On May 18th, Wildlife professor John Marzluff will bring us an exciting program on recent work in Yellowstone National Park which looked at interactions between ravens, wolves, and people.  Ravens are known to scavenge food from wolves and people but the relationship has not been well studied.

In 2019 Matthias Loretto and presenter John Marzluff began tagging ravens in Yellowstone with radio transmitters that are similar to the transmitter in your mobile device.  After tagging and following many ravens they were able to relate raven’s movements to the activities of people and wolves. From this the scientists gained a better understanding of the degree to which ravens rely on people and wolves.  Ravens have extensive knowledge of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.  You will be surprised at the diverse ways they take advantage of human activities within this 6500 square mile area.

For decades, John has done research on corvids- a family of birds that includes ravens, crows, jays, and magpies. His work has benefited birds all over the world, from pinyon jays in Arizona, ravens in Greenland and golden eagles and prairie falcons in Idaho to Washington State’s goshawks and the endangered Hawaiian hawk, one of the rarest birds in the world.

John Marzloff PhD is a professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. He is the author of several books including, In the Company of Crows and Ravens; Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans; and Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife.

York County Audubon will be presenting this program online on Tuesday, May 18th at 7 p.m.  There’s no charge to participate, but you need to register in advance to watch this program. To do so, please click on this link and enter your name and email address:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vSf9GtzyRKeP6iijpd_qvg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We hope you can join us!