Outdoors
The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here.
Halloween is a good time to celebrate one of Maine’s spookiest birds, the common raven. They’re not only spooky-looking, they’re spooky-smart. They have one of the largest brains in the avian world. Ravens are so intelligent, they may be the next species to take over the world after the AI apocalypse.
As everyone knows, the collective name for a group of crows is “a murder of crows.” For ravens, the collective name is “an unkindness of ravens” or sometimes a “conspiracy of ravens.” These nicknames have been around for at least 500 years. Ravens have a well-earned reputation.
Biologists have been testing raven intelligence for decades, trying to determine how smart they really are. Typically, the ravens beat the tests. When challenged to solve a puzzle or think creatively, ravens win the food reward. They do the same thing in the wild. Ravens have come to associate gunshots with finding a carcass. If so, they may call in other ravens for the feast, so that their gang can overwhelm other scavengers drawn to the meal, including coyotes and eagles.
That gunshot study was done in Wyoming. I don’t know if Maine ravens do it, but I’ll bet that some of our local hunters would know. The curious thing is, the ravens could distinguish gunshots from other loud human noises, ignoring the slam of a car door, for instance.
Ravens don’t mind having coyotes around. Their bills are not designed to open the carcass of a dead animal. If they are the first to find one in the woods, they may attract the attention of fanged scavengers to help open the hide. Let’s see AI do that.
Ravens cache food, helping them survive arctic winters. Researchers in Fairbanks, Alaska, have watched ravens endure 100 degrees below zero. They have specialized feathers covering their nostrils to prevent heat and moisture loss. They tuck their bare legs close to the body to conserve warmth.
Ravens are crafty. They watch each other hide food and remember where they can steal it later. Other ravens know this, of course, and go to great lengths to fool their friends. They will even pretend to cache food, then stash it elsewhere.
Ravens play. They’ve been witnessed sliding on snow, teasing other animals, and somersaulting through the air. There are accounts of ravens flying upside down for over half a mile. Juvenile ravens are particularly playful, and all ravens are fascinated by shiny things. Over time, adult ravens become suspicious of anything new and unexpected.
Ravens are the most widespread members of the corvid family. Their North American cousins include crows, jays and magpies. Other corvid species abound throughout Eurasia. All are comfortable around humans, which partially accounts for their widespread success. All can eat grains, berries, insects and animals. They can eat the byproducts of human activity, such as roadkill and undigested seeds found in manure. They eat garbage. Sometimes, all it takes to encourage a visit to your yard is to tip over a trash can.
Common ravens are not as sociable as crows. It’s unusual to see more than a single family unit together. However, Chihuahuan ravens — a separate species in the desert southwest — are more gregarious. If I’m anywhere from Texas to southern Colorado and see a flock of ravens, that’s often how I identify them.
In groups of unrelated birds, common ravens become quite argumentative. They aggressively defend nesting territories. About the only time I see Maine ravens socializing in a group is when they are sharing a feast in the woods.
Ravens have a big vocabulary. They make a wide variety of sounds, and can mimic many others. Yes, ravens have been taught to imitate human speech. They can even utter multisyllabic words such as “Nevermore.” Biologists have documented up to thirty different vocalizations in the wild. Youngsters especially have a Halloween-worthy screech that sounds like a murder in progress. I’ve got a local pair of nesting ravens that I hear year-round. The fledglings can be heard screeching from half a mile away, starting in late May.
Many birders find it difficult to tell ravens and crows apart. Here are a few clues. Ravens are much larger. They have huge bills and diamond-shaped tails, while crows have fan-shaped tails. Ravens soar, crows don’t. Ravens croak, crows caw. All winter, you may see no more than two ravens together. Meanwhile, our crows are already starting to gather by the thousands in urban areas, just in time for a spookier Halloween.
