‘It’s just not a raven’: Possible mistaken identity could give bird a chance at new life

Mortimer the raven was saved by a Saskatoon woman. But provincial rules say the woman’s act is illegal and she could be charged.

Ashley Field, Video Journalist

Published Friday, December 14, 2018 5:06PM CST
Last Updated Saturday, December 15, 2018 2:11PM CST

A Saskatoon woman who has been fighting to hold onto an injured bird she nursed back to health may have caught a break after some confusion as to whether the bird is a raven or a crow.

Last month, Evangeline Mackinnon found the bird with a broken wing.

Mackinnon welcomed the bird into her home, named it Mortimer and has been nursing the bird back to health.

“It was either kids were going to find him, or a cat was going to get him. It was inevitable that he wasn’t going to have a very long life,” she said.

Mackinnon initially thought that Mortimer was a raven, but now some American researchers are saying that’s not the case.

‘It’s just not a raven’

Kaeli Swift, a Corvid Scientist at the University of Washington has studied crows for a decade, and had been following Mortimer’s story.

“It was immediately clear to me that it’s not a raven, it’s an American Crow,” said Swift

After seeing pictures and videos of the bird, Swift was convinced that Mortimer is not a raven.

“One of the really distinctive features of ravens is that they have these special throat feathers called ‘hackles’. They’re these really coarse feathers and they use these feathers in a variety of behavioral displays and communication. Crows don’t have them. They’re throat feathers are much more typical bird throat feathers, where they’re really fine and smooth,” said Swift. “So in terms of a really nice clear objective field mark, that’s probably the best one.”

Jennifer Campbell-Smith, a Corvid Scientist with a PhD studying crows at Binghamton University in New York, also believes that Mortimer is a crow.

“It’s 100 per cent a crow not a raven,” said Campbell-Smith.

She also noted Mortimer’s featherless throat and slender build make her confident that he is a crow.

Ravens are a ‘protected’ bird in Saskatchewan

After she found him, Mackinnon took Mortimer to a wildlife veterinarian, who told her the wing was permanently damaged and couldn’t be rehabilitated – so Mortimer would have to be put down.

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