April 7, 2020 Raven, Rook or Crow?

Raven, Rook or Crow?

A black bird sits atop a tree
King of all he surveys
But to know which kind of bird is he,
Observe his habitat and ways.

Crow, raven or chess-playing rook,
In the Corvid family, all seen.
(If fewer than twenty are in their flock,
You could say they are Corvid-19.)

The raven is largest of the three,
Mistaken sometimes for a vulture.
If “nevermore,” he cries repeatedly,
You’ll know he’s a bird with culture.

The rook and the crow have a twin-like bond,
But rooks have whitened beaks.
In addition, the rook lives across the pond,
With an English accent he speaks.

Crows are noisy, strutting and proud,
Their “caws” are menacing words,
If you see a lot of them in a crowd,
Don’t think about Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

When next you see a bird all in black,
And think, “raven, rook, or crow?”
This little poem will keep you on track,
What more do you need to know?

Indeed!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning. Or not. It took me a long time to write, so maybe not.