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A member of the family of birds known as the Corvidae, the Common Raven is the largest of the Passerifonnes, or perching birds. It is found throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere in a wide variety of habitats. Ravens are excellent fliers, sometimes soaring to great heights, but most often engaging in aerial acrobatics. There is no mistaking its raucous call, which is slightly lower pitched than its relative, the Chihuahuan Raven.
The Common Raven is a fairly large bird with a long, heavy bill and a long tail, wedged tail. This helps to tell them apart from hawks and crows. Ravens probably first breed at 3 or 4 years of age and they mate for life. They often form loose flocks during the day and congregate for roosting at night. In Fairbanks, Alaska, as many as 800 have been seen in one roost. They do not undertake long migrations, but breeding birds usually relocate for nesting each year.
Ravens consume wide variety of both plant and animal matter. They are notorious scavengers and at times prey on small animals. They also have the habit, like most hawks and owls, of regurgitating un-digestible food in the form of a pellet. The Raven has often played important roles in cultures, mythologies, and writings: Ravens disobeyed Noah during the great flood by failing to return to the ark after being sent to search for land.
The raven was used as an emblem by raiding Viking warriors in Europe, and has been written up in countless disparaging ways in western literature. In Norse mythology, the god Odin used two ravens named Thought and Memory, to fly the world each day in order to inform him of what was happening.
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Read the famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe "The Raven" |
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Common Raven Links
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