Bow to Your Reptilian Overlords! Oh, Maybe Not Quite Yet...

The desert is filled with creatures that are dangerous and terrifying in their ways. Life is tough, and in short, everything that lives there is eating everything else, and everything else is trying not to be eaten. Life has evolved a huge variety of defensive adaptations, including spikes, spines, tough shells or out layers, poisons, and many others. We were in Death Valley last weekend, and early one morning I seemed to have discovered a terrifying new creature, one whose claws look almost dinosaurian.

Those terrifying claws actually are dinosaurs, although of the avian kind. Few birds were out and about during our visit, but the Common Raven (Corvus corax) was a constant presence. That they thrive in this harsh and barren world is a testament to their versatility and intelligence. If I had to predict the species that would evolve into the dominant organism in terrestrial environments after the humans obliterate themselves, my money is on the raven. Like humans, they are curious, they are opportunistic omnivores, they are toolmakers, and they are problem solvers. And they can live in a shocking range of environments from the icy shores of Arctic Canada, Alaska and Greenland, to the driest and hottest deserts of the American West. Their range extends into the rainforests of Central America.

Their black color sometimes makes them hard to photograph, but in a desert setting like Death Valley, it becomes more of a goal to place them within dramatic landscapes. From our camp at Stovepipe Wells, we had a beautiful morning view of the Cottonwood Mountains. A pair of ravens were flying in the distance.

Our last 24 hours in Death Valley National Park involved a violent windstorm. It briefly subsided while we packed to go home, but the wind started up again, and the dust storm rose over the Mesquite Dunes in the distance. A Raven seemed to be heading out to investigate...because that's just what our future overlords would be doing.

Birds of the Day: Ravens at the Swinging Bridge in Yosemite

The Common Raven (Corvus corax) is hardly "common". I tend to think of them as rather extraordinary. They are one of the most intelligent and adaptable birds there are. I see them thriving in some very tough environments, like the dry deserts of Death Valley, and highest peaks of the Sierra.

They can be pests sometimes, in the sense that as an opportunistic scavenger, they do quite well at stealing food from picnickers, not unlike Yogi Bear. They take smaller prey when they can, but humans do such a great job of making food available that it's just easier to hang out where people eat, and take what isn't being watched.

Just the same, they exude a certain air of wisdom and they have interesting personalities. These Ravens were hanging around the Swinging Bridge picnic area in Yosemite Valley.