Dear Bird Folks,

Why aren’t there any ravens around here?

Connie, Yarmouthport

Hey Connie,

Good for you. It’s nice to know that not everyone around here is fixated on those cutesy birds. Ravens are awesome birds. Many people think crows and ravens are the same bird, but ravens are bigger and badder looking than crows. They look like crows that grew up in the tough part of town. They are much stockier and not as sleek looking as crows.

There is information that ravens used to live around here, but then came those wacky Pilgrims with their goofy hats, sheep and guns, and that was about it for the ravens. Farmers blamed ravens for eating newborn lambs and went about blasting ravens every chance they got. Combine that with the changes the settlers made in the landscape, plus the bad poetry written about them, and the ravens were forced to move out. Unlike crows, who love a good fight and are quick to adapt, the ravens simply headed up to northern New England or to Canada where there are fewer people and the exchange rate is better.

In recent years, ravens have been slowly moving south again. Several nesting ravens have been reported in the Berkshires, living among the bears and the hippies. Who knows, perhaps in another 100 years or so, ravens will once again be seen in our area. Then I suppose some cry baby will be writing to complain that the ravens are scaring away all of his cutesy birds. I’ll turn that question over to you, Connie, 100 years from now I’ll be too busy answering questions on how to keep the robotic squirrels off everyone’s bird feeders.