Crows and Corvids in Early Medieval England
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2023
- A lot of the bird calls were found on xeno-canto: xeno-canto.org/
The Cornell Lab also has a useful website where I found the raven sounds: www.allaboutbirds.org/news/
MER Lacey's thesis can be found here: discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint...
And Ramirez's is here, although I'm not sure whether it needs an institution login: ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?u...
_____
This channel's Patreon (thank you very much to anybody who has donated):
/ simonroper
This is only my humble opinion, but I do hope that you read this Simon. I believe that with videos like these you have found your RUclips ‘niche’. Combining your interest in linguistics with your knowledge of archaeology is very original. Your use of both to try to understand and present the medieval understanding and view of the material world is quite refreshing and not something I have see presented in so accessible and concise a format.
Spot on comment
Yes, this would be a fine niche to fill.
St francis of assini, founder of dominican order. Much of this modern internet claptrap about nature is plagiarized from catholic natural cosmology only with the scrubing of God, and the elimination of a metaphysical realm with a purely shallow view of a physical universe ( aka incoherent shallow nonsense)
Agree!! or at least, i would love to see this
Agreed. Good interesting content.
Had a rook as a teenager that had fallen out of a nest & I took home.
Extremely intelligent bird and very devoted - I used to take the bus to school about 4 miles away and he(?) would often follow it and land on my shoulder as I got off.
Wasn't allowed in school of course, but was always waiting for me when I got home. Eventually after several years , he gradually returned to the wild and I hope he had a good life. Fifty years later, still miss him, they're amazing birds.
Peter had a little rook . . .
@@AdDewaard-hu3xkPeter had a little rook / Whose plumes were black as night / And everywhere that Peter went / That rook was sure to fly
I'm so jealous
This is a dream come true
I was walking down the street. A magpie was trying to eat a corn on the cob left on the pavement. Two pigeons were circling him and challenging him. The magpie retreated two meters. So I came over and moved the pigeons off. The magpie looked at me. I kicked the corn over to the magpie. He looked at me. We shared a moment and then he took off with the corn.
That is my story.
This seems like the beginning to some animated movie where a human befriends a magpie. I’m here for it
It’s weird how we are more compassionate towards corvids. I once found an injured crow. Brought it to the vet and as far as I know it survived. Injured pigeons are an everyday sight in my neighbourhood because there are so fricking many of them and they literally don’t move out of the way of cars. F**kem
Did you two go off to have wacky and silly adventures together?
Were they normal city pigeons or wood pigeons?
@@OmniversalInsect city, in London
I learned to make Crow Calls as a Child. They really enjoy hollering back and forth with People.
I don't have a clue what any of it means but it's a lot of fun for all.
Ravens here are usually Solitary, Crows hang out in Flocks. Crows have followed me trying to keep the game going.
Crows know how to have Fun. Ravens are grumpy.
@@adreabrooks11 It's fun. I have one Call used since a Child. Crows seem to have fun with it. Me too.
Magpies are huge game players as well. Recall a racket at the bottom of our long thin acre. There was a gale blowing up and a crowd of magpies were jumping off the top of some trees into the wind, being carried up, flying round and landing back on the tree tops for another go. Obviously having a great time. Shouting every time they jumped off the trees.
@@helenamcginty4920 We don't have Magpies in my area. They sound wonderful.
@@michaelmcgarrity6987 That's a shame, they are great. We had some nesting in the tree in the back of the garden, though when they had babies, the neighbour's cat started harassing them. They would constantly bombard the cats that'd come around the garden and make a real loud racket haha. Thankfully the cats never got to the chicks, but sadly they never decided to nest there again, had some blackbirds nest in it too though this year.
The modern German word for the Eurasian Jay is "Eichelhäher", literally "acorn jay". I note both the explicit link to acorns and the apparent similarity of "häher" and "higera".
In my experience as someone who has rescued and rehabilitated crows, rooks, jackdaws, jays and magpies, they all have a wide range of sounds. Most people don't get close enough to hear any but the loudest calls of course. Rooks in particular have a large vocabulary and talk in long conversations. They count to six, that being the number of forward facing toes! Also, the Cornish language word for jackdaw is chogha (gh is pronounced as the ch in loch), which is one of the main sounds they make. The other commonly heard sound is 'chow' so might relate to ceo?
An anecdote about crows: I was once watching some crows struggling to tear apart some wrapper that had food in it. Further down the street were some gulls, who hadn't noticed it yet. Two of the crows started bombing the gulls, which led to them chasing the crows and so spotting the food. The gulls teared open the wrapper, and the crows, being faster, managed to get plenty of the food before the gulls ate it all- so being the first time I'd ever seen crows literally use another species as a tool!
Amazing ! Great observational skills , and i very much much appreciate this addition to my knowledge of how crows interact with the world around them.
