Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Chihuahuan Raven

I've previously done a post on the common raven, one of two species of raven in the U.S. The other species is the Chihuahuan raven, which used to be known as the American white-necked raven. It is smaller than the common raven and just a bit larger than the American crow. 
Chihuahuan raven on a saguaro cactus. 
It has all-black plumage with a rich purple-blue gloss that shows in good light. The base of the neck feathers are white-ish, but the white feathers can only be seen when they are ruffled in the wind. 
The whitish neck feathers show up here with the neck turned. 
The bill, legs and feet are also black. They are found in the southwestern and midwestern U.S. (southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, western Kansas, western Oklahoma and southern and western Texas) and northern Mexico. I saw this raven in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near the Mexico border. 

2 comments:

  1. I bit of a stretch to called this "white necked".

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  2. I agree with Chris. How about "purple gloss raven" instead?

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