“So, what are plumicorns?”
This may seem the very last question you need answering in these tumultuous times.
And yet, being curious and engaged with nature is more vital than ever, so let’s distract ourselves awhile with the wonder of ravens and their fabulous and theatrical head feathers.
What are plumicorns?
You know when you see what looks like feather horns on a raven’s head? They go up and then they go down, then up again.
Those are raven plumicorns.
The word plumicorn comes from the Latin words pluma (feather) and cornu (horn) so they are, literally, feather horns.
Some varieties of owl (Great Horned, Long-Eared and Short-Eared) are most readily associated with plumicorns.
Long-eared owl
But owls are not the only plumicorn-endowed birds out there.
Horned Larks, Tufted Penguins and Rockhopper Penguins are part of the club, along with our friends, the ravens.
Raven plumicorns are smaller, more subtle and not always on display. They are dynamically expressive, erect one moment, and flattened down the next, as the mood or social occasion demands.
Are Plumicorns Ears?
Although these head feather displays (especially on owls) do look a lot like waggling ears — they’re not.
Birds’ ears are actually something entirely different — funnel-shaped openings located further down the head, behind the eyes. We rarely see them as they’re usually covered with feathers.
In the photo below this crow has considerately moved their ear-covering feathers aside for a moment while having a good old scratch so we can have a quick look at their lug.
The diagram below shows the location of the ear and feather covering on a raven.
Do Crows Have Plumicorns Too?
While crows do fluff up their head feathers to look more dominant when they feel threatened, they don’t have the ability to articulate those head feathers into separate horn-like appendages.
Young crow with head feathers up to look bigger and tougher for his/her peers
Ravens also do the fluffy-head display. This, I’ve read, is an indication of submission to more dominant ravens. So, in crows it means “Back off. I’m unbelievably large and in charge,” while in ravens, it means “Who me? Nope, I’m just over hear minding my own business, sir.”
Raven with the fuzzy head display. No horns here, just deferring to my seniors.
How Do Ravens Use Plumicorns?
Plumicorns in general seem to be a bit of a scientific mystery. It’s thought that, in owls, they can serve as camouflage, making them blend in with the branches and twigs in a tree. They’re also handy for making the bird look bigger and more formidable when they feel under threat or are involved in a territorial dispute.
Looking dominant seems to be just one way in which ravens use their horn-feathers.
See the way the dominant raven in this interaction flaunts his plumicorns for emphasis as he swaggers up to his competitors.
In my years of watching ravens, I’ve seen those feather horns go up and down in all kinds of raven interactions and I’ve never found much literature on the meaning of it all. I do know that they’re not used only as a way to look dominant.
In the next video, these two ravens had just finished mating (right before our amazed eyes) and went on to have an affectionate interaction, including grooming and head feather waggling. The male is the bird on the right.
And here is some more head feather action during a more low-key raven domestic chit chat. Raven couples are affectionate to each other all year round, not just during mating season.
And here’s a raven calling in a snowfall with head feathers rising as the song continues. Did he see his mate in the distance? Or a rival? Is it a commentary on the weather? Part of the performance? Did they just think of something funny?
Yet more things we don’t really know about ravens.
It seems that the plumicorn puzzle is yet another mystery within the larger Ravenspeak riddle; another part of the complex raven vocabulary used to express everything from aggression to affection, ferocity to flirtation and, possibly, other raven moods beyond our human experience.
It now seems that the Duo-lingo Raven module, once available, will need to include translations for all those the raven plumicorn vocabulary-enhancers — perhaps the corvid equivalents of frowning, winking, smiling, smirking, cheeks being puffed out and eyes rolled.
Say what?
You might also enjoy:
- Ravenspeak (Nov 2023)
- New Things About Ravens (Jan 2024)
- Risqué Ravens (March 2024)
- Raven Courtship (Feb 2024)
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Ravens are so awesome. My neighbourhood has a big family of crows, but it also has about 6 pairs of ravens who live on the roofs of the tall condos nearby. A young pair of ravens have their eye on a tree on the back of my building. The crows vainly try to mob them, but the ravens are unfazed. Spring will be interesting.
This is a new word for me. Your photos are terrific. No ravens near me but I do have a crow family living in the neighbourhood. I see them mostly in the summer, they seem to go somewhere else in the winter.