Good books on ravens

johngalway

Hello all,

Are there any/many books of recognised quality on ravens out there?

ATB,

John

Judgement Day

Never come across a book specifically on Ravens and just had a look on www.abebooks.com in the New Naturalist section but nothing. Here's one calling on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Common_Raven
- we have plenty of them here in the Soggy South East.

johngalway

Cheers JD, I'll check those links out. Been reading "Running With The Fox" again, doing a short assignment on foxes as part of my course. Started thinking about ravens and realised I have no really good book on them!

Judgement Day

John - slightly off topic but I just found this rather scary taxidermy website: http://www.antique-taxidermy.com/page/index.asp?pageCatID=36 - some of them make Hitchcock's movie seem quite tame.

LostCovey

johngalway wrote: »

Hello all,

Are there any/many books of recognised quality on ravens out there?

ATB,

John

Hi JohnGalway,

The definitive book on the Raven (I believe - haven't yet read it myself) is
'The Raven: A Natural History in Britain and Ireland' by Derek Ratcliffe (ISBN: 0856610909 / 0-85661-090-9).

I have read and really enjoyed 'Ravens in Winter' by Bernd Heinrich (ISBN: 0679732365 / 0-679-73236-5). However it is about a long term study of the social behaviour and interaction of a population of Ravens in northeastern USA (same species, but from his account they sound a lot more social and therefore interesting than ours). Highly readable, and not a formal textbook, which the other one is. I will get the Ratcliffe when I get a chance.

After the recession.

Both actually available for small money 2nd hand on abebooks.

Enjoy.

LostCovey

johngalway

After the recession is right :eek: They're not shy in the asking price.

LostCovey

johngalway wrote: »

After the recession is right :eek: They're not shy in the asking price.

?

I didn't really think they were bad prices - roughly similar to the postage!

£2.75 for the Heinrich book and £12.72 for a first edition hardback of the Ratcliffe book seems reasonable. Mind you I am still not buying it yet.

LostCovey

johngalway

I checked Amazon, not the actual link.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raven-Natural-History-Britain-Ireland/dp/0856610909/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273786010&sr=8-3

Ravens in Winter is reasonable though.

LostCovey

johngalway wrote: »

I checked Amazon, not the actual link.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raven-Natural-History-Britain-Ireland/dp/0856610909/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273786010&sr=8-3

Ravens in Winter is reasonable though.

I see what you mean. The ones I linked to above are secondhand, but if they are for reading, as opposed to collecting, I don't see the point of buying new.

LostCovey

johngalway

Nah I wouldn't be looking at buying new either, readable is perfectly good enough for my purpose. I happened to be on Amazon buying second hand books which relate to, well, a plethora of different subjects of interest in my own locality so I said I'd check out those two raven books you suggested at the same time.

Wild_Dogger

Has anybody seen the size of the Raven in our Natural History Museum !!?

(just inside the door and the first case on the right )

Judgement Day

johngalway wrote: »

Nah I wouldn't be looking at buying new either, readable is perfectly good enough for my purpose. I happened to be on Amazon buying second hand books which relate to, well, a plethora of different subjects of interest in my own locality so I said I'd check out those two raven books you suggested at the same time.

www.abebooks.com is the best place by a mile for secondhand.

johngalway

Wild_Dogger wrote: »

Has anybody seen the size of the Raven in our Natural History Museum !!?

(just inside the door and the first case on the right )

I haven't seen that particular bird, but they are real big. I get close to them often enough, when the wind is right on a particular hill they seem to like surfing the thermals near the top, don't seem to be bothered by people when they're there.