Few of us would fail to be stirred by the sight of a huge,
black-winged bird, soaring like a hawk. Biologist Bernd Heinrich had a dream about
ravens, which he's pursued since 1984. He wrote the definitive ornithological study on
food-sharing behavior, Ravens in
Winter (1990). This most recent book is a study-memoir about the behavior, intellect
and creativity of the largest of the corvid family. Fans of natural history should be
glad Heinrich went with his instincts; his latest book is a pleasure to read.
Ravens, unlike crows, shun evidence of human habitation. Their habitat is wilderness,
the northern coniferous forest and shore areas. Meat makes up the mainstay of their
diet, and details of ravens feeding, while fascinating, are not for the squeamish. They
survive by finding remains of dead animals, thus their association, in the far north,
with wolves. In people's minds, ravens are associated with carcasses of large mammals.
Though ravens are known to hunt other birds, they are not killers of livestock. Heinrich
has gone to pains to correct such mistaken information as, in the U.S. and Europe, it
has been used to justify the hunting and poisoning of ravens by farmers.
Tales of the individual ravens that Heinrich has raised, and the wild birds he has
studied are vivid and, at times, poignant. He describes an attack by other ravens upon a
male, Fuzz, and soon after that, the disappearance of Fuzz's mate, Houdi, which resulted
in the orphaning of four nestlings. Though the tone of Heinrich's prose remains even,
you'll find yourself touched by their loss.
Another surprisingly evocative detail is Heinrich's rendering of the birds'
vocalizations, approximated on the page as "quork," "caulk-caulk," "kek-kek-kek," "glug-
glug," and "rrack-rrack-rrack." However, if you're reading along on a quiet winter's
afternoon, you will easily imagine you're hearing the calls.
There are many beautiful passages. Heinrich sees his ravens in context of their world. He sets his scenes with keen appreciation for the natural world:
The trees had not yet unfurled their leaves, although throughout the warm day the beeches were uncurling their long brown buds, unfolding the tightly packed leaves like pale green butterfly wings. Sunshine dabbled the limbs and trunks of green-algae-tinged beech trees and the brown layer of last year's leaves and beechnut hulls on the ground.
Heinrich has included his own illustrations and photographs with the text. The index
gives chapter by chapter references for the reader's further investigations, - though
I'll bet money none reads as effortlessly as Heinrich's passionate accounting of these
wonderful birds.
MIND OF THE RAVEN: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds
Bernd Heinrich
Cliff Street Books (HarperCollins)
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
1999
ISBN 0060174471