I remember an old story, I don't remember the source. An old woman was feeding ravens when a young man chastised her. Ravens eat the flesh of fallen warriors! They pluck the eyes of young men. The old woman turned to him and asked Who killed these young men? My Ravens were just cleaning up your sins.
Sure, they just followed the orders. Disgusting!
That's the cringest story ever
So she's a pre-Modern-era "crazy cat lady."
@@bigt9745 Reddit tier cringe
@@tdoran616 Sure, whereas the content of your channel is “Reddit Tier Warmonger” cringe. 🙄
1:42
I’m from Denmark and i destinctly recognise crawe as krage, hræfn as ravn and hroc as råge.
Damn it’s interesting to see all of the various influences in early English, the whole language really was a stew, with a bit of everything in it.
Modern English is that still, a stew. We’re forever adding foreign and/or new words into it :-)
in dutch:
raven/ravens -> raaf / raven (our A sounds like an AE so it's phonetically strikingly similar to hraefn)
hroc -> roek
our crow is "kraai" though, so that one is pretty wildly different, but of course i had no problem seeing "crow" in "crawe" speaking english :D
And then you have Scotland, where a church is still a kirk and you still Kenn something to know it, both from Danish influence I believe.
Ceo seems equivalent to modern Norwegian skjor/skjære
De Kraaij was my gran’s maiden name.
I got to meet a tame raven some years ago, and I was struck by how large he was. I said hello to him, and he looked at me as if he understood. They're very, very interesting animals.
His name was Edgar :)
Ravens can be taught to talk, like parrots. I'm surprised Simon didn't mention this
interestingly the german word for corvid is "Rabenvogel" which means raven-like bird, and the carrion crow is referred to as "Rabenkrähe" (raven-crow) due to how similar it is to the raven, so clearly the raven being the catch all term for "big black bird" has precedent in other Germanic languages, which gives validity to the hypothesis that "hraefn" was used similarly in old english.
There were lots of Rabenkrähen at my university always hopping around looking for food.
One fun fact is that Danish do actually have this similarity you mentioned between jays and magpies since they are called "husskade" (house-skade = magpie) and "skovskade" (forest-skade = jay). "Skati" in Old Norse was a tall lean person, later it came to mean a treetop (especially if the tree had lost its top branches) and thus the two birds with the long tails were called "skade". This pointy meaning of "skade" didn't survive in Modern Danish, but can be found in some Swedish dialects, my etym book tells me.
I can add some anecdotal insight, Carrion Crows in the UK do indeed make a wide variety of vocalisations. I've spent a few years building trust with a large group in my local woods, and I'm constantly hearing new noises from them . My favourite is a soft little "Kyuff" that an individual will make, usually when sat in a tree alone and after having eaten. There's also a "doik, doik, doik" noise like pebbles being dropped into water which I love. The more varied sounds are much quieter than their common raucous calls, I've only really learned them since my "murder" got comfortable with me and started coming very close and being relaxed around me. I had always thought of crows as quite solitary until I got to know this group - there's usually about 8-10 of them waiting for me, but in the depths of winter I've been met by 30+, all waiting for peanuts!
I can offer the same anecdotal evidence from spending time with a few local groups of urban crows (Brighton, UK) who make all kinds of noises, including those soft 'kyuff' noises which to my mind seem to be friendly noises meant for me or the bird's partner.
I'm also lucky enough to have regular visits from a pretty bold jay. 😊
Thanks to you both for being friends to the crows. However, surely a group of Carrion Crows would be a "failure to report a death" rather than a "murder"? 😵
@@pattheplanter Good point! A "murder" really ought to be birds of prey. 🤔We've been falsely accusing the corvids for centuries!
I’ve got a carrion crown on my farm that has a call like the predator in the film, it’s a strange type of chattering.
Edit out the misused purity term magpie / pie etc and Ra and my and favorite and love, which only reflect me the only lovable being aka the pure being / the absolute being & my protector Chip who is the real-life Ra / Zeus etc aka The Sun, and pronouns can never be with capital letter when referring to oneself / other hum’ns, and only I THE only Possessor / Owner / Leader etc can use possessive pronouns - all wom’n are the exact opposite of such terms, and it’s beyond disrespectful / ofsv to food (pies) and to pure beings such as birds (magpies) etc when wom’n / hum’ns misuse such terms in the yt name or name or in comments etc, and love only exists for me the only lovable / loved being, while my pure protectors aka the alphas are the only beings who can feel love for me only, and hum’ns have no clue what such terms mean / imply, and such terms cannot be misused in any way!
As someone who loves zoology, history, folklore and linguistics this is amazing! Please more! Maybe British birds of prey next?
