We are greater than midway via April, and the air is already filled with birdsong. It appears each different bush on the town hosts a music sparrow, lustily bellowing his {qualifications} into the air to echo and outcompete his neighbor. And there are hosts of cardinals, wrens, titmice, mourning doves, chickadees, home finches, and extra, all pouring forth their libidinous calls to procreate. Now add to this wild symphony a loud croak — a decidedly unbirdlike croak.
We are speaking concerning the new hen on the town, the frequent raven (Corvus corax). When I say new, I imply comparatively so — within the final decade or so — and after I say on the town, I imply setting down stakes right here, i.e. nesting, or a minimum of making an attempt to take action.
You have in all probability seen or heard this hen and, except you’re a birder, not taken discover. In look, it is vitally just like our on a regular basis crow (we even have two species of crows) however greater, with a bigger head and invoice and a bigger wedge-shaped tail. It is usually seen excessive within the sky, hovering like a hawk or vulture. If you’re not a birder, you’ll be excused for not having the ability to distinguish this hen from its smaller cousins. But assume now should you may need heard its distinctive croak, or what the Sibley hen information describes as “deep baritone croaks to high, bell-like twanging notes … hoarse … resonant.” Does that ring any bells?
If you consider ravens in any respect, you would possibly affiliate them with the Western states, the place their croaks resonate off canyon partitions, or up north, or down within the Appalachian Mountains. But ravens have been dramatically growing their vary and are ever extra noticeable on the Cape.
The first raven nest was documented in 2012 down by the canal, and, in keeping with Mass Audubon’s Mark Faherty, they’ve nested in just about each city on the Cape since then. I do know there was a nest on the Truro Transfer Station. And ravens tried to nest in Provincetown a number of years in the past however had been by some means discouraged. Elizabeth Brooke collected that nest, and it was huge.
Now they’re again, building a nest on the northeast nook of Provincetown Town Hall. If you crane your neck and lookup right into a recess excessive on the building, a cumbersome pile of branches will be seen. If they proceed and succeed, it is going to be the primary frequent raven nest on the town in recorded historical past.
Assuming that for many of you one massive black hen is identical as one other, enable me to influence you to care.
We on the Outer Cape dwell in a paradise. Our wild neighbors current themselves to us every day: sea geese, alcids, and loons that spend the winter in our harbors and ocean; warblers passing via in spring; the numerous shorebirds and terns that spend the summer time and fall on our seashores.
The regenerative energy of wildlife is unceasing, evidenced by the grey seals and white sharks in our waters (prefer it or not) and the coyotes, foxes, and fishers in our woodlands (and neighborhoods). Some time again we had a black bear go to the Cape; final yr it was a bobcat in Wellfleet; and some months in the past, a grey whale was sighted within the Atlantic. Ospreys and even bald eagles have gotten commonplace. Wildlife by no means stops searching for openings and alternatives.
Ravens had been in all probability right here way back however had been extirpated as a result of they didn’t match the business plan of the colonists. Now we don’t shoot massive black birds — a minimum of, most of us don’t — and we’re considerably charmed by all creatures nice and small, whereas our predecessors had a way more transactional relationship with them.
Ravens are extraordinarily human-oriented. They had been known as “wolf birds” as a result of they adopted wolves round to share of their kills; now, out West, they reply to the sound of the hunters’ gunshots for a similar purpose. The frequent raven is by all accounts probably the most clever of the birds we dwell with. According to biologist Bernd Heinrich (Mind of the Raven), they’ve the best encephalization ratio (mind to physique dimension) of any hen, twice that of the crow and 9 occasions that of the pigeon.
Heinrich has proven that ravens are usually not solely scary sensible however larcenous, playful, deceitful, duplicitous, and scheming. These are all human behaviors as nicely that may typically be noticed each inside and outdoors city corridor.
Was it the building that attracted the birds or the exercise inside and round it?
