSpawn

They, Corvus albus, as with the mess that common names are, known as, Pied crows, belted crows, white breasted crows, magpie crows, pied ravens, belted ravens, etc -

Pied crow seems to be the accepted common name for these birds in the pet trade.

I call them by the common name that I heard them called in Africa, and the one that I believe, most suits them.

They are in fact, based on behavior, and morphology a type of "raven" - Granted, the name "raven" is just a term given to the large species of crows, with certain features that distinguish them from others -

These are the characteristic shaggy lance shaped throat hackles, larger hooked bill, a diet that is often based more off of animal proteins, smell, calls, general behavior, differences in flight patterns (ravens like to, and are capable of soaring), and the tips of many of the birds head and chest feathers come to a > rather then a ) Many people are not aware that crows and ravens are a type of "songbird" (they, along with the rest of the family corvidae, are a member of the group of birds known as passerines, or "perching birds" The family Corvidae contains the largest birds of the passerine group. There are many other "predatory" and omnivorous songbirds, like many of the thrushes, the shrikes, but the family corvidae, posses the true generalists.

Some Birds that are more closely related to the "crows" are called "ravens", like the Australian Ravens, And some "ravens" are sometimes called crows, like these guys.

C. albus are heavy bodied, and between 19 and 23 inches in length and have a wingspan of around 46 inches. They are close in size to the North American and Mexican Chihuahuan Raven (Corvus cryptoleucus), Of the southwest - Males of most Corvids are usually larger their representative females.

Raven

NP

I noticed in one of your pictures that they were free flying. How did you train them to come back? What is the process that you followed? How old were they when you started trainning them? At how many weeks of age did they start eating on their own? Sorry for all the questions.......Thanks....
RoadSpawn

I trained them through a variety of tecquniques - Sort of a mix between light falconry training, fragile birds such as coopers, sharpies, and kestrel,(which I would consider an absolute nessecity if you were going to train your birds useing jesses - I WOULD NOT use jesses on any bird otherwise, if you do not know how to work a bird on them, as you could break thier legs, or dislocate a hip if you are rough) And free flight training for parrots.

They sell something called a feather teather harness, whitch is what I would suggest to someone without jess experiance -

It takes years of training, and months of work, to get birds like this to free fly and return, so its really difficult to describe it breifly to someone -

My suggestion, before you would try this with your birds, would be to learn firsthand how to train free flight birds from an experianced handler.

Possibly take a falconry course, or a course in free flight training for parrots - all of these things take alot of $$$ and time, but if you are going to keep one of these birds, I think it is your duty to go out of ones way, to make sure that they can fly, and exersize to stay healthy.

My birds were 7 months old when I purchased them, and were eating on their own long before I got them - I started training about a week after I got the, getting them comfortable with being handled, and feeding from my hand.

Just out of curiosity, Do you have a Magpie Raven ? Are you going to be getting one soon ? You mentioned Brian Blazer, are you getting one of his birds ?

Raven -

Just wanted to know. I'm thinking about falconary but have also researched corvids. I'm gathering information on both.

Thats cool - Contact your state Fish and game, and they can get you info on falconry -

You doo need to apprentice, and It is alot of money to get into the sport, and care for the birds, and it requires an immense amount of dedication, but, Many people enjoy the sport.

Make sure you check all the legalites, as you do need to be fedrally permitted for native species, and you need permits to fly and hunt game animals with any birds of prey -

Raven -