Study
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Boarman, William I.; Heinrich, Bernd
The Birds of North America, 1999
A monographic species account assembling the published record on distribution, breeding biology, diet, demography, vocal behaviour and conservation for the common raven.
- Studied in
- Corvus corax
- Sample size
- species account synthesising the published literature
Ravens pair for life on a defended territory, build large stick nests reused across years, lay three to seven eggs, and fledge young that stay with the parents for weeks before joining non-breeding flocks. Wild birds commonly reach ten to fifteen years; captives have exceeded forty. Diet is extremely broad, dominated by carrion.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The common raven is an extreme generalist whose social organisation splits sharply between territorial breeding pairs and non-breeding juvenile flocks.
How NatureHQ reads it
Cited as reference consensus rather than as a finding, which is the right weight for accumulated natural history: no single paper establishes a lifespan range, and a field guide is not a source NatureHQ can point a reader at. The distinction between territorial adults and floating juveniles does real work on this page — most of the striking raven behaviour in the literature, from recruitment yelling to play, belongs to the juveniles.
- A synthesis, so individual figures carry the uncertainty of their original sources.
- North American in emphasis; Eurasian populations differ in density and habitat use.
- Longevity records from captivity say little about wild survival.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Common raven
A young raven that finds a carcass yells for others — to overwhelm the pair guarding it
Common raven
Ravens can copy human words. There is no evidence they mean anything by them
Common raven
A raven is a different, much larger species — and neither is smarter than the other on the evidence
Common raven
Ravens roll in flight, slide down snow and play with objects — mostly the young ones
Published by: Academic book publishersPublished as an academic monograph.
Search for this paper by title and author
Reference details for this record were entered editorially and have not been confirmed against a bibliographic register. The title, authors, journal and year are enough to locate the paper; we would rather say this than publish an identifier we have not verified.
A note on this reference: Unresolved: title 100%, author matched, year exact; single register (crossref); a register was unreachable on this run — witnessed today by crossref
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-10.