Sometimes a long journey into untouched nature isn't necessary to experience interesting wildlife.
I love getting lost in a forest for hours on end, but some days it's simply not possible. For these moments,
I found a small but lovely alternative: the park right outside my door.
I have to admit, I don't often just sit in the park with my camera, but when I do, I always find it to be relatively easy getting things to shoot there.
Sometimes you have to search long and hard to find wild animals and then they pop up right around the corner for everyone to see. And in our beautiful castle park,
this is especially true with regard to the birds.
It doesn't matter if it's hot summer sun shining or a cold winter frosted landscape, the crows are always there. And it's not just the crows, but their smaller relatives, the jackdaws who are always there as well. It's amazing how they are a presence in our lives, yet often go unnoticed by many, these intelligent birds. Although, it can be found not so uninteresting to watch them going about their business every now and then. They can be seen strutting across the meadows, searching for food, perhaps squabbling over a morsel, or simply resting majestically on the branches observing all that is going on. If anything these calls have become an integral part of the ambience of the park, and it would certainly be odd without them.
In essence, crows and ravens are in the same family (Corvidae), which is also why they share some similar looks at first glance.
However, there are some distinguishing landmarks that will help make it easy to tell them apart.
Let's start with the crows. The most common crows we see in central Europe are Carrion Crow and the Rook. The Carrion Crow which we see very often in our castle park is all black with a stout, slightly curved beak. They remain as solitary birds, or usually in small groups and are very adaptable. You can find crows all over; in a city, parks, forests, fields. The Rook is a bit more slender, has a lighter base of the beak, and they tend to reside in large colonies especially in avenues or in larger trees.
Then we have Jackdaws, like the one I was able to capture so beautifully today. They are the smallest members of the European corvids.
The most identifiable characteristic of a Jackdaw is their silver-gray neck and there bright, white-ish eyes, and this gives them an inquisitive and alert expression.
Jackdaws are very sociable corvids and commonly found in numbers with their surrounding family members.
They are cultural followers and love being close to humans (in cities, or villages). They have a call that is quintessentially a "kjack-kjack."
Ravens, by contrast, are typified in Europe by the common raven.
The common raven is the biggest singing bird and is much larger than any typical crow.
Ravens have a more guttural and harsher "krah-krah" call than the crows call, and also a wedge shaped tail end when flying where a crows' tail is fan shaped.
Common ravens are often, shyer and tend to be found in undisturbed rural areas, such as forests or the mountains.
Common ravens are present in cities, but much less in parks unless it's a very large semi-natural urban park. Fortunately, in recent years common raven populations have rebounded after a long period of undue persecution.
I have to say, they're equally fascinating to me.
The crows and jackdaws in the castle grounds are the best proof that impressive nature photography doesn't always require travel.
Sometimes you just have to stay alert and discover the beauty of the place where you grew up or live.
Talking about the park, there is a castle pond too, and I went there to take pictures of some birds that were swimming.
The images are really good, however, I think I will use them later. If not, it would be topic that is far off from what I was going to talk about today. Thank you very much for stopping by and see you next time!🙃✌️
