by Terry Lidral
The Chihuahuan Raven is a playful and acrobatic bird that makes its home in arid grasslands and desert scrub. This mid-size raven travels and roosts in large flocks.
Its territory is limited to the Southwestern United States: Southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, and southern and western Texas.
A highly intelligent bird, the Chihuahuan Raven is known to manipulate available objects such as sticks into tools. Its playful habits include aerial acrobatics and games with other ravens. A large bird with an average wing span of 40 plus inches, its life span in the wild is 8 to 15 years which may be extended in captivity to as much as 40 years.
The fruit of the saguaro cactus is food to many of the desert birds including the Chihuahua raven. Read about the amazing saguaro here: https://westernlivingjournal.com/saguaro-cactus-giant-guardian-of-the-sonoran-desert/
Its flexible diet of grains, fruit, eggs, nestlings, small invertebrates, small reptiles, cactus fruit and carrion allows this bird to thrive within the parameters of the food sources available.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, this species was prevalent in Colorado and surrounding states. The widespread slaughter of the plains buffalo at that time allowed these opportunistic birds to expand their territory.
Chihuahua raven pairs perform an acrobatic mating dance. Watch their arial display here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReP-gY–az8
A female Chihuahua raven lays between 1 and 8 eggs. Most often the nest will contain 5 to 8 eggs that will be tended by both parents. Chihuahua raven chicks hatch within 18 to 22 days and fledge at around the 35-day mark. Contrary to the habits of most crows and ravens, the Chihuahuan Raven frequently reuses its nest for multiple years.
Chihuahuan Ravens living in the treeless habitat of the shortgrass prairie are forced to used available nesting sites. Their nests are built on manmade objects resembling trees such as utility poles and windmills. Watch a Chihuahua Raven in its nest here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQTZwvActm8
This raven species has a call much like that of other ravens and crows. In captivity, these birds can learn mimicry but they do not mimic in the wild.
