Inspired by the Raven

Young A'lala by Amanda Corlies Sandos

It wasn't just Edgar Allan Poe who inspired my  fascination with the raven, though he very well may have started it. Of course, in my youth, I had no idea how to tell a raven from a crow from any other Corvid. But, I soon learned, because the idea that a bird could be smart really sparked my imagination. So, I was pretty young when I started making friends with all things raven. I tried to talk my mom into letting me have one as a pet. That idea, sadly, never flew. Probably, because I'd already tried to talk her into all kinds of other pets, and she was wise to my antics.

Begging Baby A'lala by Amanda Corlies Sandos

Anyway, as you know, I eventually ended up working with birds, and I was always quick to volunteer for work with any member of the Corvid family. About midway through my zoo career, I landed a coveted internship with The Keauhou Bird Conservation Center on The Big Island of Hawaii.

Yes, I actually convinced my boss to send me to paradise for an extended stay and pay me for it, too. Officially, I went there to learn about incubation and hand rearing techniques for all of the highly endangered Hawaiian native species. Secretly, I was over the moon at the chance to work with Alalas. Also, called The Hawaii Crow, the Alala is now extinct in the wild. Though Keauhou has been trying a release program to restock the wild population, the release efforts have not yet been successful. For now, they continue to work towards freeing the environment of disease vectors and introduced species, and they are keeping the population alive entirely through their captive breeding programs.

Feeding with a puppet by Amanda Corlies Sandos

Getting to know these amazing birds was an adventure. They are incredibly smart, smarter than my imagination even gave them credit for, and each one has a very distinct personality. I made quite a few Corvid friends in Hawaii, and they continue to spark my imagination in more ways than one.

Ravens and Crows continue to frequent both my visual art and my writing. When I sat down with Andi Lea and West Thornhill to brainstorm a new young adult scifi fantasy adventure series, we quickly came to the decision that we wanted all of our characters to go to the same high school. Of course, this meant finding a mascot. In my book, you can't find a better mascot than a raven.

As it turns out, we named the whole project The Ravens Crossing, and I'm extremely proud of it! 

         And every time I hear the name, I am reminded that the inspiration came from my friends the Alalas.

Alala by Amanda Corlies Sandos

Ravens Are the Coolest!

So what is the difference between a raven and a crow? Since there are so many similarities, people often confuse these two amazing birds. Both are members of the Corvid family. Both are extremely intelligent, large, black birds. Both have a long and varied history among humans, making frequent appearances in myths and legends, and as totems and mascots. Over at The Ravens Crossing, Team TRC chose The Raven as our mascot. Make the jump to find out why. Personally, I was excited that we chose ravens over crows.

I think ravens are one of the coolest birds. They differ from crows in a number of ways. There are three easy ways to spot the difference. First, they are at least twice the size of the common crow. Second, their calls are distinctly different from a crow's. They make a variety of cool sounds where the crows commonly just make a more obnoxious and repetitive "caw" call. Third, ravens are also usually seen singly or in pairs, where crows can often be found hanging with a group, which incidentally is called a murder. Maybe this is thanks to all that obnoxious calling they do?

Anyway, both birds are personable and curious, often interacting with humans. In fact, Ravens are notorious for it. Check out this video of some young men learning to speak raven. It cracks me up!

Head on over to TRC to learn all kinds of cool facts about ravens! Find out how to enter for the chance to win a free Kindle.