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Happy Crow and Raven Appreciation Day!!!

Today is the day that we celebrate another one of my most favorite yet criminally misunderstood animals ever: Crows and Ravens!

Right along with vultures, corvids are among the most unappreciated and disliked of birds. To many of us, they're black, noisy, filthy harbingers of doom. In western culture, they represent death and evil. Whenever we hear crows cawing in movies, it almost always usher something terrible. When we see them with anyone, it is usually with the villains as familiars for sorcerers and evil fairies, or as natural "decorations" for evil lairs. However, in some cultures, particularly Native American cultures, crows and ravens are revered as gods and/or tricksters, renowned for their mischief and usually the good that comes from it. The most famous mythological figure in the Pacific Northwest is Raven, who brought light into the world by stealing it from the Sky People, and tossed the light into the heavens, becoming the sun, moon and stars. The Lenape of the Northeast told about the heroic deeds of Rainbow Crow when he brought fire to turn winter into spring, but he had his beautiful, rainbow-colored feathers scorched black and his lovely voiced marred by ashes from the flames. The bird's self sacrifice would reward him with iridescent feathers. And let us not forget, Jews, Christians and Muslims should also know the generous deeds of the fan-tailed ravens (Corvus rhipidurus) who fed Elijah in the wilderness during the God-given drought. These examples are not only tales told to humanity about the corvids' role in mythology and religion, but they also show us more, the truth behind these fascinating creatures. :D (Big Grin) In pre-Christian times, ravens have been revered by the Celts, portrayed as deities such as Badb, Brân the Blessed, Branwen, and Mórrígan, while the Germanic peoples associated them with Odin, and his two pet ravens Huginn and Muninn, who served as his eyes and ears. In modern England, ravens are kept on the grounds of the Tower of London to ensure London's safety.

For those who don't know, all corvids (crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, treepies, choughs, nutcrackers, and jays) are among the most intelligent birds in the world; their only equals are parrots and macaws. They can mimic calls of other birds and animals, as well as our voices. Besides its famous "caws," corvids have multiple vocalizations, usually about 250 distinct calls, another attribute to their intelligence. In addition, every crow has an individual call with two different dialects. They even have different warning calls for different predators or threatening species, like humans. They cache their food, as well as move them between hiding spots to avoid thievery. They pass mirror tests, recognizing their reflections. They can not only recognize individual birds, but even individual people from out of a crowd, and if that person is deemed threatening, they spread the word to their whole flock, so they would know to steer clear of the danger. To crows, first impressions are EXTREMELY important. Some crow species capable of not only tool use, but also tool construction, like the New Caledonian Crow (Corvus moneduloides). Corvids can use even use weapons. While fighting over a bird feeder, a jay used a stick to prod a crow, but the crow stole the stick and used it to whack at the jay, causing it to fly away. Crows also demonstrate cleverness and ingenuity by using the urban wildlife to their advantage. In Japan, a carrion crow was documented to crack nuts by placing them on a crosswalk, letting the passing cars crack the shell, waiting for the light to turn red, and then safely retrieving the contents. Quite a nutcracker. A group of crows in England took turns lifting garbage bin lids while their companions collected food. Crows and ravens are very playful, from ravens rolling around in snow for fun, to crows dropping pine cones on cars, from riding on boars at a European sanctuary, to wheeling through the air on windy days or ride thermals in the desert. They even demonstrate the famous mischievous nature. They can steal a fisherman's catch, turn the key in a car's ignition switch, and tug at the feathers of eagles and vultures, so they can steal their catch. And although corvids have been known to steal from each other and us, if we feed them and befriend them, they will actually give us gifts, usually objects they pilfered. Most corvids are omnivorous and a generalist species. They don't just eat carrion or garbage, they eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and it is likely it is this diet plasticity that has further increased their intellect. And they can use that intellect to eat their food (like the crow in Japan).

