Ravens/Crows as pets

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

[video=youtube;RduGdop2Flc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RduGdop2Flc[/video]

I worked at the MotoGP on the weekend and got called out to this little guy who had
spent the night on the racetrack.

 

[sesa-sayin]

i have tried uncessfully for years to find a C.D. of the rural sounds of India, particularly those crows" cawing " lie on the bed and close eyes and imagine i am there....am quite sure no such CD exists

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

The gang of about 6 ravens here make their song in the morning and
I love the noise now although it drove me a little crazy at 1st.
They are all welcome here and the neighbours must be horrified by
the sight of the big black birds sitting on all the corners of my house and along the front fence,
lol.

 

[ianinoz]

One of my regular visitors.

Loves having a go a lamb roast bone, I save these for the magpies when I do roast leg of lamb for the family. Often there are 4 or 5 magpies "chewing" on the bone.

 

[WildBuna]

Hi

In Australia there are:

2 types of crow: Torresian Crow (Corvus orru) and Little Crow (Corvus bennetti) and
3 types of Raven: Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides); Little Raven (Corvus mellori) and the Forest Raven (Corvus tasmanicus)

The distribution etc can be found on the Birds Qld site but here is a summary:

Torresian Crow: Widespread – more tropical northern Australia. Large variety of habitats
Little Crow: West of Great Dividing Range. Prefers drier areas
Australian Raven: Relatively widespread distribution.
Little Raven: Mainly large south / southwestern area of Australia. Open country,
Forest Raven: Restricted distribution in NSW, Vic, SA, Tasmania.

These birds also have different coloured eyes, calls and behaviours. I have one in my bathroom right now and I'm pretty good with bird IDs and yet I'm still debating which one it is. Once it is in better health and calling more it will be easier. One thing they do have in common they are very smart birds!

All I can suggest is that you call DESQ TahneeMaree and ask them what you can do. Just some little facts I thought i'd throw in as well
- Ravens have blue eyes unlike crows, and crows are not native to Australia
- Crows, Ravens etc.. all belong to the Corvid family, corvids are the smartest bird family.

Are captive Magpies a mostly quiet bird except for when they sing? Though I'd LOVE it if one would sing ^_^
I suspect that only the males would sing too? or do the females sing too?

Magpies learn calls and other behaviours when young. If you keep a magpie next to crows without other magpies around it will start crowing. They also learn social behaviour - which is why you can see them playing on their backs with other young magpies. When you raise them they will wait behind things and launch at attack on your shoelaces etc unless you play with them! They are great fun! But I'm pretty sure you can't keep them - well not in Qld anyway...

 

[Chadeash]

i think its really cruel to keep a bird as a pet, chuck them in a cage and clip their wings. they should be in the sky

 

[Jeffa]

i think its really cruel to keep a bird as a pet, chuck them in a cage and clip their wings. they should be in the sky

I have approx 20 canaries, do you give me permission to release them in the wild?

 

[WildBuna]

i think its really cruel to keep a bird as a pet, chuck them in a cage and clip their wings. they should be in the sky

I agree in principle (with all animals not just birds!)...and the world would be a better place if it could always be that way...however as a wildlife carer I have come to realise that sometimes it is necessary for the birds own safety. I get birds that fly in wanting to go back in the cage because they haven't learnt how to survive in the wild. Mind you I do have a massive walk in aviary so they do have free flight and I have and am teaching them to harness, free fly and forage or hunt. After all as a carer the main aim is to get them back in the sky!

But with some like a bright yellow cockatiel that that flew in I would be signing it's death warrant if I released it...I would eventually like to have an even bigger flight area (1/2 to 1 acre - with 3 permanent cockatiels and whatever wildlife I get in - short term only they all get released) but it costs a lot of money (a lot may even be an understatement!).

I also have an adopted Quaker who comes from south america so I can't release him - he can't go into the flight aviary because he is very territorial and screams the place down if I'm not there...so I have built him an outdoor aviary with a 'cat' bird door to come inside...he flies around the house and finds me when he wants attention, tells everyone what to do (literally he talks like you wouldn't believe!)...sometimes I think we are lucky he lets us into his house! lol

But I have rescued some really sick birds because they have been kept in little cages (breeders and pets) and it really is a disgrace! It took me over 6 mths to get one of the most gorgeous galahs I've even known to come out of her cage without being terrified - she had been in a cage under a house for 7 years and it wasn't much bigger than her! I moved her temporarily to a much larger cage straight away but she would not come out of it (we always left the door open). I'm not sure what her life had been like before that as she was an older bird and had at least 3 previous owners (2 had passed away). She also had a massive growth from too many sunflower seeds and not enough movement (an operation and a diet change fixed that). In the end she owned the house and never went back into another cage...but she could never get the hang of flying very far no matter how much we practised...so other than a free walk outside a full release outside was out of the question. She was a really loving bird with kisses and cuddles for all and a need for scratches- not a mean bone in her body! I do think many people often under estimate the feelings and intelligence of our fellow creatures!

