Interesting. Crows mimic the low-throated grawk of a raven. Recently, running up the front side of Torne Mountain, I came across two crows chasing a bigger black bird that passed low overhead, grawking in irritation.
First thought: why, 
that’s got to be a raven. What’s it doing in these parts? Now, an answer. Sure enough, ravens are roosting in Rockland County. More than once there has been the stray flying crow doing that loud grawk. So, those crows were perhaps ravens. The smartest black bird. Corvus corax. Trickster. Creator. Mythological creature. First animal released from the ark. Quarrelsome devoted family bird.
Long considered to be a wilderness bird of tundra, mountains and boreal forests, ravens are appearing in increasing numbers all around Rockland County.
For most of the 20th century, ravens were scarce in this area. Robert Deed, eminent birder and record keeper, mentions only five sightings between 1930 and 1976 in “Birds of Rockland County and the Hudson Highlands.”
Then, in the 1990s, we began seeing and hearing about the occasional raven, usually in the more remote areas of Harriman and Bear Mountain state parks.
In the ensuing years, these birds appeared along the Hudson with nesting recorded on the cliffs above the river. In the past couple of years ravens have turned up throughout the county.
Photo: Alan W. Wells
