Ravens are wonderful fliers. They are beautiful to watch as they soar effortlessly in wide circles, scanning the area below for food. They perform aerial acrobatics with ease—somersaulting and even briefly flying upside down—particularly during courtship and, it would seem, sometimes for mere pleasure. The raven’s flight is aptly described by Bernd Heinrich in Ravens in Winter: “It dives and rolls like a black thunderbolt out of the sky or speeds along with liquid, gliding strokes.” He adds that it is “the paragon of the air, and more.” The raven’s strength of flight has been given as a reason why Noah chose it as the first creature to be sent outside the ark at the time of the Flood.—Genesis 8:6, 7.

In the Bible the raven has the distinction of being the first bird specifically named.—Genesis 8:7.