Quoth the Raven

"Then this ebony bird beguiling / my sad fancy into smiling…” -Edgar Allen Poe

I recently watched a video of the late, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter talking about a special bird, a colorful painted bunting, he once sighted. A smile of delight appeared on his face as he recalled the memory. One of the comments following the video was:

“Ok, I've got a new game. I'm going to call it ‘Jimmy Carter's Smile’ and it'll be a challenge to get people to do that smile by asking them to recall a favorite bird encounter.”

Although I’m not particularly a birdnerd (amusingly called “twitchers” in Britain), I have several such memories that bring an immediate smile of pleasure. Here’s one: A few days ago I was in a little patch of woods in Interior Alaska when I heard a raven gronk. I looked up into a tall spruce tree and could just make out the black silhouette. It hopped to a higher branch which shook loose a flurry of snow. Then it hopped to another branch, with the same result. Then another, and another. I could not see any purpose in this hopping about other than for the fun of sending floofs of snow fluttering down.

Ravens are known to be playful. They’ll carry sticks and feathers aloft, trading them back and forth in flight, dropping and retrieving them in the air. They will even repeatedly slide down snowbanks, which I’ve never seen but would love to!

The largest of the passerines (perching birds), the largest species of songbird and the largest all-black bird in the world, ravens are common in Alaska, and not just in wilderness areas but in cities too.

I can say with absolute honesty that I see at least one raven every single day here in Fairbanks, in every season, whether it’s flying past the window or perched in a spruce tree or on a neighborhood lamp post. There’s no mistaking them for crows as there are no crows here. Their ubiquity in no way detracts from their utter magic. I am genuinely thrilled with every sighting and even my 3 year old grandson will sing out excitedly, “There's a raven!”

^A raven feather is a treasure of a find!

As many as 800 ravens have been seen in one roost near Fairbanks!*

They are opportunistic and mischievous, pecking apart garbage bags, scattering trash, stealing unattended dog food or attacking sacks of groceries in the beds of parked pickup trucks.

There is no mistaking the raucous call of the raven; the deep, resonant “kaw” is its trademark. However, the raven can produce an amazing assortment of sounds; mews, whistles, high-pitched cries, “glooks,” and dripping water sounds. One study in Alaska showed ravens have more than 30 distinct vocalizations.*

Ravens are among the most intelligent of all birds and can learn by watching, solve problems using logic, and recognize different individuals, both human and raven.

They are excellent fliers, engaging in aerial acrobatics and sometimes soaring to great heights.

^Jason Smalley photo, https://www.earthlight-images.com/

The spiritual importance of the raven to Alaska's Native people is widely recognized. The Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, BellaBella, and Kwakiutl all view the raven as the creator of the world and bringer of daylight. The raven is also important in the creation stories of the Inuit (Eskimo) peoples. The myths of the raven remain a significant social and religious component of Alaska native culture.

There’s no denying the power of their wings and their presence, their ebony-hued mystique, their fascinating role in myth, culture and literature (who can forget Poe’s “The Raven”?), the rainbow-sheen iridescence of their feathers, their inimitable calls. They are symbols of ancient wisdom, transformation, and the duality of existence, bridging the chasm between light and shadow, life and death.

"On the road to wisdom, behave like a raven and observe everything carefully." - Mehmet Murat İldan

“And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...”

-Edgar Allan Poe

*Common Raven (Corvus corax) info courtesy of Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Wildlife Notebook Series