Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
These lines are from Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, The Raven.
The raven is Kentucky's rarest native bird and it is currently on the "threatened" list of birds in Kentucky. The raven is scientifically called the Common Raven corvus corvax but it is far from common. It is a rather rare and unusual bird in Kentucky.
There was no record of the raven existing in Kentucky until the 1940s when ornithologists discovered the raven in the eastern part of Kentucky. Even then sightings of the raven were rare and it wasn't until the 1970s that more ravens were sighted in the mountainous regions of Kentucky.
In Edgar Allan Poe's poem, the raven might have signified darkness and grief but the raven is a surprisingly intelligent species of bird.
The raven is a part of the crow family but they are larger than crows. They are emotional birds. They can express a range of emotions such as happiness, surprise, and rage through their croaking signals.
They are one of the most intelligent birds and have a very high learning ability. They actually have human-like neurons and can count. Ever heard of the phrase "counting crows?"
In one research study, scientists trained crows to play a numerical maths game and found out that the birds could actually recognize and count numbers from one to five.
In an even wilder theory, it was stated that these crows/ravens could be as intelligent as human 7-year-olds.
The raven in Kentucky makes its home on cliffs in the eastern part of Kentucky. If you see a raven, it is indeed a rare and lucky sight.
Sources: Poetry Foundation, Good Therapy, The Daily Mail, Softpedia News, Range Expansion journal, Bird Watchers Digest, UK Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
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