Tag: ravens

Bird Message

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet and educator Robyn Hood Black HERE . I look forward to see what she will share with us this week.

If you want to know more about Poetry Friday, find info HERE.

First< I want to share the postcards I received this week from Joan MacCulloch’s New Year’s exchange. Getting these cards this winter has been one of this year’s highlights, truly up lifting. Thank you Linda Mitchell, Gail Aldous, Carol LaBuzzetta,and Patricia Franz. Thank you again Joan for organizing the project.

Does everyone know about the 50 Precious Word contest Here? Basically writers are to submit a 50 word story, for 12 and under, with a beginning, middle and end. I spent hours cutting words from a story and finding out yet again how many words a writer thinks is necessary are not. I actually found it fun to tackle a prose story again, and not at all sure what I’ll end up with. It was a good distraction from reality.:)

Here’s a black pen and wash drawing from the coast at Pacifica California. I’ve become very familiar with the sand, the rocks, the waves, the ground squirrels and the ubiquitous ravens sitting on fence posts.

Intelligent Raven--
what messages do you carry
for a beach walker?

© Janice Scully 2026

I find these black and iridescent creatures fascinating and apparently they have always fascinated humans. They are thought to act as powerful “messengers, tricksters, and keepers of secrets across cultures, according to Google. . It would seem they are connected to things very deep in the human psyche. But I can attest to the fact that they don’t sit there giving secrets or advice away. One could stand there for a long time and not find out a thing.

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope some warmer weather. Upstate New York is emerging from the ice age slowly.

Thank you, Robin, for hosting.

Happy Thanksgiving and Ravens . . . Again.

Welcome to Poetry Friday! Happy Thanksgiving. This week we are hosted by Ruth at:

http://thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com

Thank you Ruth for hosting! I have so enjoyed her poems and her wide knowledge about birds that is found on her blog.

I’ve had a quiet holiday with just my husband, Bart and our son, Matt. Maybe that’s why I have so many leftovers!

Last week I bought a book with a title I couldn’t resist:

I posted two weeks ago about Ravens and Halloween. But I am posting again about ravens because there is more to say after reading more about these very old, very smart birds.

The first of the ten birds in Moss’s book that “changed the world” is the Raven, the largest member of the crow family, with it’s large “pick-ax” bill, iridescent black feathers and remarkable call. This bird has at times helped and then hindered human efforts to survive. They’ve been loved and hated through the centuries.

Moss tells us:

For human and animal hunters, their ability to fly made them assets to survival.

“Only the raven can reconnoitre a large area of ground, locate potential prey and then return to guide the hunters towards the target.” 

SYMBOSIS

Wolves.
Ravens.
Early man—
hunting buddies
for thousands of years.
Ravens flew to spot prey.
Swift wolves rushed off to the scene,
heeding raven intelligence,
as did humans: a happy threesome. 

© Janice Scully 2023

The raven’s fortunes, good and bad, have been in no small part determined by humans. To ancient Norsemen, they were seen as helpers to the Norse God Odin. But after hunting and gathering was left behind, ravens became pests to farmers and herdsmen, eating crops and attacking animals. Humans nearly exterminated them.

Today, ravens flourish. They are almost everywhere, clever enough to survive in diverse habitats. 

THE FORTUNES OF THE RAVEN

Ancient Norsemen celebrated 
black feathered, bold beaked ravens
that served as the thoughts and memories 
of their one-eyed god, Odin.

                           But when humans discovered farming, 
                           they nearly rid the world of these pests
                           gobbling their grain.

In plague times, Ravens helped
clear the streets of the dead.
The more the merrier.
A boon to public health.

                          but later herders battled ravens
                          that threatened new born animals,
		          and livelihoods.
                         
Today, birdwatchers admire their call 
and clever sky antics.
Numbers have exploded!

                          Humans change. 
                          Ravens hope for the best.

© Janice Scully 2023

I haven’t finished the book yet but look forward to learning about the extinct dodo, pigeons, the bald eagle, penguins and more. I appreciate lately more than ever my love of reading and the peace it brings me as I curl up with a good book.

Have a great weekend!