Besides their intelligence, crows and ravens are not as black as we think they are. In fact, their feathers are iridescent, meaning that there is a rainbow of colors when positioned correctly in the light. And not all crows and ravens have just black feathers, and some even have different colored eyes. The species you see in my pic are actually based on real life species. The crows we see in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are the commonplace crows we see in most parts of the world. However, because this cartoon is made in North America (both in US and Canada), those crows are based on the American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos). Though Europeans would see them as their resident Carrion Crows (Corvus corone). The ravens featured in season seven are based on the Common Raven (Corvus corax), and can be distinguished from the crows: larger than other crows, hooked bills, longer, pointed wings, and wedge-shaped tail feathers; crows, especially American crows, mostly have thinner bills, shorter, squarish wings, and fan-shaped tail feathers. Also while ravens are solitary and prefer rural locations, American crows are highly gregarious and prefer to live closer to humans. But they're not the only species. In the rest of the pic there are the carrion crow's subspecies Hooded Crows (Corvus corone cornix), distinguished by its grey body; the Large-billed Crows (Corvus macrorhynchus) of East Asia; the Torresian Crows (Corvus orru) of Australia, which shares its distinct white eyes with other Australian species, including the Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides); the Pied Crows (Corvus albus) of Africa with its white body; the White-necked Crows (Corvus leucognaphalus) from Hispaniola with its red eyes; the Brown-necked Ravens (Corvus ruficollis) of the Sahara and Middle East, with its brown neck, head and body; the internationally invasive House Crow (Corvus splendens) of India characterized by its black and light gray-brown face, wings, tail and plumage respectively; and the White-billed Crow (Corvus woodfordi) of the Solomon Islands with its white beak. There are many more, but I am unable to present them all to you. :( (Sad) In the end, there is a vast diversity in crows and ravens, but they all share the same thing: high intelligence and low respect from people today.

I would also like to point out that while crows and ravens have received only infamy in movies and tv shows, there have been exceptions. Disney's most famous examples are the crows from Dumbo. They are the only characters, except for Mrs. Jumbo and Timothy, who become Dumbo's friends and inspire him to fly. Friendship is magic, even from those crows. Unfortunately, due to them being "racial caricatures" of African Americans, the birds are not only losing the only possible moment of fame and respect they ever got from westerners, but the new Disney streaming service, Disney Plus, is omitting their scenes from the movie due to this. Okay fine, so maybe their based on African Americans, but their role in the movie has not only given crows a more positive reception, but has even assaulted the negative stereotype of Blacks being scoundrels or thieves back in those days. If it wasn't for the crows, Dumbo would still be a clown and without his mother. So please remind the world of the good those birds have done, and give people a chance to give these birds a better image.

Meanwhile, the famous HBO series, Game of Thrones, mentioned crows and ravens frequently. The name "crow" (which is the hated, misunderstood, beggar cousin of the raven) is a derogatory title given to members of the Night's Watch clad in black. Ravens, on the other hand, receive a different depiction. From acting as messenger pigeons to the famous Three-Eyed Raven, who was the last greenseer. While the crows get the misfortune of being depicted as scavenging wretches, ravens get a better reception. So far so good. Let's hope we see more positive imagery and connation from these beautiful, brilliant, black birds.

So I'm gonna sum this up. Here are all the crow species I used from last year, plus two new species — the white-billed crow and house crow. And I'm sure you can guess who that is in the center. ;) (Wink) I put the sun at his back as crows and ravens are usually solar symbols. And to go all crow, the greeting is black. If you can make out the formation, the flock is trying to make a heart, wishing for appreciation for what they are as a species. Black Heart Bullet

Crows by me

Sun by :iconmisteraibo:

Background by :iconmlp-vector-collabs:

Put aside any hate or fear you have with these marvelous, brainy birds, and show some love and appreciation. They deserve it. Heart

Upvotes at import: 16 | Stars at import: 10
Posted previously at: 2020-04-27T13:54:10 | Posted previously by: AndoAnimalia