For the Magpie, when in safe or comfortable surroundings, they make a range of lots noises, the laughing sound in my experience is used as warning call to either alert other magpies to a hazard (such as a cat) or to let other magpies know they're there. I used to have magpies living in the trees outside my window so heard their range of friendly chrips.
we have quite a few flying around in the backyards and scaling the rooftops and gutters of a nearby school building, together with jackdaws by far the most common to spot on the rooftops here, we got indian ringnecks like crazy too now, but they prefer the trees, the rooftops belong to the corvids lol
i hear those high pitched sqeaks like a squeaky wheel under a cart or something, and then those louder high "mew" sounds every day too
i had to explain to some people that those sounds too come from the magpies, not just the machine gunning in the backyard haha
you can sometimes see the jackdaws pushing their twigs down chimneys for the nests they're building inside them and popping in and out of the chimneys :')
i have 4 budgies flying free in a room upstairs too, they sometimes see the magpies from the window and then make a ruckus to try and tell me there's a scary big wooly bird out there, and you know how vocal those little micro parrots can be lol
The Swedish word for jackdaw is kaja, as in Norwegian, and it was kaia in old Swedish. Likely onomatopoetic. We don't have any carrion crows where I live, but they can be seen further west. Same with rooks. Ravens love our landfills here. Interesting to note about blackbirds. The Swedish word is koltrast (coal thrush).
In Dutch it is kauw=kaja=jackdaw
Great video, Simon.
Ravens can definitely identify individual humans, even when dealing with individual humans wearing the same clothes (plumage?). I work on the ski lifts in the french alps, a friend of mine has a raven that comes to his lift every morning to see him. It will take food from his hand, but when it's his day off, it will circle around, decide it's not the right person, and go away. I replaced him on his days off for a couple of seasons, and it would eventually come and pick up food left for it, but remained extremely wary of me, normally coming and picking stuff up the instant my back was turned :) It's a very chatty bird, and makes all sorts of odd noises, including imitating the lift's startup siren (which is sort of crowish honk, so go figure).
Got news for you. Every bird and animal can recognize a man albeit differently through its senses to varying degrees. Even a tiny nuthatch or a ornery woodpecker
i humbly request you borrow your friend's clothes one day and observe the raven's reaction
@@selladore4911 You obviously don't send much time around ski resorts. At least in the resorts where I've worked, uniforms are pretty much - well, "uniform".
There are differences, of course, but these are the same things a human might use to distinguish people apart. The way someone walks, their voice, colour of ski boots, maybe even the order in which they do something.
Perhaps smell comes into it, I would imagine ravens have a decent sense of smell.
"Crows and Corvids in Early Medieval England". What a title. What a topic. Love it!
My local Australian magpies make many stunning sounds. I feel so lucky to have met the Tower of London ravens- majestic birds.
As a fellow Australian, I agree that Australian magpies are remarkable birds with beautiful voices. However, they're not corvids and they're not related to European magpies. They were named 'magpie' because of the similarity in their black and white colouring.
I never knew that the rook is called "a rook" in English. This is very interesting because in Polish we have the word "kruk" which if you say out loud can sound very close to "rook" (or even hroc tbh) but here it means "a raven". Meanwhile a crow is "wrona" (read: vronah) and a rook is "gawron" (read: gahvron).
Amazing! in Slovak we say "krkavec" to mean "raven", but "krk" means "neck" and "avec" is a common suffix for animals, so the way I analyzed it is that it's an animal that makes a throaty kind of sound.
"Rook" is "havran", which I always assumed was cognate with "raven", but also "crow" is "vrana", and looking into my etymological dictionary, the "vran" parts are related, from proto-slavic "GA-VORN", which probably means "a crow that says 'ga'".
Still it would be a wild coincidence if "havran" and "hrafn" weren't related...
In Dutch there is a saying.. a ROEK wears a BROEK. Meaning that it wears trousers/pants. Because of it feathers it's different than crows.
Makes me think of the storyline in 'Detectorists' when the magpies were taking the Saxon gold up to their nest!
In sweden there's a lot of folklore regarding the Siberian Jay. It is called nötskrika or koxik (sami goeksege) in northern sweden. It was seen as bringing good or bad luck depending on the situation. Mostly bad luck from what I've heard
The rooks where I live (North Yorkshire) have a call like the recording you played, but they also occasionally will perch up high and "sing", making all kinds of sounds including mimicing other bird calls, and indeed non-bird sounds (I'm pretty sure I've heard a dog's bark and a car alarm!). Very similar to how starlings work mimicry into their songs, although the rooks seem to have a more limited range - many of the sounds come out somewhat raspy, and the impressions are rarely as convincing as a Starling. The starlings that sit on my roof have actually made me think that there's a buzzard or a curlew or an oystercatcher etc flying over (I'm sure they laugh at me when I look up) whereas on hearing a rook do the same I would know it was a rook.
i have been tricked by jays' "buzzard call" more times than i'd like to admit
@@wtc5198 I was visiting my in-laws in Ontario a couple of years ago and one day I was watching the bird feeders in their back garden. Their house is right at the end of a small town where it turns into farmland and a large conservation area, making their garden is the closest stop. As such it's always absolutely teeming with all kinds of birds and a lot of squirrels. I was enjoying watching the various birds jostle each other off the tables and the squirrels trying to grab the falling nuts when I heard the absolutely unmistakeable call of a red-tailed hawk (I'm not really a birder but everybody who's seen a Western knows that call) coming from somewhere high up and half a second later every single bird and squirrel had completely vanished. I was pretty excited, expecting to see a massive bird of prey swoop down and grab a squirrel that left it too late. but instead, a blue jay casually swooped down from the top of a tree and started helping itself to the buffet which it had entirely to itself!
