Rare White Ravens Starving to Death
Birds of a feather stick together — but not in this case. Helpers at the Weardale Animal Sanctuary in Durham County were astounded when they discovered these three rare white ravens huddled together in a nearby churchyard.
Photo NNP
In fact, they are so rare that up to now, white ravens were thought to be purely fictional creatures, namely from the Edge Chronicles, a series of books created by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. The fable had it that the ravens lived in the rock gardens, were capable of rudimentary speech and were talking companions to characters in the series.
The birds, which have pure white coloring and blue eyes instead of ravens’ usual jet black plumage, were starving to death, and showing signs of attack by other crows, reports Daily Mail.
Sanctuary manager Sally Rowley said the baby birds, named Tic, Tac and Toe, were “skin and bone and were just sitting, not moving”.
“They just sat in a bush and you could pick them off like an apple.” she said.
It’s thought the trio were abandoned by their parents. After being fed a diet of mince and parrot food at their new home, they appear to have left their ravenous days behind them since their rescue.
Wildlife experts said the appearance of 3 white ravens was “unprecedented”.
Manager of the Weardale Animal Sanctuary Sally Rowley said she thought the birds had been attacked by other crows.
“They were found in All Saints’ churchyard at All Saints church in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Locals had seen them hopping about. They looked like they were starving and one had damaged feathers, as if it had been attacked.” said Sally.
“They were skin and bone and were just sitting, not moving. They just sat in a bush and you could pick them off like an apple, which is not normal behavior for wild birds.
“They are starting to feed from me now and could stand a good chance of survival.”
Photo NNP
While it’s extremely rare to find a white crow in nature, surprisingly, this was not the first instance that white ravens have been seen in this churchyard — Sally had taken in a young white raven that was found starving in the churchyard 2 years ago.
Christened Branwen, the white raven made the sanctuary her home.
The white raven was christened Branwen and settled down at the sanctuary, but was killed in a freak storm last year.
“I never thought I’d see another white raven in my lifetime.” Sally said. “But now we have 3 and all from the same churchyard. It’s spooky.”
“To have 1 white raven is extremely unusual, but for it to happen again in the same place and to have 3 white birds this time is unprecedented.” said Tom Cadwallender, British Trust for Ornithology spokesman
“It is too much of a coincidence and the same parent birds must be involved. It looks like something is amiss with their genes.”
He added that it was likely the white ravens would have been rejected by their own kind.
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Wow, where do you find these stories?
Chris
Hi Chris, I do a lot of surfing the net to find what I feel others might enjoy or benefit from
Hi,the guys are doing just fine,So uniquie to the world,
much feed back. I’m proud to be apart of your site.
Sally the lady with the birds.
Hi Sally,
Great to see you drop by, and to hear they’re doing well! It’s so nice to hear updated news on stories.
They’re so adorable. Odd how the other crows had targeted them as something that didn’t belong by attacking them. I’m glad you were able to save them, it warms my heart
Thanks for letting us know, and stopping in!
[...] stories: Rare White Ravens Starving to Death Pink Dolphins near Extinction Hedgehogs Hog the Limelight White Lion Cubs Born at French Zoo What a [...]
[...] stories: Rare White Ravens Starving to Death Pink Dolphins near Extinction Hedgehogs Hog the Limelight White Lion Cubs Born at French Zoo What a [...]
These are amazingly beautiful birds. It’s sad they couldn’t make it in the wild but I’m glad they’ve been rescued and I hope they live long healthy lives together. I wonder what it is that makes some albinos have pink eyes like my rabbits and some have blue eyes like these ravens and one of my cousins?
Noadi, it’s got to have something to do with the albino genes in them. There’s an abino male rock singer that was popular back in the 80’s, but his name escapes me at the moment. His eyes were altered as well, very unusual.
Most white siamese cats have blue eyes also.
That singer’s name is going to pop in my head as soon as I lay down to sleep, I just know it!
[...] Stick this in your pipe and smoke it, Carl Gustav Hempel. Leave a comment Comment RSS Previous: Anglo Saxon Chronicle [...]
“In fact, they are so rare…”
as rarities go they are common
“…that up to now, white ravens were thought to be purely fictional creatures”
silly individuals will think silly things (and post them on their blog)
Aber, do you have any info that you can provide for us? Absolutely nothing was available in searches for them when this was posted.
[...] stories: Hedgehogs Hog the Limelight Rare White Ravens Starving to Death Rare Discovery – Grey-Shanked Douc Monkey Pink Dolphins near Extinction Tags:animals echidna [...]
I HAVE BEEN PRIVILEDGED TO HAVE TWO ADULT WHITE RAVENS FREQUENTING OUR PROPERTY IN QUALICUM BEACH BC CANADA OVER THE LAST 6 WKS! i HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE SEEN EVEN ONE AND THESE TWO ARE HEALTHY FEEDING AND APPARANTY BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE RESIDENT RAVENS. iNSPIRING AND SPECIAL!!!!
How cool is that Bird Freak! You’re one of the lucky few who’ve ever seen one. And right here in Canada no less.
Thanks for letting us know
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seen white crows around 4 years ago at french creek though they were sea gulls flying with the crows
So they actually were white crows though Steven?
Aww, the white raven was called Branwen, that’s a variation of my name.
Poor little things, I’m glad that they’re being cared for.
Some crow species are known to have white on them, in lower proportion to all black but not uheard of. In one african one they have a white band around the neck. There have even been some with white bodies and you probly have seen in in those window cleaning commercials.
If you notice these have black on their beaks and blue eyes, not pink, so they are not albinos. I think its kind of like maximum expression of a white gene much like the white gene in a Sabino (type of pinto)or Appaloosa Horse thant sometimes the white patterning is all over the body but most of the time will leave a black spots somewhere. I was looking for white crow pictures and before I came to this I came upon similar plus one that had more black on its head and some black on the edge of its wings and at least two completely white ones as far as I could tell. All had Blue or Grey eyes. I also saw pictures of Black ravens with white spots, some in the wings. Sightings of whote crows have been all over, not just the Americas, there is one in Bhurma.
Makes me wonder why no one has done any research as far as genetics with these.
ohhnice story but really?/?
this is really a rarest of the rare thing to find a white crow around us … and we really need to conserve such birds…..