We live on the fringes of a redwood forest at the end of a
little lane where there are many ravens. For the most part,
we love the ravens, love seeing them flying through the
forest and across the sky, love coming upon them on our
walks. When they pillage our apple trees before the apples
are ripe enough for human consumption, we don’t love
them so much, nor do we appreciate them unearthing
the potato pieces shortly after I plant those spud chunks.
Oh well. Small price to pay for the company of the ravens.
Because we have so many ravens about, people who come to
visit often inform me that ravens are highly intelligent, which
I’m sure they are. However, this popular human assumption
about ravens implies other birds are not as smart as ravens,
so I decided to ask some local birds what they thought about
the human idea that ravens are especially intelligent.
The hummingbird opined, “Can ravens fly backwards?
No. Can they penetrate flowers with their tongues and
pollinate lemon trees? No. Can they fly even half as fast
as a hummingbird or hover in the air for minutes at a time?
No. We wonder what constitutes intelligence?”
The pelican retorted, “Ravens intelligent? Clever opportunists
at best. They cannot swim. They cannot fold their wings to
make of their bodies missiles for diving into the water to catch
fish. Nor can they glide in great lines of their kind in the troughs
of waves, hardly needing to flap their wings except once in a great
while. And when they come to the beach, they hang out with gulls,
not with pelicans, which speaks volumes.”
The sparrow gave me a dubious look and said, “Ravens are
evil. They search for our nests and eat our eggs and babies.
If that’s intelligence, who needs it? Can they sustain
themselves on seeds and little insects they find in the bushes
and on the ground? Negative. Do they sing pretty songs?
No, they caw incessantly and obnoxiously.”
The hawk weighed in with, “Ravens are bullies and thieves,
and they are supremely jealous of hawks, as well they should be.
Our eyesight is legendary, our hunting prowess unrivaled,
and we do not squawk, but sing beautiful warnings and
omens to those wise enough to listen to us. Hawks do not,
as a rule, like ravens, and vice-versa.”
Finally I asked Murray, the raven who hangs out on the north side
of our house, what he thinks of the idea that ravens are especially
intelligent. He thought for a moment and said, “The inability of
humans to realize the vast intelligence of all living things… or I
should say, that modern humans have forgotten the vast intelligence
of all living things, is the cause of most of the world’s woes. Are
ravens intelligent? Of course we are, though I’ve known some
pretty dumb ravens, believe you me. Are we more intelligent
than other birds and animals? Not even a little. If I had to pick
Most Intelligent Bird, I’d go with owls. But that’s just me.
Are ravens messengers of the spirit realm? Of course we are.
But so are the other birds. So are all living things.
We wonder why humans forgot this, forgot that they, too,
are messengers from the spirit realm.”
fin
Don’t miss Todd’s two new little movies The Monster Part One and The Monster Part Two on Youtube