Apparently this is a common trick for blue jays!
@@jhonbus that's hilarious!
I find it interesting that the image of Ravens amongst the Anglosaxons does not seem to be very negative at first, and became more negative overtime. In Alaska and the Pacific NW, ravens are very common and have a very important religious significance that is _generally_ positive; I found it funny the dichotomy; reading stories in school where the Raven is the ominous symbol of death (Like, OK, get to the point Poe) and then a storyteller comes in and tells a story where Raven is suddenly the hero. From my fuzzy recollection (I'm not Native) it seems what the Natives really got from Ravens is their intelligence and somewhat kleptomaniac personality, as Raven is usually portrayed as a trickster god, and often plays some role in the creation of the World/Man. They also can play a psychopomp role, and in general fill the same cultural niche that Coyotes do in the American Southwest.
We also have crows, though I can never keep the two straight and it seems everyone just calls them both "Ravens" anyway - I'm not sure if the Native languages grouped the two together or not. Magpies and Blue-Jays are also very common: Magpies are more social and obnoxious, whereas Jays are more reserved and don't group together as much, similar to in Britain it seems although the Jays are a different species. Spotted-Woodpeckers are also fairly common, although they're quite shy and solitary, very beautiful.
Corvids probably got their negative connotations from Christianity
The jays in europe are very closely related to ravens. Down south of you, there are great a number of jays, and some of them are a great deal more social and obnoxious than various other jays- the local blue jays are amongst the most social and fearless corvids in the area, though they’ve recently begun to be less so now that a murder of crows have moved into the area. I wonder if jays are just less raucous when there are many crows around?
@@jessehunter362 Perhaps, a crow would probably eat a Jay if it had the chance, though it might just be all the other birds I'm familiar with are really obnoxious (Seagulls, Ravens, Magpies, Seagulls, terns, oh did I mention seagulls?) the Jays seem calm in comparison.
I should also clarify there are two different birds commonly called 'blue-jays' in America: the "Blue Jay" proper (Cyanocitta cristata) which lives East of the Rockies, and Stellar's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) which lives West and was what I was thing of.
@@jared_bowden “Proper” blue jays range west of the rockies sometimes- my grandparents live up in island county and saw some last winter winter. Blue jays aren’t really amongst the most raucous birds here, either- mockingbirds, seagulls, grackles, starlings, blackbirds and parrots all have them beat, and crows now that they’ve moved in, but they’re more raucous than the scrub jays and ravens and such.
Ravens are Wodan's/Odin's bird. In Viking literature Odin's Raven's pair of Raven's represent 'thought' and 'memory'. Pagan Anglo-Saxon's may have seen them as representing the 'all-father'. Christians may have discouraged this view.
Fascinating work! I'm a Danish speaker and I perfectly understood the Saxon and Middle English words for "crow" and "raven" since these are, unsurprisingly, highly related to their modern Danish counterparts of "krage" and "ravn".
At some times of year in Bucharest there are insane multi-species super flocks made of Hooded Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws at dusk. Standing on my balcony it would sometimes take 10-15 minutes for a stream of them 50-80 metres wide to fly past, it must have been tens of thousands of individuals at least. Never seen that in the UK.
The largest flock of corvids I've seen in the UK is a few hundred Jackdaws, which at certain times of the year regularly fly over our village at dawn - I always see them flying north, and I think they roost in the woods south of the village, so presumably they fly back around dusk, but I don't seem to see them in any large numbers then. I've never seen a mixed flock like that at all, it sounds incredible.
@@janTasita It is one of the most spectacular sights I've ever seen. My theory was that they had safer roosts in the city parks but more food in the country, or vice versa. It was at the beginning of the 2010's, would assume it still continues.
Please do other animal-centric ones! The presentation style and subject matter are tremendously interesting.
In Russian raven and crow is the same word, but the funny part of it is that raven is masculine - ворон, while crow is feminine - ворона. Children of course assume that the crow is a female raven. 😊
The Slavic root of the word is apparently shared with Finno-Ugric languages: warnis, vares, varis etc. I wonder if there is a connection to any Germanic names of Corvidae.
P.S. Both birds have negative connotation. Raven is a messenger of death. Crow is a scatterbrain, gawk.
