Clean-up Crew: Common Raven and Turkey Vulture

I am often asked which bird I like best, but I love them all and find it difficult to pick a single favorite. However, the Common Raven is a serious contender for the top spot. Ravens are intelligent, adaptable birds that will eat just about anything. The raven I found last week was sharing a road-killed deer carcass with a flock of Turkey Vultures. As you can see, ravens are huge, about the same size as the vultures. In fact, the Common Raven is the largest species of songbird in the world.

Common Ravens have a very large range. They’re found across most of North America, almost all of Europe, parts of northern Africa, and most of Asia. In that vast area, they use just about every available habitat from grasslands and forests to the Arctic tundra. In Pennsylvania, they’re more common in the forests of the Appalachian Mountains, but smaller numbers live in the Susquehanna Valley as well.

Unlike the vultures, Common Ravens don’t specialize in eating dead animals. They also eat large insects like grasshoppers, grains, fruit, and the eggs of other birds. In addition to the birds in the photo, there were a couple more Turkey Vultures and another Common Raven perched on a building nearby. As I prepared to leave, I noticed that there was a Red-shouldered Hawk (my first for 2025) perched on a utility pole across the road. As I watched, an adult Bald Eagle landed on the same pole, causing the hawk to fly away. All said, it was a very entertaining five minutes of unplanned birding as I travelled between the York and Mechanicsburg stores.