crows and ravens

This chap is a Corvus corax: the Common raven. In captivity they can learn to talk better than parrots but we’re not talking captive here. My father sat on a bench during one of his hikes and found himself face to face with a raven; he recalled that the bird ignored his presence until he began talking to the bird which then began cocking its head as though listening. Thus a friendship was born. Whenever he took a hike and sat down, the raven would suddenly appear and began ‘croaking’ and it moved ever closer. He would sit for around half an hour then carry on his way, after a while it would follow him for a distance before ‘croaking’ once more and flying off. He never fed the bird, he said it was ‘smart enough to get its own, it didn’t need anything from me’.

As a youngster I was fascinated by this apparent friendship, thinking a bird is a bird and they aren’t that smart. How wrong can one person be. Ravens are members of the Corvid family which includes magpies, jays, and crows. But the raven outsmarts them all. Extremely intelligent, mischievous, and playful. Have seven known calls and can imitate a variety of birds such as jays, crows, and geese. To attract a mate they use aerobatic displays as my father witnessed such as barrel-rolling, somersaults, and flying upside down. They can also speak fox and wolf, which they use to attract the animals to break open carcasses for them. They have been observed in Alaska and Canada using snow covered roofs as slides, rolling down snow covered hills like children.

Not dead! Playing.

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Not I says the raven. We’re buddies.

They make toys to play with using sticks, pinecones, golf balls or rocks to play together or alone. Sometimes they taunt or mock other animals because…well it’s funny!

‘Snatch a tail’ is a favourite of corvids.

Keeping fox company on a cold winter’s day!

A simple twig can be hours of fun!

A study in Austria recently found that ravens make sophisticated nonvocal gestures that were believed only primates used, in other words they gesture to communicate. The study found that ravens point with their beaks to indicate an object to another bird, like we do when using a finger to point, they will also hold up objects to get another bird’s attention.

A flock of ravens is called an ‘Unkindness’ or a ‘conspiracy’ yet when a friend loses a fight they console them by nuzzling: they can remember birds they are friendly with and like crows they can also recognise and remember human faces and voices. They will respond negatively and with suspicion to strange ravens.

‘Don’t just look! Scratch belly!’

Raven chick with a little attitude

But be warned, if a raven takes a dislike to you it will be passed to other members of the flock and like a mother’s worst nightmare the adolescents join gangs and they are the most mischievous of them all.

So I nominate this highly intelligent, playful and mischievous beautiful bird.

Images courtesy of my Pinterest and sources from Mental Floss.

Just thought I would share this rare image from the Tower of London’s Raven master Chris Skaife.

White raven.

Crow and Raven together. Now the stark contrast becomes apparent.