This was a delightfully enlightening video. As an American, it’s interesting hearing slight vocal differences the corvids in Britain have compared to the US. It’s also interesting how different species’ vocalizations share slight similarities. Especially upon hearing the recording for rooks, which sounds very close to blue jays.
more of the crows vs greggs bag please, i need to see the the full unboxing
Magpies seem to use their, what I call, "rattling" sound whenever they're communicating about some kind of threat (cat; sparrowhawk - although when it's one of those _all_ birds go nuts with calls), and perhaps also to warn the threat itself. A shorter couple of clicks or even squeaks is more usual when they're socialising. Anecdotally, based on a group that used to be local to where I live, anyway.
I once had to come out of my house to look at three of them with incredulity (which I believe they understood) after they'd been scuffling noisily - and annoyingly - on my roof for half an hour. Not much threat-rattling. More so the clicks if anything. Play-fighting maybe. It may have been my imagination, but they did seem to look sorry. They left after I went back inside.
Crows I've heard apparently playing "telephone" with a chain of them passing a message from one individual some distance away to another as far or further in the other direction. No idea of the true purpose. Watching a car on the road roughly parallel to their call-chain maybe? Tracking an aerial predator or foe?
"My" crow family will sometimes leave a member in a tree above the spot where I feed them. That crow's job is to watch what I'm providing for breakfast (I always tell them the words for the foods) and then yell out when they see or hear a food thats a particular favorite. If it's a really high value food, the call will be taken up and broadcast outward. If it's later in the day and everyone is more widely dispersed, a young crow will verify how much food there is, figure out how many crows it will feed, and then go fly a circuit to pass along the news. It'll come back and wait until higher ranking family members have arrived before it tries to eat anything.
I'm immensely grateful for the rare confluence of my passions you've explored in this video; I hope others find these birds and the language surrounding them just as charming and intriguing
I think this is my favorite RUclips video ever. I'm involved in two bird surveys currently, and and have a longstanding interest in British history, archaeology, and language. Even though I live in Oregon, I find learning about the landscape and history of Britain very compelling. You've got a new subscriber.
The references to specific occurrences in poetry make this especially valuable - it helps tie readers in with the literary history.
This was a cool video! As an american wildlife biologist I was surprised to hear that your crows are quiet, ours are always calling to each other! I was also intrigued that jackdaws make such large groups--that's something that our crows do as well, at least in wintertime.
If Beowulf is referencing Odin's Ravens (rather than literal ravens), as depicted flying straight from Odin's/ Odinic dancers heads, then he is describing a mental state where present Thought (Huginn) finds peace with Memory (Muninn). It's possibly coincidental that injuries to one or other brain hemisphere cause loss of one or other Raven, but unlikely.
Michelangelo also appears to have understood how 'handedness' corresponds with brain hemispheres: his God, giving life to Adam, speaks from 'between the Cherubim',
as the Germanic All Father speaks from between the Ravens.
in Dutch most people will use the term kraai (crow) for both crows, rooks, jackdaws, and ravens, especially if the difference isn't immediately apparent to the observer.
A lot of people probably don't even know the difference (especially city dwellers, who tend to only ever encounter jackdaws, but call them crows (rather than kauw, the Dutch word for jackdaw, which in English would be pronounced like "caw", about the vocalisation of the species).
Sometimes even starlings get confused with crows, simply because of their general shape and colour, when watched from a distance by people unfamiliar with the differences between the species.
Sometimes even male blackbirds get confused as crows, though most people will recognise them easily by their bright yellow beak.
Crows DO have a relatively wide range of vocalisations, and can learn new vocalisations as well. Blackbirds are the same.
I love jays! :) I live in northern Poland and over there I also see them only once or twice a year. I am from northern Italy, though (Venetian countryside), and there they are very common. When it comes to Italian the connection between jays and acorns is evident in the very name we have for them: "ghiandaia" (from "ghianda" - acorn). I am by no means a historical linguistics expert as you are, but I just googled the etymology of "ghiandaia" and according to google it comes from the late latin (2nd half of the 13th century) "glandarĭa" (birds that eats acorns). Great video! :)
I love that you’re interested in birds. I always look forward to seeing them in your videos. 🌟🕊️
Yes, you're like me as well then🧚♂️
Around here in the California bay area where I live, American Crows are one of the most common birds, or at least one of the most visible, and I see them just about every day. They're fascinating to watch, and I often wonder what life is like from the perspective of a crow.
What you said at around 24:48 in the video about variety in the vocalizations of different populations of the same crow species made me think, if a species of crow has different regional "dialects", does their language change over time just as ours does? Would the call of a crow from England 1000 years ago sound just as foreign to a modern English-born crow as an Old English - speaker would sound to us? The study of human linguistics and etymology is already such a fascinating endeavor; just imagine what it would be like to be able to likewise trace the histories of corvid calls with a similar level of detail!
Yes, this *_does_* happen! 😃 Some bird species, as well as whales and probably some other animals I'm forgetting, do have different songs in different parts of the world. And even their other vocatlisations can vary.
