On the Wing #8: The Norn Flyers of Middlesex
This blog entry will be shorter than most as I've injured my knee, thus preventing me from birding and updating the blog more regularly. I'll be better by next week and I hope to be able to provide a better feel for what's good for birding into the early fall.
With that out of the way, I can explain the title. "Norn" is simply a corruption of the word "northern" and can be best heard through a Northern Irish accent. Therefore "Norn Flyers" refers to something northerly and with the ability to fly. While many "northern" breeding species are coming from the Arctic and northern Canada to migrate along the food rich coasts and store the vital supplies needed to migrate to their winter homes further south, the bird I'm speaking of is by no means a migrant, but does wander great distances to find food, shelter, or simply just to soar. The bird I'm referring to is the Common Raven (Corvus corax). Several have been spotted over Middlesex County recently as both my eBird rare bird alerts and my own testimony can account for. Within the last two weeks, I saw one high above the intersection of Concord Road and Union Avenue in Sudbury and another flying along the treeline of Great Meadows NWR.
However, it's important to note that these could be large American crows (Corvus brachrhynchos) that birders, laypersons and myself are misidentifying as ravens and this certainly could be true. However, I look for three things when seeing these corvids in the distance. The first thing I look for is a wedge or diamond-shaped tail. This is distinctive from crows which have rounded tails while in flight. The second is size, but the difficulty with this is determining size in the distance and without nearby markers to compare size to. This can be dismissed however as crows tend to be much smaller that ravens and much less wild looking, but can look extremely similar to them when far above our heads. This is where the third thing I look for comes in. Ravens are one of the most acrobatic birds in our hemisphere. Certainly other birds have strong acrobatic credentials including swallows, gulls, and birds of prey, but when the viewer's eyes settle on a raven, there's almost a mystical quality about it. This spring, while walking along the main roads in Unity, Maine, I was fortunate enough to see two ravens, a pair perhaps, soar over my head and engage in acrobatic flying displays. They dove and wheeled above a nearby parking lot as shoppers unaware of these natural Cirque du Soleil performers walked to and from their cars. I almost wished for a moment that they would raise their heads to see this wonderful display long enough to brighten up their monotonous routine.
These grand birds with their croaking voices and blacken plumage command instant respect and awe. Surely these shoppers would have agreed, but alas, they hadn't the time or natural instinct to watch these birds wheel about in the skies above. I have always held great respect for corvids with the jestering, pestering, Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata), to the jeering, but comrade-seeking crows, to the grandeur of these "norn flyers" What I think I appreciate most about them though is their freedom to wander, to soar, and be free. To wander the skies in their everlasting glory and wonder to see all that there is to see in this world. So to those ravens that soar above Middlesex in Belmont, Concord, Sudbury, Waltham, and elsewhere I am thankful of their presence, adding another species to our skies for the coming fall season and allowing us to look up from our tasks at hand and gaze at these soaring majesties just over our heads.
With that out of the way, I can explain the title. "Norn" is simply a corruption of the word "northern" and can be best heard through a Northern Irish accent. Therefore "Norn Flyers" refers to something northerly and with the ability to fly. While many "northern" breeding species are coming from the Arctic and northern Canada to migrate along the food rich coasts and store the vital supplies needed to migrate to their winter homes further south, the bird I'm speaking of is by no means a migrant, but does wander great distances to find food, shelter, or simply just to soar. The bird I'm referring to is the Common Raven (Corvus corax). Several have been spotted over Middlesex County recently as both my eBird rare bird alerts and my own testimony can account for. Within the last two weeks, I saw one high above the intersection of Concord Road and Union Avenue in Sudbury and another flying along the treeline of Great Meadows NWR.
However, it's important to note that these could be large American crows (Corvus brachrhynchos) that birders, laypersons and myself are misidentifying as ravens and this certainly could be true. However, I look for three things when seeing these corvids in the distance. The first thing I look for is a wedge or diamond-shaped tail. This is distinctive from crows which have rounded tails while in flight. The second is size, but the difficulty with this is determining size in the distance and without nearby markers to compare size to. This can be dismissed however as crows tend to be much smaller that ravens and much less wild looking, but can look extremely similar to them when far above our heads. This is where the third thing I look for comes in. Ravens are one of the most acrobatic birds in our hemisphere. Certainly other birds have strong acrobatic credentials including swallows, gulls, and birds of prey, but when the viewer's eyes settle on a raven, there's almost a mystical quality about it. This spring, while walking along the main roads in Unity, Maine, I was fortunate enough to see two ravens, a pair perhaps, soar over my head and engage in acrobatic flying displays. They dove and wheeled above a nearby parking lot as shoppers unaware of these natural Cirque du Soleil performers walked to and from their cars. I almost wished for a moment that they would raise their heads to see this wonderful display long enough to brighten up their monotonous routine.
These grand birds with their croaking voices and blacken plumage command instant respect and awe. Surely these shoppers would have agreed, but alas, they hadn't the time or natural instinct to watch these birds wheel about in the skies above. I have always held great respect for corvids with the jestering, pestering, Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata), to the jeering, but comrade-seeking crows, to the grandeur of these "norn flyers" What I think I appreciate most about them though is their freedom to wander, to soar, and be free. To wander the skies in their everlasting glory and wonder to see all that there is to see in this world. So to those ravens that soar above Middlesex in Belmont, Concord, Sudbury, Waltham, and elsewhere I am thankful of their presence, adding another species to our skies for the coming fall season and allowing us to look up from our tasks at hand and gaze at these soaring majesties just over our heads.
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