Treat others as you would wish to be treated should go for everything not just other humans!

 

[cathy1986]

This is my bird jack hes a raven

View attachment 20170224_080446.jpg

 

[dragonlover1]

This is my bird jack hes a raven

View attachment 320103

I like ravens too,Ive always loved the black feathers,blue eyes and their call,magpies and currawongs also.These birds are so smart and have a huge vocabulary unlike stupid birds like pidgeons who say nothing but Brrr,Brrr,Brrr all frikkkin day long

 

[vampstorso]

Not really fair to measure the birds intelligence on their vocab.
Dogs don't talk, they certainly learn plenty.


I briefly had an Australian Raven that was hand raised before finding him another home with another Raven (they're legal in SA as unprotected).


Smart birds, I'd say not as "calm" as larger ravens you see in captivity overseas. Seemingly more erratic.

Got pretty tired of the meat caching pretty quickly lol.
Things like turn away for a second, and he's pulling up the edge of the carpet to cache food.

He was full on, a lovely bird, but you'd certainly be kept on your toes long term... And I am an avid (black) cockatoo freak, so high maintenance personalities aren't new to me lol.

The poop is also much more difficult to deal with than parrot poop. Much more urate.

He was the animal that finally made the husband well and truly go, it's the bird or me! And he has put up with some real oddities from me. Venomous snakes, possums, a screaming husband hating cockatoo, eels etc. He couldn't do the raven haha.

 

[kingofnobbys]

... talk about dredging up long dead threads....

Wonderful cleaver birds, love to watch them working out problems (to get that tasty morsel inside) and when young and playing in my yard .... is very clear they have real sense of fun.

I have no doubt that they would tame up nicely and make very good pets too.

 

[princessparrot]

I have two regulars that come to my place every day ..I dont know wether they are a crow or raven ..is there a differance? and if so what is it ? ..anyway these two are very foreward birds ,one is a little more cautious then the other but cant blame you for wanting one TM they are so beautiful ..the black is gorgeous ..I dont mind the call on these birds either .

Ravens have white eyes and "beards" whereas crows don't and usually have black eyes

 

[EmmaPotato]

I'm glad this old thread is still (somewhat) active! Would really love a raven as it is my dream pet. However I didn't see anything regarding the OPs post about the legalities of keeping them and where to get one. I live in Tasmania and found a page about keeping native birds as pets, but it was extremely vague and didn't contain an exhaustive list of which birds fit into which categories. As for getting one, do people even breed them? Or would I just have to be lucky to find one that needed rescuing?

 

[MANNING]

I read this a long time ago a thought it was an awesome thought. Birds with similar intelligence teach other birds their tricks. Wouldn't be a stupid idea.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87878028

 

[dragonlover1]

Not really fair to measure the birds intelligence on their vocab.
Dogs don't talk, they certainly learn plenty.

I wasn't judging pigeons intelligence by their vocab,but it is well known that pigeons are one of, if not the most stupid of birds

 

[MANNING]

Pigeons are one of, if not the most stupid birds

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

i think its really cruel to keep a bird as a pet, chuck them in a cage and clip their wings. they should be in the sky

Captive bred birds like budgies for example simply don't know any different... I have a 3 year old budgie who can talk like an 8 year old kid, he wouldn't even know he's a budgie... His wings have never been clipped and he can fly throughout the house wherever and whenever he wants... His quality of life is amazing and inside the house is all he's ever known and will ever know... he'd last all of 3 minutes if he flew out the front door into the world beyond.


My ultimate pet bird would be a Superb Lyrebird...

 

[SpottedPythons]

Agree with AP - for one thing, I have my Quaker Parrot (non-native, South American) in a cage suitable for a large parrot, and her wings are not clipped so she can go anywhere in the house. Two, she's escaped before (when a visitor's kid teased her till she attacked. The kid tried to run outside and the parrot chased.) and she panicked. Absolutely freaked out. Flew in circles, then landed in a tree, calling us urgently. Got her back easy as anything, cause she was trying to come to us. Now we keep the door locked when letting her out around strangers. Three, I can't let her go, because she's a South American bird. Biosecurity risk. And finally, she's handraised. As we found out from her little "adventure" outside, she'd never survive. She believes she's a little human. She needs us for companionship, as a highly social and intelligent animal.

 

[Imported_tuatara]

i'll be getting an alexandrine parrot(quite large indian species of parrot) and will have it in a walk in aviary which i'll have to fix up a bit, releasing non-native birds or any captive bred animal is the most idiotic thing i've heard of.