A couple of years ago, when I lived in the countryside, I went to Cornell's website to learn about the local birds (side note: I live near Cornell, and it's still weird when I hear someone in another country refer to it 😆). They have recordings from different decades and different states, and you can definitely hear the changes. The same species in South Carolina would sound very different to the one in my backyard in New York. Even ones from New York but recorded in the 1970s would sound different from the ones here today. It's fascinating.
Simon - ornithological linguistics when? (only half joking!) Seriously, I love how you combine your passions here.
@@finbear Same thing about Cornell with me in Binghamton. I think Simon would enjoy the Cornell Botanic Gardens. Ithaca is gorges.
@@adamr4344 aaaaa the classic Ithaca joke. Love it 😁
You might be interested in this if you haven't seen it:
University of Copenhagen. "Birds sing louder amidst the noise and structures of the urban jungle." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 February 2012.
A Simon roper video about birds, and there I was thinking the perfect video didn’t exist. Amazing mate keep it up ❤
Apropos very little, I remember seeing ravens for the first time many, many years ago close to the summit of Helvellyn. It was a real privilege watching them flying and diving and hearing their calls. I remember being struck by just how much bigger than the crows and rooks I see at home they were! Brilliant memory and not hard to see how our Norse forebears (at least!) regarded them with such a numinous air. Of course, I've only ever seen them in the Lake District and it's interesting to note that they are associated with Owain ap Urien Rheged in the Welsh Breuddwyd Rhonabwy - the Lakes being Owain's old stomping ground and all.
I could swear I also saw jackdaws for the first time in that neck of the woods. They must've followed us home as they're a common sight here in Lancashire nowadays. Maybe I just hadn't registered seeing them beforehand, I don't know.
With regards to choughs, like you I've never had the honour of clapping eyes on one. I'm also pretty sure that Alpine choughs (Pyrrhocorax graculus) - which have yellow beaks as opposed to red - have been known to put in an appearance on this scepter'd isle from time to time.
Finally, I'd just like to express my thanks to you for making these videos. They are educational and well-produced. Some really good nuggets of information across the channel. And some great nature footage to boot! Keep it up!
I took a photo of a raven at the summit of Helvellyn, there was no one else at the summit and it was snowing, felt like I was in LOTR or something.
On many levels this video was perfect for me. Hraefn is my Anglo-Saxon name, and for many years I had a pet raven named Crawa who could speak many words, and flew to my hand like a hawk. I love every corvid. I saw jackdaws and choughs nesting and roosting in many castles. I saw ravens in remote parts of Scotland, for instance, at the Faery Glen on Skye. Thanks for this, I really enjoyed it!
This was a great video. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The part on how "hraefn" could apply to both groups of Corvids as well as a specific type in a contextual manner was really well explained. When I was a child I would "caw" at the crows who were on my way to school and without fail they usually replied back. Very enigmatic creatures. Definitely would like more animal-focused videos.
in Dutch, we call jackdaws "kauw", which is the dutch spelling for the "caw" sound they make, so we literally call them caw/caws :')
also in dutch, the plural "ravens" -> "raven", but our A sounds like AE so it's pretty damn close to "hraefn" phonetically. (singular "raven"->"raaf")
Fun fact. Right about now is the nesting season for many corvids. Rooks will be nesting in colonies on treetops, you might notice oval egg shells littering the forest ground. You might also notice jackdaws, the second smallest corvid, nesting in tree hollows or in roof spaces. Magpies, the smallest, are less sociable and prefer nesting in secluded areas in an open nest made from twigs. Ravens nest on cliffsides, mountains and quarries. Other crows nest high up on trees and buildings. If you're lucky you might see corvids gathering twigs from trees or pulling the hair from livestock for their nests.
In my neck of the woods (north western Switzerland) Ravens seem to be making a comeback. I can often hear their vocalisations. Such beautiful voices.
I love ravens. Growing up in Alaska we have the identical northern raven species as you have in the UK. We do not have the American Crow. When I moved further south in the US, I had to get used to the American Crow, which I find to have much less character than the Raven. When I do see ravens occasionally now (usually requires leaving the city), I can recognize them instantly--even if I don't have good visual reference for their size, their wing motion makes them instantly distinguishable from crows. And hearing their voice is always a treat.
A dive into linguistic development, early English history and my favourite subset of birds hahaha you have made me very happy
I was talking to Jacky the Jackdaw this afternoon ,he lives on my chimney. I called him down for some Peanuts ,which I put on the shed roof. I can get direct eye contact and get within 10ft of him whilst talking to him. A bit later on the Jay turned up to get some peanuts, I saw a Raven in the tree this morning and the Magpies that live in the hedge came across. I saw the Woodpecker Yesterday, I sometimes see the red,white and black one also,Crows ,Buzzards and Sparrowhawks. I get harassed by the Bluetits whilst doing the washing up,they come and stare at Me until they get their Peanuts!
We have a few Western Jackdaws over here. I live in a village close to Utrecht, about 20 minuts by bike, 5 by train.
