Common raven sitting on a branch

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Here's to ravens, evermore. Common raven

The common raven is an intelligent bird whose keen eyesight and agility make it a proficient hunter. Revered across various cultures, ravens have frequently appeared in literature and legends. In Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, 'The Raven,' this bird serves as a symbol of death and melancholy, haunting the protagonist with its ominous refrain of 'nevermore.'

Native American folklore often portrays the raven as a cunning and mystical trickster, with some tribes believing it possessed the power to shape-shift. These striking corvids also feature prominently in Norse mythology, which considered them to be wise messengers of the god Odin. Whether you see them as a good or a bad omen depends on which raven myths you read, but these black-feathered birds certainly lend a Gothic touch to poetry, ghost stories, and homepage images on the eve of Halloween.