what's the difference between a crow and a raven (and maybe a blackbird)?

Question

what's the difference between all three of those birds? and can any one link me to a visual source as well?

Answer 1

Easy way to remember, East of the Continental Divide is the Crow. West of the divide is the Raven.
Birds in the same family are the Red-winged Blackbird, Grackle, Cowbird, Starling and European Starling. The last 4 birds are considered pests as they are introduced species. The Red-winged Blackbird likes to sit out in the open-on telephone lines, above ponds and fields.

Answer 2

A black bird is from a different family and genus. it is in the family Turdidae and the genus Turdus. The Crow is what makes up the genus Corvus which is in the Corvidae Family. There are dozens of species in the genus which includes many ravens. so essentially a raven is a particular species of crow. If you are referring to the very common American crow then it is a bit smaller than a Common raven with the raven having a wing span of up to over four feet. The Raven also has a much heavier beak and scruffier neck. Those would probably be the easiest features to tell the difference when observing. Interestingly, Crows and Ravens in particular are some of the smartest birds there are. They have the ability to mimic sounds including the human voice, and in experiments seem to have excellent problem solving abilities.

Answer 3

Ravens and Crows both belong to the same family, Corvidae, but blackbirds belong to a completely differnt family..most are in the Icteridae family. Ravens and Crows are much larger than blackbird species and are found in different habitat types and have different behaviors and diets.
Ravens tend to be larger than crows and have a heavier bill. When in flight, you can tell the difference between a raven and a crow by the tail shape. Crows have a rectangular shaped tail whereas ravens have a diamond shaped tail. More info below:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Common_Raven.html
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/American_Crow.html

Answer 4

ravens are larger than crows and have heavier bills, but are closely related to them. blackbirds are much smaller and not closely related to the other two. in the Americas, male blackbirds often have red wing-patches or yellow heads and the females aren't even black. hens are brown. crows and ravens are the same color regardless of sex. try mangoverde.com for pics. They have a world bird guide, click on it and then click on passerines. they have more raven and crow species represented than you ever knew existed.

Answer 5

There are many different species of crow and raven and it is very difficult to tell them apart. With some species you have to inspect the hackle feathers to distinguish them. Crows and ravens are all in the genus 'corvus' of the family 'corvidae'. Blackbirds are in the genus 'turdus' of the family 'turdidae'.

Answer 6

Ravens are black whereas crows are ebony, crows also have wings and raven have feathers, blackbirds are a myth and don't actually exist.

Answer 7

I think ravens are the biggest