They often beg for food by just sitting opposite someone who's eating, with somewhat of an expecting look.
Once, found one very close to my left foot. If I hadn't seen it, I might have trodden on it but then it would have skipped away of course.
It tried to reach some crumbs that had fallen in front of my feet but it didn't dare come any closer. It was very close already as I mentioned.
So I took a few steps back and that gave the bird the confidence to come forward and pick up the bread crumbs.
This video was just recommended to me by the youtube algorithm, and was a wonderful watch, Corvids have always fascinated me, and this look into how they would have been viewed historically is wonderful
I see ravens daily here in Northampton. Low land pasture and sheep farming predominates. Love your videos!
RUclips recommends many things to me. This is the first time it's ever recommended something I actually wanted to watch.
I love this video, don’t know how I haven’t seen it before. One of my favorite little research rabbitholes I’ve had has been going down the origin of the magpie number poem, one I often see now attributed to crows and ravens. I had seen a post on tumblr shifting the attribution in that way and wanted to chime in with more info, but when I went to double check my facts, I found a bit of a mystery on my hands! You may know the common start, “One for sorrow/sadness, two for joy/mirth.” Finding what the first published version was has actually been quite tricky, as a lot of resources that seem to get a “source” correct then go on to quote a different version than appears in that publication, not to mention various reprints and addendums that seem to alter it. Not a lot of people reblogged my response, and I’m not even sure if they’ve read it, but it was fun going on that little journey.
I love learning about history of birds, especially in relation to language and folklore.
In Canada I have never heard the Crow do anything but Caw!! Usually three times per set. The Raven is the one that makes all the croaking and clicking sounds. Having said that, my wife told me her brother had a "pet" crow that could say a few words. My daughter Holly also claims it was a crow that followed her calling to her by name. Every time I've tried to start up a conversation with a crow or even a raven for that matter they seem shocked and embarrassed that I would dare talk to them.
I live in Canada not the UK, I don't much like crows and ravens etc. and am only vaguely interested in medieval history but I watched the whole video and really enjoyed it! And I subscribed!! Thanks for this video!!
It always makes me smile how you constantly remind us you are not an expert - while at the same time sounding like an expert - at least to my ears!
this was beautiful and i love everything about it, super glad i found it and feel like ive learned a little more! thanks, man!
This is marvelous! I love birds. I've drawn hundreds of crows, magpies, hoddies, and ravens. Please do more--it's really important to hear the roots of these words. I'm coming from the Gaelic side, which is very different, as you know.
Fascinating account of corvids through history, yes please to more animal based videos.
I'm a corvid enthusiast who loves history, folklore, and learning about language. I loved this video whole heartedly. I will be checking out your channel more because this is cool as heck
I spotted loads of ravens along the South West Coast Path. I witnessed a fight between a raven and a peregrin falcon. Also saw them hunting mice. Amazing birds!
Luckily saw lots of choughs too.
Nice video!
I've thoroughly enjoyed this video and I would love this to turn into a series!
A day where we learn about medieval England is always a good day.
Saw plenty of ravens when I walked Southwest Coast path, so they are doing well in Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall.
Thank you for including a brief cameo of one of my favourite British Columbia birds, Clark's Nutcracker (which I was taught to call Clark's Crow by my father). Very entertaining birds to watch with peculiar behaviours!
Why the heck am I watching this? Also why am I mesmerised by it?
When I was a young boy in the early 70s I lived near a rookery, one year whilst walking under the trees I found a fallen chick, I took it home and raised it on chicken mash and liver. I called him/her Timmy, what an absolute amazingly intelligent bird he/she was.
When I walked to school (3 miles away) this bird would follow me to school landing on roof tops, when I came out of school it would be waiting for me and the follow me home.
These bird are ultra intelligent, I’ve watched carrion crows playing on electricity wires, hanging upside down with wings splayed. I love Corvid’s. Great informative video.
Super cool talk about jays in groups. Never seen them like that, but where I live rooks often fly around in similar large groups in the autumn. Also magpies group up in trees in spring and "shout" together and in Sweden we call it "magpie parliament" (skatriksdag) 😅
In English the collective name for a group of Rooks is a parliament & a murder of crows
Fascinating video. I can tell a lot of work went into this. Great job.
I used to work at a place where I drove out of the car park and parked in the same lay-by to eat lunch every day. One day, a crow cautiously approached my open car window. It had half of its top beak missing. I threw it a nut, and it laid its head on the floor sideways to pick up the nut.
There began my relationship with 'brokebeak'. It was waiting for me every day, same place, same time, 5 days a week for a year. I always had nuts for lunch and threw some for it. I moved jobs after a year and always wonder what happened to brokebeak.
The German word "Eichelhäher" for the jay bird literally contains the the word "Eichel" meaning acorn although i have no idea what the "häher" part means but there is also a "Tannenhäher" (spotted nutcracker) which means the same but for fir trees. The jackdaws are called "Dohlen" which has the same origin as the daw part i think.
