Hot Lake
Yellowstone National Park
A bunch of shaggy feathers on the throat of a raven distinguishes it from the smaller crow.
These feathers puff out when the bird vocalizes.
Ravens have a large and complex vocabulary of sounds in their repertoire;
the voice is normally a distinctive deep, harsh croak, or hollow croaking honk.
Ravens are prominent in folklore around the world:
An Irish proverb "To have a raven's knowledge" describes someone with a seer's supernatural powers.
In Native American tradition, raven is the guardian of both ceremonial magic and healing circles.
In China ravens are a symbol of the sun, and in Greece raven is the messenger of the sun gods, both Helios and Apollo.
In India, ravens are sacred to Shiva and Kali. Arabs call raven Abu Aajir - the Father of Omens.
In Norse tradition, Odin's ravens represent the powers of necromancy, clairvoyance and telepathy.
In Cornwall, King Arthur is said to live on in the form of a raven, and it is unlucky to kill one.
Miguel de Cervantes describes this tradition in chapter XIII of his novel, Don Quixote:
"Have not your worships read the annals and histories of England, in which are recorded the famous deeds of King Arthur,
whom we in our popular Castilian invariably call King Artus, with regard to whom it is an ancient tradition,
and commonly received all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that this king did not die,
but was changed by magic art into a raven,
and that in process of time he is to return to reign and recover his kingdom and scepter;
for which reason it cannot be proved that from that time to this any Englishman ever killed a raven?"