Hundreds of roosting ravens cause stir in Yellowknife's downtown

Yellowknife's downtown core has become home to hundreds of roosting ravens seemingly overnight, leaving many locals wondering what caused the birds' sudden urban migration.

Ravens are a common sight in Yellowknife — inspiring the names of many local businesses and the city's world-ranked broomball team — but over the past week, locals have been commenting online on their increased presence downtown. 

Photos were posted on a popular Facebook group, titled "Just Ravens," of the birds dive-bombing vehicles near the city's movie theatre, while commenters theorized that the recent demolition of the nearby Giant Mine headframe, which was home to a large roost, may be responsible for the increased volume.

The birds have been noticed in large numbers on top of the federal government's Greenstone Building, which is across the street from the city's movie theatre.

Suzanne Carriere, a biologist with the Government of the Northwest Territories, said she suspects the birds are being attracted by a food source.

"It's a theory of mine — I'm suspecting it's because the movie theatre is right there."

According to Carriere, this isn't the first time ravens have roosted downtown in large numbers. A few decades ago, she said, hundreds of the birds found their way downtown at night.

"They roost together," she said. "It's a behaviour that allows them to spend the night securely. They're very social animals."

'It's not a very good sign'

Dettah elder Jonas Sangris said that while ravens are often seen as good omens in Dene culture, such as when out hunting, the birds' presence at night may be perceived as a foreboding sign.

"The elders were always telling us that if a raven is calling or crying or something at night, it's not a very good sign," said Sangris. "Something's going to happen.

"I remember my dad, he heard something, so he called me and he told me to get home and stay home. Little things happen like that, hey? I don't know if it's true or not, but I think those [teachings] are very important."

Sangris said that he has seen large numbers of ravens in Yellowknife at night before, remembering a large group roosting at the city's Explorer Hotel. However, he said that in past instances, he'd "never heard them cawing at all.

"So you think: 'oh, man! Maybe something's going to happen,'" he said of the current influx. "You never know."

Try as you might, they won't take flight

While it's impossible to know what's suddenly made downtown Yellowknife a raven roosting hotspot, Carriere said that there are lessons to be learned from the last time the birds moved downtown.

"Even today, there's a sign of how people reacted," she said, noting the large number of plastic owls in the downtown which are intended to scare off ravens.

"They were noisy, and they were making a mess. So people didn't want to have the ravens spend the night in such numbers."

However, Carriere said that there's likely not much locals can do to stop the roosting.

"I don't think most of what they tried helped," she said. "I think the ravens left on their own time."