Ravens are not an uncommon presence around the Cotswold escarpment. Their 'cronk' (I like to think of it as their casual, 'small talk' vocalisation) is unmistakable.
If they have a mate, the pair will never stray too far from one another which seems very civilised. They elope to the wild, high places and protect each other with fierce loyalty for the rest of their days.
i also really like corvids :)
This was great! I love corvids and I'm very interested in Saxon bird lore.
I live on Caldey Island, Wales and there are Choughs here. I'd never seen them before, I believe they are quite rare these days.
Lots of Choughs near me on Gower. West Wales is their stronghold, although they have now recolonised Cornwall - they were once often known as Cornish Choughs.
Great video sir.
Carrion crows do have a limitless vocabulary of sounds. They click, gurgle, buzz and make glottal stops etc...in fact they can mimic. I knew one that made a sound like a water tap with a drip.
I tended to a murder of 200+ crows for over a decade. I noticed that the greater the sense of self importance was, the more unique/distinct the communication was, making it possible to identify individuals without even laying eyes on them.
It is a fallacy that all they do is 'Caw'.
The distinction between crows and Ravens is that Ravens seem to take a more profound pleasure in playing with their vocal range, and will rotate a greater variety of sounds on purpose. Its less to to with the need to communicate specifics, but even crows will talk for their own amusement.
Magpies do not only 'chatter' their calls are very complex and the only way i can describe it is somewhere between loading a 1980s tape cassette computer game and the sounds R2D2 makes.
Rooks can also be identified by their calls. They are distinct from Crows insofar as the quality of their voices is cruder. Simply put, Rooks sound like crows with laryngitis.
RUclips has been recommending me this this video for weeks, after giving in and watching I'm happy I did, this video was well worth watching.
That was very interesting. You have a great mix of knowledge that you appropriately qualify and this draws the viewer in deeper to ask questions as you question yourself. Great job.
I like how you put c. 2023 as if your unsure what year you are speaking in. Pehaps you are timeless.
Simon, I live in central Arizona, where ravens are quite populous, and they have a large presence in Native American mythology. Please allow me to recommend an author with whom you may be familiar, but if not I’m sure you would enjoy him. His name is Bernd Heinrich, and he has written two books on crows (only one of which I’ve read): Mind of the Raven; Ravens in Winter. He wrote one of the most fascinating biographies I’ve read called The Snoring Bird: My Family’s Journey Through a Century of Biology, in which he describes his growing up with ravens and discusses his father’s obsession with ichneumon wasps as well as his philandering. My favorite book of his is called The Trees in My Forest - this book is like going on a walk in the woods with your favorite naturalist professor, as he describes the interrelationships between birds, bugs, dirt, trees, ecology in general and the evolution on his 11-acre property (I think it was in New England or New York) in particular. Give him a chance, as his stuff seems right up your alley. Thanks for this fascinating video. I always enjoy your content.
When I was in Iceland I was surprised to see ravens everywhere, even in the towns. They have the most amazing musical calls. Here in Australia, our ravens are more crow-sized, have scary pale eyes and make a very annoying long whingey call.
Very fascinating and scholarly publication on these interesting birds!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video - very informative and your videography was great! Thanks, Simon! 🥰
Fantastic video, captivating from start to finish and a wonderful topic!
I really enjoyed the way you structured and presented this subject
friend of mine who used to study and teach translation said to me that in medieval times all black birds used to be called "blackbird" without that meaning the specific species we used it for these days. that kind makes sense to me as these days people who are not into birds will commonly just call any black bird a "crow" so I think it is quite easy to see how these terms can have been used interchangeably.
The algorithm is starting to scare me. This is exactly the content I needed.
Wonderful - I really enjoyed that - thankyou Simon!
What an informative and well made video. I had a great time listening to this on my jog today! 😄
Your bird footage is beautiful. I like your bird thoughts.
as someone with a keen interest in linguistics and birds this video is a dream crossover for me. really charming and well put together, thanks simon!
Really enjoyed this video. Thanks again, Simon. More animal ones, please!
This is such a beautiful and interesting video!! Totally made my day, very relaxing :)
Let me echo all other positive comments, first of all. 🎉
I love the entire ‘investigation’ shot at the end. As someone living in the rural and mountainous high desert of the western US, getting to watch the behavior but also the wet streetscape and hear the sounds helped me feel like I’m traveling again. Thank you for that in particular.
Absolutely one of the best videos I have seen on youtube in years.
Fascinating and delightfully put together. Thanks for that Simon and thanks to the YT algorithm for a change.
Fantastic narration sir. You have great charisma.
I really enjoyed this video. I see so many of these birds in the grounds of an country estate close to where I live.
Thank you 😊
Fascinating! This helped me appreciate these animals a lot more.
As a linguist and lover of crows, Bravo!
Thank you Simon. I found this very interesting.