Chad Whitaker, age 12, of Jamestown, N.Y., for his question:
IS THERE MORE THAN ONE KIND OF RAVEN?
The Raven belongs to the Corvidae family of birds. There are about 100 species in this family and all of the members are bold, active, noisy and aggressive. Included with the raven is the crow, rook, jackdaw. and jay.
You'll find the raven living in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere, from Greenland and Alaska on the north to Guatemala on the south. But, generally speaking, only three kinds can be found living in the United States: the American raven, the northern raven and the white necked raven.
The American raven, which is the most common, lives in the western United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast and in Canada. The northern raven resembles the American raven, except that it is larger and its bill is longer and heavier. It lives in Alaska, Greenland and as far south as Washington. It has also been found in northern Michigan, New York and Maine and in the mountains of South Carolina. The white necked raven lives from Texas to southern California and from western Kansas to Mexico.
The raven may grow to be 26 inches long and its wings may spread as wide as three feet. Its feathers are black and have a slightly purple luster. There is often a touch of dull green on the belly. The feathers at the neck are usually dull gray at the base.
The black luster of the raven's feathers have given the word "raven" a special meaning. It is used to describe the color of hair that has a black luster, as in "raven hair."
The raven usually builds its nest on cliffs, though some ravens build nests in trees. The nest is usually built in the late winter. The birds make their nests of sticks and line them with bark, moss, cattle hair, wool, seaweed, grasses or rabbit fur.
Ravens eat a wide variety of food. They may eat dead fish and frogs, mussels, grasshoppers, crickets, worms, clams, the eggs of waterfowl and young birds.
The raven is one of the first birds mentioned in early history and mythology. It is also mentioned in the Bible. It was the first bird sent out from Noah's Ark.
The raven is difficult to distinguish in the field from other black corvines. It looks very much like the crow although it is slightly larger and its croaking call is much more guttural than the crows.
The raven is also slightly heavier in its build. And the raven has shaggier throat feathers, but these are hard to discern at a distance.
The raven has not fared so well in competition with mankind as some of its smaller relatives, such as the crow. It is now found only in the wilder, uninhabited parts of its range, and is most common today north of the tree line.