Corvid watchers: what is this call?

October 21, 2024 8:06 AM

I caught a raven making a sound like “lum-lum-lum-lum.” Is this a known raven behavior? Does it have a specific purpose?

Having moved to the woods in the last half decade, I am learning a bunch of new bird sounds, and can identify many calls and songs. I was stumped, for a while, by a call that sounds like “lum-lum-lum-lum.” I finally got lucky enough to catch the culprit: a lone raven sitting in a tree.

I know ravens make a wide variety of sounds, from caw, to quark, to the sound of a drop of water falling in a pool, but this one was new to me. I haven’t been able to find anything about it online, and I’m very curious if it has a known purpose.

posted by jimfl to Science & Nature (9 answers total)

Best answer: Ravens can mimic sounds, if it's not a croak or honk it might be something they've picked up.
posted by muddgirl at 8:47 AM on October 21 [1 favorite]

Could it have been the raven in flight? When they flap their wings while flying it has a distinct and possibly surprising whump-whump-whump sound.
posted by dusty potato at 8:56 AM on October 21

Raven or crow?

Also, Cornell has a bird call id app called Merlin. It will listen to the call and id the bird. Give it t try.
posted by falsedmitri at 9:34 AM on October 21 [1 favorite]

I have heard ravens making this kind of sound - kind of like a deep warbling throaty "glum glum glum". I always assumed it was akin to chickens murmuring or similar semi-contented vocalizations. I think of ravens doing this as saying "well, well, well." I don't know what it is called, though.
posted by niicholas at 9:50 AM on October 21 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Ours make a gluk-gluk sound and also a car-unlock noise so I wouldn't read much into it. Ravens like to mimic sounds and play with noises.
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:24 AM on October 21 [2 favorites]

Seconding the "raven playing with the noise it can make". One of our local ones has vocalizations (bad video, iffy sound) that's are kind of an "eh-oh" thing. It looks really pleased with itself while it's doing this, and rocks backwards and forwards in what I hope is corvid glee. It was sitting on a post at the end of the street once, so I said "eh-oh" to it, and it said "eh-oh" right back.
posted by scruss at 2:01 PM on October 21 [3 favorites]

All About Birds is the website version of the app Merlin, and has a bunch of Raven calls you can listen to.
posted by ljesse at 2:53 PM on October 21

I would ask this on r/crowbro, a very active subreddit where people discuss the behavior of local corvids they have befriended to varying degrees.
posted by deludingmyself at 6:17 PM on October 21 [2 favorites]

Best answer: n'thing the "ravens are incredible mimics" part

Fable the Raven | How do Ravens speak like humans?
posted by parm at 2:35 AM on October 22 [1 favorite]