About half way through a new Bernd Heinrich book named, "Mind of the Raven" that is pretty interesting. I've seen Ravens in southern Oregon, but locally we have only their cousins the Crow.
The Raven's are top of the non raptor food chain and are smarter and their society is way more complex than the Crow. I've already decided to order Heinrichs's original book on Ravens, "Ravens in Winter."
Besides smart to the point of not only using, but making tools, and exhibiting self awareness, they are extremely wary and communicate food sources and dangers amongst themselves. One of the sharper dinosaur minds that is still extant.
Graywolf - I admire crows & ravens. I consider them as chess players who beat me 99.9% of the time.
I hunt crows (in Pa - Fri,Sat,& Sun are legal hunting days). I hunt the forests- not farmers fields where huge murders of crows gather.
I carry a 12ga shotgun, a plastic Great Horned owl that I bought at Walmart for $14, and I use ecalls & mouth calls. Gotta dress in full camo including camo gloves and facemask. They can see my honky skin from 1/2 mile away.
I start out with a crow call - and oftentimes a crow will respond from a distance. They always do a fly bye because they are such a curious critter. If setup is right, I will use owl call with the plastic owl placed on the ground within shooting distance. Along with the owl - I have a full feathered crow decoy that I bought as a Halloween decor item years ago. I lay the crow on the ground next to the owl while blaring owl-vs-crow fight calls.
The target crow will often focus on the ensuing battle and his fallen comrade and roar into the area like a hot F15 fighter jet.
bang bang - I usually get two shots out of the pump12ga. More times than not - I miss.
Don't matter to me - I just love the long walks and the nature show.
Ravens have started to re-populate this area. On several occaisions, I have had a raven follow me along as I fished a mountain trout stream. The noises they make almost sound like they are speaking words.
One day I caught a small shiner and noticed the raven staring at me from a near by tree branch. I bonked the fish and laid it in a rock. I backed off a bit and within minutes that Raven swooped in for a free meal.. He gave a thank you caw as he flew off.
I have to look into the book you are reading... I think I will enjoy it greatly.
p.s.
a lesson on water displacement: