Talking Ravens

It is difficult to improve a cloudless blue sky, but the call of a Raven echoing across it always does. I love Ravens, they are brilliant birds. Whenever I hear their distinctive cronking call I instantly turn my head skywards to see them, they are not hard to find. Ravens are the largest Passerine, huge members of the Crow family, and with a wingspan equal to that of the Common Buzzard, they are hard to miss.

Above: The sight of a Raven against a blue sky is an awesome one, but what is this one saying? ©Rob Read.

In the recent spell of hot weather, we have been blessed with gorgeous blue skies from morning to evening and I have been spending plenty of time outside enjoying them. Living in Devon, Ravens are a common bird for me, but that doesn’t mean that I will ever tire of watching them - rr indeed, listening to them. There are lots of ways to describe the sound of a Raven, but for me it will always be a cronk, an odd word, perhaps even an ugly word, but it is the one I use to describe the beautiful call of this majestic corvid.

But it is not just the one ‘cronk’ that they use, Ravens have a whole vocabulary of ‘cronks’. Take the other morning; I was out in the garden, underneath the glorious blue sky, I knew that the Raven I was turning to see would be a happy one, because the call that had attracted my attention was its happy cronk. That may sound like I am slightly mad, but trust me, the calls of a Raven can tell you a lot. The Raven that morning was high above me, flying in a relaxed manner, there was no haste to its passage across the blue, and as I watched the bird it cronked once more, then folded its wings and tumbled downwards. It turned completely upside down before continuing to rollover until it was upright again, then it opened its big black wings once more, stabilized itself, called again and continued onwards. Whoever said that animals can’t have fun had evidently never watched a Raven.

Ravens play in the air, revelling in the freedom it gives them. They perform somersaults above us with accomplished ease; they are simply fantastic birds to watch. As I watched the bird heading off I saw that another higher bird was flying to meet it; the cronking became more frequent and, as the birds neared each other, they tumbled in unison. These were happy birds, happy to see each other and I was a very happy observer, enjoying watching them as they enjoyed themselves.

Above: The Raven is by far and away the largest of our corvids. ©Ian Parsons

I spent twenty years as a forest ranger and the Raven was a bird that not only did I see a lot of, it was also a bird that could tell me a lot about what was going on in the forest. All I had to do was learn their language, as Ravens say it exactly as it is. When a Raven isn’t happy about something, its cronk is a very different sounding call to its ‘happy’ cronk, and after a bit of time of listening to these birds you can begin to work out from the call what it is that it isn’t happy about. In the forests in which I worked, we had a breeding pair of Goshawks, one of the star birds of our avifauna. These are mighty predators, readily capable of taking a wide range of prey items, be they bird or mammal. I’ve not known a Raven fall prey to a Goshawk, but I have seen plenty of interaction between the two species and I know that they are not fond of each other. Goshawks, other than when they are displaying in the early part of the year, rarely break from the cover of the forest canopy. Their nickname of phantom of the forest is a good one, they are hard to detect let alone see. But the Ravens see them, and when they do, they shout about it. The call they use is most definitely not a happy one, but it is a distinct one. Other than around their nest sites, most of the Goshawks I have seen have been as a result of a Raven initially telling me it was around.

The call used for a Goshawk is different to the call used for a Buzzard, which is different again from the call used if a human is wandering too close to a Raven’s nest. These massive crows have a distinct language, and it is a language that you can learn simply by spending time watching them; you may never be fluent, but you can certainly learn enough to get by. This May, we had our first ever Red Kite over the garden, I was put on to it by a Raven making an unhappy call that was different to the normal one I hear when a very common Buzzard drifts over. I didn’t know what the Raven was upset about, but I knew it wasn’t a Buzzard, so I immediately started looking.

In the sky, Ravens are very black in appearance, they are wary of humans because of centuries of intense persecution. But, if you are lucky enough to see them close up, you will notice that their black feathers shine in the sunlight, creating an attractive iridescence that adds to their beauty. These are truly stunning birds that are simply a joy to watch, they are also highly intelligent and highly communicative. Listening in to their conversations can tell you a lot, all you need to do is tune in to those cronks…

Ian Parsons. August 2021.