Ravens are abundant in the Tehachapi sky, in all seasons, and common throughout not only the western United States but also seen in most of Canada and Mexico. Our local ravens (Corvus corax) were known to the Kawaiisu as Atak-uz, a worthy title in any language, but our modern birder books in English label them the "common raven." That does not do justice to this amazing bird.
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Ravens are extraordinarily successful in an age of unremitting avian habitat destruction by humans. Their population seems in fact to be on the increase, along with their range. Doubtless there are multiple factors at work here, but surely the dominant one is that ravens are omnivorous. And clever, being among the most intelligent of birds.
Ravens are extremely versatile in finding food, from robbing songbird nests of baby chicks, catching small rodents, to scavenging roadside kill, and something even more impressive: they have learned how to steal food from humans—directly, not merely in the usual way animals have always vexed farmers and millers by stealing crops and stores.
The rangers at Grand Canyon National Park routinely warn backpackers to be on guard against raven raids. Ravens are observant and bold. When the backpacker puts his pack down and looks around for just the right place to spread out his gear or pitch a tent, the bold sleek raven hops or walks over to the pack and pulls open a zipper! Odor from food inside the pack (a plastic zip-lock is no barrier to a keen sense of smell), and a raven's experience, including the example of other birds, tells him what's worth the trouble of carrying off and ripping open.
In a Canyon rim parking lot I once witnessed two ravens having a field day in the bed of an unattended pick-up truck, where they had found a large plastic picnic chest with its lid off (perhaps they had even found a way to move the lid themselves?). Granola, crackers, nuts and raw veggies—carrots and peppers—were scattered all over that truck bed.
The vertical dimension of raven habitat is enormous, equaled by few other birds. You can see ravens on the floor of Death Valley, and spot them flying over the cornices of 14,000-foot peaks. The raven is one of the best all-around flyers in the bird realm. While there are a number of species — such as falcons, ducks, and pigeons who are faster — and others who maneuver even more adroitly — like hummers, and soar more effortlessly — like turkey vultures and frigate birds, the raven has a unique and superb combination of flying skills, including fast dives, smooth soaring and flashy aerobatics, often in couples or triplets, usually for the sheer fun of it from all appearances. Raven flight has been closely studied by aeronautical engineers, who have devised flying models of mechanical ravens, of matched weight and size, from which new aviation insights have been gained.
The raven has one of the world's most extensive and complex avian vocabularies. Sibley says the Raven's voice is "incredibly varied." Absolutely true! Their resonant croaks range up and down in pitch, and display varied rhythm. Listen sometime to their "tok"-ing sounds. There are many others; a human cannot begin to match the resonance and volume of any, but with a little practice, you can get a raven to glance your way. Just once, though. He won't deign to give you another no matter how long your weak imitation goes on.
The raven is believed by some to possess mystic powers. While a number of birds — nesting robins, ascending larks, serenading nightingales — have inspired poetry, the ravens' inspiration lies in a transcendental category, at or perhaps even beyond the limits of the natural world, as the great American poet Edgar Allen Poe suggested in "The Raven." There have been those who believe ravens can serve as intermediaries between this and worlds beyond. Who knows? In any case, let's hear no more badmouthing of this gifted bird in TMBC.
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