Common Raven
Corvus corax · Jays & crows
Common Raven, wet
Minnewaska, 3 April 2021
A Common Raven, soaked and preening on a lichen-covered branch at Minnewaska in early April - not the starling it was first written up as. Ravens are birds of cliffs and wild country across the whole northern hemisphere, and they nest on the cliffs here, one of the few places within reach of the city where they are reliable. Early April is when a pair is already on eggs.
The bill is the tell, huge and heavy, and so are the shaggy feathers at the throat, the hackles a raven raises in display and a wet bird can't lay flat. A starling is a fraction of the size with a fine, pointed bill. The largest of the songbirds, by the taxonomists' reckoning, and among the cleverest of any bird. Black and white because there was no colour in the bird to lose.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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