'RANGE
EX P'A N.S.I O N
The Common Raven returns to Kentucky
The ravenis a wary.speciesthatprefers nestingin remotemountainous
area.•. Photo/H. Cruiekshank.
Dale K. Fowler, John R. MacGregor, Sherri A. Evans,
and Lauren
E. Schaaf
T HE
RANGE
OF
qHi:
COMMON
Raven (Corvus cOrtL¾)once ex-
tendedas thr southalong the
Cumberland
PlateauasWinstonCounty,
Alabama(Howell 1910). However,by
the early 1900sthe specieshad beenex-
counties. However, he stated: "In the
After an absenceof sixty
tirpatedfromthisportionof itsrangeand
the disjunctpopulationextendingdown
years, the Common Raven
the southernAppalachianMountainsto
has been found nesting in
thecasthadbeengreatlyreduccd(Alsop
1979, Hoopcret al. 1975).
Mengel(1949) presentcd
evidencefor
countiesof Kentucky.Mengel also believedthatravensnestedalongthe Rock
Creek Gorge in McCreary and Wayne
Pine Mountain
strictestornithologicalsense,thereis not
a single authentic record of the raven
fromKentucky.No competent
ornithologisthas,to my knowledge,observed
any
inthestate,nordoesthereappearto bean
extant specimen.Nevertheless,after ten
years of intermittentfieldwork in some
20 countiesof easternKentucky,I am
thehistorical
nestingof ravensalongthe
confident that the raven occurred in a
RockcastleRiver drainagein Laureland
PulaskicountiesandalongtheRed River
considerable
portionof the easternsectionof the state,and that it disappeared
relativelyrecently,if it is in thct,entirely
in Powell, Wolfc, Estill, and Menifee
852
AmericanBirds, Winter 1985
gone"He hsteda tentativedate of 1935
rock face below the nests attested to re-
for the extirpationof the ravenin Ken-
centandfrequentuseof the site. On this
initialtrip, we werenotableto seeinside
tucky.
Ravenswere not sightedagain until
Croft (1970) observedthree ravens in an
extensively
forestedportionof Kentucky
duringthe summerof 1969. Croft dechnedto give the exact location of the
sightings
because
of theprecarious
status
the nest.
__.
in theadjacent
forest.Placinga 12meter
__.
were sightedon the Kentuckyside of
CumberlandMountain in Bell County
at the base of the cliff, Fowler climbed to
threedifferentravensat variouspointsin
the park the followingyear. Theseauthorsmentionreportsof ravensightings
thetop andobservedsix youngravensin
thenestthroughbinoculars.
Photographs
of the youngbirdswereobtainedwith a
35 mm cameraequippedwith a 80-200
mm zoom telephotolens.
To our knowledge,this is the first activeravennestreportedin Kentucky.Althoughthe ravenis a wary speciesthat
nestsprimarilyon cliff ledgeslocatedin
remotemountainousareas(Harlow 1922,
Murray 1949, Stupka1963), it is highly
unlikelythata remnantravenpopulation
by otherobservers
in the Hensleysettlementsectionof theparkasearlyas 1972.
Recentravensightingshavealsobeenreportedon Big BlackMountai.n
in Harlan
County(Hall 1982), in LetcherCounty
managedto surviveundetected
in eastern
Kentucky.It is moreplausiblethatthese
birdsexpanded
theirrangefromVirginia
or West Virginia southwardthrough
(Hall 1983), andin BreaksInterstatePark
BreaksInterstatePark, with its numerous
in PikeCounty(O'Quinn et al. 1983). It
ts clearfromtheincreasing
frequencyof
thesesightings
thata smallpopulationof
sandstone
cliffs, and alongPine Mountain southward
to CumberlandGap NationalPark. Ravenpopulations
haverecently been increasingin the mountain
regionsof both of these states (Hall
Common Ravens is established in eastern
Kentucky.However,to our knowledge
no ravennestshaveyet beenreportedin
the State. This paperdescribesthe first
CommonRaven nest found along the
easternslopeof PineMountainin Letcher
County,Kentucky.
1977a, 1977b).
m 1982by JohnMacGregor.MacGregor
1977b.Thespringmigration:
Appa-
lachianRegion.Amer.Birds31(5): 9991002.
