This month’s Zenchilada expands beyond yummy mexican fusion gastronomy and heads into the mystical mind of Beth Surdut. The Santa Fe Raven Artista and Storyteller Extraordinaire, is featured on page 58. She tells an engaging story of friendship and observation, a whimsical study of Raven behavior in her desert home. “The Egg Thief swoops in at least once a day to check on the chicken egg situation. Today, even in the winds so brisk...

Watch the full episode. See more Nature. PBS is set to premiere their new corvid special A Murder of Crows next Sunday, October 24. Featuring crow experts from around the world,  the show aims to present us with captivating new footage of crows as we have never seen them before! Topics include face recognition, tool use, complex language, and society. For those of you who do not get PBS shows on a local or cable channel, it should be...

Crows and Ravens of California is an overview of the world-wide Corvid Family (crows, ravens, jays + their kin), with a specific focus on the four Bay Area resident species, plus a fifth that may be establishing a population there. A sidebar will give guidelines for distinguishing the local American crow from its larger cousin, the northern raven. A brief look at other California species will precede a look at the corvids’ most amazing...

Most people don’t mind having a cat or dog around the house, or even a rabbit. But a Wolverhampton, UK  couple have gone a step further by sharing their life with dozens of squawking crows – some of which have even appeared on TV. Mark and Lisa Edge run a sanctuary at their Wednesfield home for unwanted or injured crows, ravens, magpies and rooks and have 37 birds in their care. The below video gives an intimate glimpse of the sanctuary,...

Love them or hate them, crows are some of the smartest and most adaptable birds around, and they’re a lot like us. People seem to be of two minds about crows. Some of us admire these big black birds for their intelligence, inquisitiveness, playfulness and other sterling qualities. Others despise crows for their raucous calls, messing with garbage and nasty habit of carrying off other birds’ eggs or nestlings. In their defense,...

A couple months ago we featured a wonderful children’s book by Diane Phelps  – Shade the Raven. The story is based on Emily Cory’s companion, a white necked raven she hand raised and has been training as a search and rescue bird. NPR did a wonderful story on Emily’s plight to find funding and support within the scientific and conservation community for her research. She is a true example of how we can apply our passion...

Crows in Japan have long had a bad reputation, perhaps moreso than anywhere else. They are prevalent, noisy, and very commonplace but does that mean they should be regarded as vermin?  Colin Tyner, Japanese resident, does not think so. He writes, “The other day, I was looking out of my window and I spotted a large crow’s nest just outside. Not only was I struck by its size — it was huge, easily a couple of meters wide — I was...

We’ve all heard of the black raven, but rare sightings of a white version of the bird now have birding enthusiasts flocking to the island in hopes of spotting one. Qualicum Beach, a beach and town on Vancouver Island British Columbia, has been home to rare white ravens for the past few years. This year, at least one new white raven has hatched, prompting birders to flock to the seaside paradise. When most of us think of a raven, black...