Northern Raven

Overview

The common raven, also known as the northern raven (Corvus corax), is a large, all-black passerine bird and the most widely distributed of all corvids. It is the heaviest passerine in the world and belongs to the Corvus genus, with the closest relatives being the brown-necked raven, pied crow, and Chihuahuan raven.

Identification

• Mostly iridescent black plumage with shaggy, elongated throat feathers and pale brownish-grey bases on the neck.
• Large and slightly curved bill, with a culmen length of 5.7 to 8.5 cm, the largest of any passerine alongside the thick-billed raven.
• Long, strongly graduated, wedge-shaped tail (20–26.3 cm) and stout, strong legs with a tarsus length of 6–7.2 cm.
• Distinctive deep, resonant prruk-prruk-prruk call and a complex vocal repertoire that includes a high knocking toc-toc-toc and a dry, grating kraa.
• In flight, wings produce a creaking sound likened to the rustle of silk, and soaring involves less wing-flapping than crows.

Habitat

Ravens thrive in a wide variety of climates across the Holarctic, from Arctic and temperate zones in North America and Eurasia to the deserts of North Africa and Pacific islands. In the UK, they are more common in Scotland, Wales, western England, and Ireland, and prefer mountainous or coastal terrain with large open spaces. They have been recorded at altitudes as high as 6,350 m on Mount Everest, and are generally resident in their range year-round.

Diet

Ravens have an omnivorous, opportunistic diet, feeding on carrion, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, nesting birds, and human food waste. They are highly versatile in foraging and have seen population surges in some human-dense areas like California due to plentiful food supplies. In North America, they have even been observed waiting for the presence of American crows and blue jays before approaching novel carrion sites.

Did you know?

In the Faroe Islands, a now-extinct pied (black-and-white) morph of the common raven existed, known as the pied raven, while white, leucistic ravens are occasionally found in the wild in some regions. Ravens have been revered as spiritual or godlike figures in numerous cultures, including indigenous peoples of Scandinavia, ancient Ireland and Wales, Bhutan, the northwest coast of North America, and parts of Asia.