1982.The nestingseason:
Appfila-
chianRegion.Amer. Birds 36(6): 975978.
__. 1983.The springmigration:AppalachianRegion.Amer.Birds 37(5): 868891.
HARLOW;R. C. 1922.Thebreeding
habitatsof the northernravenin Pennsylvania. Auk 39: 399-410.
HOOPER, R. G., H. S. CRAWFORD,
D. R. CHAMBERLAND, and R. F
HARLOW. 1975. Nestingdensityof
CommonRavens,in theridge-valleyregion of Virginia. Amer. Birds 29(5)
931-935.
HOWELL, A. H. 1910. Notes on the sum-
merbirdsof KentuckyandTennessee
Auk 27:295-304.
MENGEL, R. M. 1949. Evidence of the
historyand former distributionof the
ravenin Kentucky.KentuckyWarbler
25(1): 1-6.
MURRAY, J. J. 1949. Nestinghabitsof
theravenin Rockbridge
County.Raven
20: 40-43.
Christmas Bird count: Breaks Interstate
Park, VA-KY. Amer. Birds 37(4): 521
SMITH, C. K., and W. H. DAVIS. 1979
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
RavenandOspreyin southeastern
KenWe thankJeremyDrier, Larry Short,
andKerry Pratherof the KentuckyDivi-
observed a raven in the immediate vicini-
sion of Fish and Wildlife
ty but was unable to scale the cliff and
their assistance
in conductingthe field
inspections
of the nestsite.
could not ascertain if the nest contained
Region.Amer. Birds 31(3): 331-333
O'QUINN, G., D. RAINES, P. SHELTON, and M. WISS. 1983. Audubon
The raven nest site, located on a small
ledgehighon a rockface, wasdiscovered
1977a.Winterseason:
Appalachian
On April 10, 1984, we returnedto the
nestsite. On approaching
the nestcliff,
we heardyoungravensin the most recentlymadesticknestandan adultraven
extension ladder on a tall hardwood tree
the ridge trail betweenSand Cave and
WhiteRockswithinthe ruggedCumberlandGap NationalPark (HarlanCounty)
andheardof two otherravensightings
in
the park. Davis et al. (1980) saw at least
30(4): 841-844.
__.
of the raven in the state. In 1976, ravens
(Hall 1976). On March 22, 1978, Smith
andDavis (1979) observeda ravenbelow
HALL, G A 1976 The spnngrmgrahon.
AppalachianRegion. Amer. Birds
Resources for
tucky.KentuckyWarbler55(1): 19-20
STUPKA, A. 1963. Notes on the birds of
GreatSmokyMountainsNationalPark
Univ. of Tenn. Press, Knoxville. 242
PP.
eggs or young ravens. The' authorsin-
spected
the siteMarch 12 andApril 10,
1984
On approaching
the nestingcliff (elevation762 meters)duringthe March 12
visit,thepartyobserved
tworavensin the
immediatevicinity. After scanningthe
sandstonecliff with binoculars, three
largesticknestsapproximately
1 meterin
diameterwereobservedon rock ledges
witha southern
exposuresituated17 meters high. Thesenestswere protected
fromprecipitation
by an overhang
of approximately10 meters.One nest appearedto havebeenrecentlymade,while
the weatheredappearanceof the other
nestssuggested
construction
in previous
years Abundantfecal whitewashon the
Volume 39, Number 5
LITERATURE
CITED
ALSOP, F. J. 1979. Populationstatusand
management
considerations
for Tennessee threatenedand endangeredbirds
species.Tennessee'WildlifeResources
Agency.Publ. E21, p. 172-187.
CROFT, J. E. 1970. Ravens in eastern
Kentucky.KentuckyWarbler46(1): 2122.
DAVIS, W. H., C. K. SMITH, J. HUDSON, andG. SHIELDS. 1980. Summer
. birdsof Cumberland
GapNationalPark.
KentuckyWarbler56(3): 43-45.
--.Wildlife ResourcesProgram,
Tennessee
Valley Authority,Norris,
Tennessee
37828 (Fowler), Kentucky
Departmentof Fish and Wildhfe
Resources, No. 1 Farm Game Road,
Frankfort, Kentucky40601
(MacGregor,Evans,Schaaf)
853