I believe most of us know that a bird and most birds are territorial and will aggressively protect their nests, babies, and territory. I have witnessed smaller birds chasing ravens or crows for miles because they presented danger to their nest or young.
I read online that ravens really try to avoid human beings. They are usually present where there is a dead animal or another source of food. If you hear a raven calling there is usually a food source close.
I have a friend who will tell you the thing about avoiding humans isn’t true. Not at her house anyway! She doesn’t live in the house where this story is taking place, but she maintains it and the yard like she was there every day. A garden is even planted. It seems this mischief started with the cover that was over the grill on the back porch. She found the cover lying on the floor torn to pieces and she wondered what animal had done that. Bears have been known to damage property in the area so a special, heavy-duty screen had been made for the back door. Imagine the shock she had on her next visit to the house. The screen on the back door was destroyed, exposing the door. I believe it was on this day that my friend encountered a raven. Checking to see if there was more damage she found that some of the rubber gasket under the kitchen window was torn loose and another screen or so destroyed.
In an effort to save the French doors, she fastened a tarp over them only to find that the raven had managed to get behind the tarp and it was torn full of holes. A new cover was placed over the grill and it too was torn to pieces. A box of books that had been taped shut and put on the porch, until her daughter could take them, had been torn open and one book was torn to bits, lying on the porch floor. While in the house my friend heard a noise outside and when she looked, the raven was in her flower bed pulling the buds off the snapdragons and daisies that she had planted and it was carrying them off.
A nephew who has a house just over the hill from my friend came to check on things and to mow around his house. She asked if he had seen any ravens and he said that he had heard them calling close to his house. While mowing the yard he found several of the screens that had been in the upstairs windows had been torn out and were laying in the yard.
When this mischief started my friend saw a lone raven and that was all for a few weeks. One day when she arrived there were two sitting on the back porch, and not long after that there were four in her yard—a family in training.
In the past few weeks, the ravens have focused on the picture window. They have torn part of the rubber seal from under the picture window. It seems the two young ones helped in this operation My friend placed a wide board across the bottom of the window to save the rest of the seal. The door put in for the dog so it could enter/leave has been destroyed. The male raven has been observed flying from the porch rail into the picture window in an attempt to break it. You might ask, how does my friend know all this—she has a game camera which the birds haven’t yet discovered. Imagine the damage that has been done to the outside of the house and what it will be like if one day that raven is successful in getting inside the house.
The nephew took the screens from the windows at his house to be repaired and said that he would put them back in when he was there and remove them each time when he leaves for home.
I went online to read about ravens and their behavior and came across an article about a man in Nova Scotia, Canada, who bought a $300,000.00 house. His job was in a different area, so he was away from his house all week. A neighbor called him at work and told him that birds were destroying his house. He left work and returned home to find broken windows and screens destroyed. He found ravens destroying his house.
In Boston, Massachusetts, it’s the red headed woodpeckers breaking out car windows and breaking off mirrors. It would seem, for whatever reason, some of our feathered friends aren’t very happy, or maybe they are!
I talked with my friend a few days ago and the destruction continues, but only the original raven is being seen. The family members may have graduated from the lessons dad was teaching or maybe they are on vacation.
A story like this is kind of hard to believe but the evidence is there to be seen with one’s own eyes, and on the game camera. Two members of my family have been there and have seen the damage. All of this has been going on since the first of April.
I have withheld names for the sake of privacy and the locations where this story is playing out. Permission has been given to share this story with the public.
Violet R. Eye
July 5, 2025
