It was a morning very dreary, and I was certainly quite weary as I waited during the pre-dawn hours in the cargo area at IAH for a plane that was delayed thanks to hurricane Alex. Perhaps it was fitting that this particular shipment was tempest tossed, but it only added to the usual worry that accompanies an animal transport. This was a youngster , traveling for the first time. Our new fledgling raven was arriving on an overnight flight from Alaska. The new baby was barely four weeks old and we couldn’t wait to meet him, or her…Lord or Lady as Poe’s character mused in his famous poem. Not being a dimorphic species, we’ll have to wait for genetic testing to tell us if our new arrival be Lord or Lady.
The new "baby" raven!
Eventually my fretting over the transport was relieved when the porter brought me a crate addressed to the Houston Zoo. My first peak inside, however, revealed more than I bargained for! Our new ” baby” was not what one generally imagines when one thinks of a baby bird. I felt what Poe’s character surely felt when a raven invited itself into his chamber. That being complete astonishment! This baby bird, at four weeks, is about a foot and a half tall and weighs close to a kilo! It definitely won’t be nestling in the palm of our hand, although it’s not yet coordinated enough for perching on a bust of Pallas.
Aside from being the harbinger of the afterlife in the mind of Poe’s protagonist, Raven’s are famous for their problem solving abilities and sense of play. In fact, I had no sooner got Raven settled in the capable hands of our clinic staff in the quarantine area when the keeper called me wondering what I thought about transferring the raven to a bigger cage. It had already completely explored the cage we thought would be a good home during quarantine, torn up all the paper and was looking for more to do. Raven will certainly be a fun and challenging new addition to the Natural Encounters area.
Follow our posts as we blog about getting to know our Raven and ravens in general in the coming weeks.
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I must have been reading too quickly ’cause at first I thought the raven’s name was Poe! Beautiful bird.
Thanks Kara! We haven’t picked a name yet. We thought we’d wait until we find out if we have a male or a female. Any suggestions?
There’s some interesting reading here about the raven in popular culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven_in_popular_culture
From the article, one suggestion for a name is Quoth – i.e. you can introduce him as “This is Quoth the raven.”
LOL! That’s the best suggestion referencing POe’s poem for a name yet! Of course we have lots of suggestions for Edgar, Poe or Lenore, but “Quoth” the Raven is definitely unique!!
I love that name!