Story and Photographs By Joan Herrmann

Whereiwander… we have several big birds in our area that are not raptors and are unlikely to appear at your bird feeders. They are not seed-eaters, but one or the other may be seen close to feeding areas out of curiosity. These birds are generally twenty plus inches tall which next to a black-capped chickadee is gigantic.

The first large bird is the Common or Northern Raven (Corvus corax). It is twenty-one to twenty-seven inches tall. Since many of us are used to seeing crows, a comparison of the two seems practical. The size of an American Crow (Corvus brachyrhychos) is seventeen to twenty-one inches tall. The raven is entirely black and has a massive and thick bill. The crow has a strong bill but it is not massive. While in flight the raven’s tail appears wedge-shaped as compared to a crow’s square or slightly rounded tail. We have heard the caw-caw sound of a crow, but the hoarse guttural sound of a raven is definitely different and might be compared to a crow with acute laryngitis or possibly the sound that one would imagine a pterodactyl might produce.

The first time I actually saw a raven was from the hiking trail at the top of the gorge in the Whetstone Gulf State Park, in Lewis County. The ravens were nesting on the ledges and as we approach the rim of the gorge the ravens began to react verbally and with aerial vigor. After a few quick photos, we left them, but could still hear their admonishments.

They are of the Order Passeriformes, or perching birds, which are known by the configuration of their toes (three pointing forward one pointing backward) which allow them to perch on a tree or other suitable objects. These fascinating and clever birds are mainly as omnivores. They feed on carrion and carrion insects such as maggots and carrion beetles. They also eat other insects, grains, berries and fruits as well as a small mammal, nestlings and occasionally garbage. They have been observed in fields following the plows and quickly eating the insects which have been disturbed. They are also opportunists and have been known to harass turkey vultures which will vomit as a means of self-defense. After the vulture regurgitates the raven will consume the previously eaten food. They are even notorious for annoying domestic animals in order to steal food from them. Working in pairs they have been seen distracting a nesting bird, once it has left the nest to chase the attacker the other bird will grab the now unattended egg or nestling. This action may be the explanation for a flock of ravens’ name, which is “Unkindness” or a “Conspiracy”. Their cleverness is seen in many different ways including the fact that ravens are able to mimic sounds and human speech. When wary of a predator at carrion site they will patiently wait until crows or jays have approached first; if safe they will chase the smaller birds away and begin feeding.

Aerial acrobatics are important in their courting behavior as well as their ability to procure food. Once they are paired, the two will most likely mate for life, using the same site and nest. The nest is made of large sticks and twigs with a deep bowled shaped center. The bowl is filled with soft material such as deer hair or sometimes sheep or alpaca fibers. Cliff ledges are preferred nesting sites although big trees or abandoned buildings have also housed their nests. Three to seven pale bluish-green speckled with brown streaking eggs are laid and incubated by the female. Incubation is generally eighteen to twenty-one days. After hatching both the female and male will feed the nestlings, which will fledge between thirty-five and forty-two days. The fledglings may stay with the adults for six months or more; with perhaps one staying with the adults to help with the next brood.

Another big bird that may occasionally check out your feeding area, perhaps just out of curiosity, is a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) but it is not a seed eater. This largest woodpecker’s diet, as another omnivore, consists of insects especially carpenter ants and wood-boring beetles. It also consumes fruits and berries; which include poison ivy, sumac, and bittersweet. The evidence that a pileated woodpecker is visiting your neighborhood is an extremely large rectangular hole appearing in a tree and enormous piles of wood chips below on the ground. The woodpecker will chip away until it has located the ant galleries within an infected tree. It then uses its long barbed tongue and sticky saliva to extract the ants. The rectangular cavities may eventually be used as nesting sites by other birds or small mammals. I found one in our neighborhood that had been claimed by a snake.

Pileated woodpeckers can withstand the blows to its brain when pecking and removing large wood chunks without brain damage. Scientists have studied this bird in hopes of replicating and improving the safety features in cars. Using CT scans of live woodpeckers and constructing a digital model of software that simulates the pecking; it has been determined that the pecking force is as much as fifteen hundred gravitational force units. A person on an average roller coaster only experiences five gravitational force units. It has been learned that the strain on the woodpeckers’ head is redirected to the rest of its body. The woodpeckers’ thick neck muscles diffuse the blow and a third inner eyelid prevents the eyeball from popping out plus a thick spongy bone cushion the brain like a football helmet. They dig their sharp claws into the tree and use their tail as a brace.

The pileated is about seventeen inches in height. Its body is mostly black and it has a large red crest and white neck stripes. The male has a red mustache and red forehead while the female has a black mustache and black forehead; this is one way to tell these almost monomorphic pair apart. The pileated woodpecker is the model for the Woody Woodpecker cartoon character and its call is similar to the cartoon’s laughing sound. The name pileated may be pronounced either as Pie-lee-ay-ted or Pill-ee-ay-tid.

As a Professional Nature Photographer, Naturalist and Outdoor Educator, Joan Herrmann has been teaching and doing programs for Schools, Garden Clubs, Libraries, and Nature Centers, about 38 years. After moving from the Rochester area in 1995 she began her Photography business, Essence of Nature and also became a co-owner of The Artworks in Old Forge, New York. As a docent at Munson, Williams, Proctor Arts Institute, in Utica, New York she has been educating children and adults, for nineteen years.

In 2007 she began working with the Black River Outdoor Educational Program (BROEP) and in 2013 and 2014 did a week-long summer program at BROEP in conjunction with Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC). Using her love of both nature and photography she created a Flora/Fauna outdoor educational program teaching students (ages 6 to 14) the joys of nature and creative photography skills.

Joan’s love of nature has been a lifelong study of Birds, Wildflowers, Mosses, Ferns, Trees, Amphibians, Reptiles, Grasses, Insects, Spiders, Tracks, Scat, and Galls. She has assisted in the cataloging of all trails used by the hiking Coaches and photographed and identified seasonal Flora.

Since October 2016 she has been writing a bimonthly nature column with Adirondack Express Newspaper. In October of 2019, she began a bi-monthly column with My Little Falls Newspaper. You may reach her at jmhphoto8442@gmail.com