Fun Facts About White Ravens

My first novel is entitled The White Raven. Why I chose a white raven as the bird for my story, I have no idea. Nor did the bird initially have such an important role. I had the main character’s witch shop named The White Raven and the bird was just an ornament in the periphery. But the white raven took on a life of its own and so…well, you’ll just have to read the book when it’s published, won’t you?

I thought I’d share some fun and interesting facts about these birds that I learned while researching them for the book.

White ravens are not albino. Albinism is the absence of the pigment melanin which leaves the animal white and makes the eyes red and legs pink. White ravens have leucism which results in only partial loss of this pigment and their eyes are typically blue. Plus, they really aren’t white, more of a cream color but Cream-Colored Raven doesn’t sound nearly as cool. Any animal can have leucism, it’s not exclusive to ravens.

While it doesn’t appear that white ravens are shunned by their black counterparts, national news was made when three young white siblings were abandoned in a church yard in England. And there’s a lot of Internet crap about white ravens being social pariahs or eaten by their mothers at birth. I’ve found no evidence any of that was true. I’m sure white ravens do have a harder life than their less conspicuous kin but that can be said of any animal that doesn’t blend in well to their surroundings.

Many photos have been taken of black and white ravens getting along just fine, even mating with each other. Mike Yip has taken some amazing photos of white ravens on Vancouver Island and he journals all of his bird-watching on the www.vancouverislandbirds.com site.

Aside from their coloring, white ravens are just like their black brothers and sisters. Ravens are extremely intelligent, on the scale of dolphins or chimpanzees, very playful, can imitate human speech and the sounds of objects like car engines, and they mate for life. (Awww!) A flock of ravens is called an “unkindness”, probably because they aren’t very friendly to ravens outside of their familiars and act negatively to their enemies. Well, who doesn’t?

Ravens in the wild can live 10-20 years. Some birds in captivity have been documented at living over 60 years.

While ravens are typically scavengers, they are known to team up together to take down an animal too large for a single bird to handle. They can also imitate noises of other animals such as wolves or foxes.  They might do that to attract the predator to a carcass that the bird can’t break open. After the wolf has had his fill, the raven gets the leftovers. Smart! They can also be seen coming after hearing a hunter’s gunshot. Why work when you can just pick up the leftovers?

Many peoples consider the raven a trickster or prankster. Ravens have been observed stealing food from larger predators–several ravens will get the animal’s attention while another makes off with the food. They also play pranks like sneaking up on a sleeping animal and pecking at it then darting away. Ravens even make toys! They’ve been seen using sticks or pine cones or rocks to play by themselves or with each other.

If you want to see something very cute and amazing, check out this video of a raven playing in the snow! https://youtu.be/gjgpenWavO8 I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this.

You might be asking yourself: how can I tell a raven from a crow? Well, ravens are typically larger and usually travel in pairs, whereas crows are often seen in larger groups. Ravens have longer feathers in the middle of their tail, making it look more wedge-shaped when flying.  A raven’s beak has a slightly hooked upper bill and more throat hackles. Also, their calls are different-the raven’s call sounds more like a low croak while the crow makes a cawing sound.

There are also a great many myths and legends surrounding the mysterious white raven. So many that they warrant their own post which that will be coming soon.

Check out my Pinterest board for more great photos of white ravens: https://www.pinterest.com/carrie_d_miller/white-ravens/